I am not a clothes, shoes or bags kind of woman, but I do have my indulgences. Yesterday I dropped by Wal-Mart on the way home for toiletries and cleaning stuff and I did my monthly sad plant area drop-in. Sometimes I go to those plant areas just to hear the crazy wrong things people say when they are looking at plants. I smirk on the inside as they take home that eighty dollar palm tree that only grows in Madagascar or somewhere to put in their yard. The landscape architect in me wants to help people whether they want it or not, but I know that would be annoying - like those men who assume I have no idea what I am doing when I enter a auto parts store and offer un-wanted, un-needed advice - so I shut up. In general, I don't agree with buying plants at Wal-Mart (many times they aren't the proper plants for your zone, or have been so babied with fertilizer and semi-shade that they don't hold up in the landscape, or are from a completely different climate and can't take our heat or cold) but the clearance area in the back gets me every time. This is where the sad, unwanted plants go that don't sell right away. Sometimes there are half-dead annuals that I can bring back, past their peak vegetables that just might need a little love, mixed container plantings that are overgrown, but every once in a while there is a treasure. Well, apparently Hostas aren't popular with the average wal-mart shopper, because yesterday I found a whole cache of half-off healthy hostas hoping for a home and I took them! I was in Dave's Jeep, so I had to stack them all on that tiny back seat, and I really shouldn't even have been buying plants, but this is my weakness - (minor household need x half-off anything) + plants = going home with Tanya.
Plants and yard rank high on the indulgence list, as does anything with an ecological intrinsic value (this is where the chickens came in), anything to reduce our carbon footprint (the composter and veggie garden), to reduce our energy use (the man eating high tech water heater), to bring wildlife into the yard (my bird seed and corn feeding obsession) and then there is a category for the burgeoning sentimental orchard that Dave hoses at night (the tiny avocado, peach, lemon and lime trees). My mother-in-law is aware of these weaknesses, and occasionally indulges my craziness - she even feigns excitement when I tell her chicken and dog stories, (no doubt wondering the whole time if we will ever decide to have children!).
I began prepping Dave for my latest hobby idea about 6 months ago when the catalog arrived from Rossman Apiaries (Apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a place where beehives of honey bees are kept). That’s right, beekeeping!
See, bees are an integral part of our ecosystem (see ‘ecological intrinsic value’ category above). They provide pollination of plants within about a two mile radius (If it lowers cholesterol, improves eyesight or turbo-charges the immune system, it was probably fertilized by a bee), healthy honey and wax for the beekeeper, and countless other benefits. I did enough research to find out that 1. Beekeeping is allowed in our County (more props to our area!) 2. There is is beekeeping club should I have questions and 3. That there is someone else on our island that is beekeeping and selling to our local produce stand!
So for my 30th birthday, what arrived in the mail? My bee outfit(suit), hive tool, smoker and beekeeping book! And who sent it? My Mother-in-Law! And who helped her buy the stuff? My husband! And when are we going to pick up the bees? Next weekend! Yes, that is right, I am picking up 10,000 Minnesotta Hygenic Bees with a mated Queen, a hive box, (and a shot of epinephrine) to begin my new hobby! I have told most of my neighbors my plans – all of them are fine with it – but the ones that I haven’t told will surely figure it out when they see me roaming the yard in the middle of the day (the time you’re supposed to mess with the hive) in this! Thanks Mom!
No comments:
Post a Comment