Urban Farming and a Giveaway Winner!

I ♥ things I can do by myself. I'm not a headstrong, independent first-born for nothing! And furthermore, I like unconventional things I can do myself. So when I met some new friends that lived in the middle of the suburbs and kept rabbits and bees (y'all, they had a beehive on their roof!), I was super excited. I got inspired by reading up on honey bees disappearing due to CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) and I spent a huge amount of time researching different types of beehives and methods of beekeeping. And I approached my poor parents with the seemingly innocent request to have "just one little beehive that I could keep next to the house." My parents, being the absolutely incredible homeschooling-DIYers that they are said ok. 

And so I built a Kenyan top-bar beehive.

And I ordered a pound of bees (approximately 12,000 bees) to be shipped through the mail. I made cool friends at the post office that day!

This is how they're shipped:

And I did all the things my new bee-friends advised me to do. And pretty soon I had a fully functioning beehive with 50,000+ honey bees sitting not one foot from my house!

They gathered a lot of different types of pollen. It was fascinating to watch them go in and out of the hive.

Now, things happened a year later that were beyond my control and my hive ended up creating lots of new hives and then my hive "died". It was sad, but I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to learn what I did. And it has seriously inspired me to look into what is being labeled the "Urban Farming" movement. 

It's so cool, y'all. 

Positive Detroit

People take their backyards and rooftops and apartment patios and instead of letting them sit empty and "wasting space", they flourish with colorful plants and incredible animals.

Brooklyn Grange

National Geographic Urban Farming

Backyard Farmer: Honey I Shrunk the Farm

I'm totally and completely ok with this movement. I fully intend on owning a small farm someday, and I'm an Agriculture Education major, so I may be a little biased though. My sister is still trying to convince my dad that chickens make great conversation pieces as they run around backyards. (He hasn't bought it, or the chickens, yet.) 

If you're a current urban farmer, what are some tips you could offer would-be farmers? 

If you're interested, what would be something you'd have to know before you started your own backyard farm? 

If you hate the idea, why?

GIVEAWAY WINNER:

I used the Random Number Generator to pick a comment number fair-and-square, and Tamara's comment was chosen! Tamara will be contacted and her lovely recycled clutch will be shipped to her ASAP. 

Wordless Wednesday

Summertime 2014

Freshman year of college is (finally!) out of the way and I've got a little time on my hands to sit down and write now.

This summer, I am so blessed to be living with a close relative helping take care of her house during the day. Ironically, the thing I missed most during the school year and living in a dorm was the normalcy of being in a running household. I missed cooking and cleaning and having people I love walking in and out all day. I missed calm and quiet devotionals as I eat my breakfast in the mornings, and hectic afternoons getting ready for someone else’s event.

Frankly, I’m excited to see what this strange summer will bring. I've got vague ideas, but what will actually happen is out of my control – for that I am so grateful. If it were up to me, lots of things would happen and they would be amazing. If I plan things out too much I will miss out on the everyday miracles, surprises, blessings and lessons that He has to offer. Simply living in the here and now allows you to bloom where you’re planted by the Master Gardener, not where you've scattered your time and energies. 

*Not a real Name of God, but I like it; work with me, folks.

Work hard, play hard, live fully.

{Simple} An Update of Confusion

March was an insane month. I traveled, partied, watched, performed, competed, got sick, and felt overwhelmed. I wrote, erased, started, finished, succeeded, and failed miserably. I also remembered that I don’t function well with that much going on in my life.

Music City at night from 20 floors up

Many of my friends are go-ers. They have schedules that barely leave room for them to breathe, they plan more in one day than I can accomplish in a week, and they just go, go, go. While I am in awe of their ability to get things done, I can’t live like that.

Yes, we own a reel push mower

You can find “Simple Living Tips” all over the internet. Pinterest has thousands, if not millions, of boards dedicated to reducing stress, clutter, and worthless things from people’s lives. And that is awesome. But the only problem is, “simple” does not have one definition.

Anna, at Pleasant View Schoolhouse (one of my favorite blogs), appears to have the most ideal and simple life anyone could ask for. But her house has knick-knacks and children and cat hair. Modernists and neat-freaks would feel cramped and overwhelmed. (I, on the other hand, would be in heaven in her house! Vintage furniture! Sewing pattern! Music!)

Rose Beerhorst lives with several artist friends and makes her living by selling hand made rugs from her studio/house that contains very little furniture. That is pretty simple, but look at how loose and free everything is. An extremely structured person would freak out in that life! (I'd love to meet Rose some day- she seems like a very interesting and motivated chiquita.)

“Simple” has to change, depending on the situation and the person.

Keep Calm and Get Tan

I need a simple, scheduled, and free life. One where, if I wake up at six o’clock, I can get everything done by three. But you know what? That doesn’t always happen, and that’s where God comes in. He knows how much I crave a tidy house, no distractions, and a checklist that is completed every day. But He also knows that I need to be more humble than that. If everything is done my way on my time, I tend to leave important-to-Him things out because they weren’t as important to me.

A life that is so scheduled it leaves no room for surprises is also a life that leaves out room for blessings. A life that checks off every box, dots every “i” and crosses every “t” is wonderful, but where is the space for pulling over on the side of the road to help a mom change a tire? Where is the time for rescuing baby squirrels, or chasing a herd of run-away dachshunds (that was crazy)? Where is time to relax and pray?

I still live at home, and so I deal with four other people’s schedules and needs. And that can drive me up the wall. But God uses that as a blessing. Because I have to bend my “needs” around to fit theirs as well, I don’t get everything done. But I also have a schedule that is just free enough that the unexpected is always squeezed in.

An afternoon driving around trying to find a place with free wifi? Sounds good.

A morning “wasted” by an extra-long run/visit with a dear friend? I’m in.

You’re sick and need someone to watch your kids for a few hours? Call me.

Or, like today while I was writing this post, my bees decide to swarm? Who-boy, let’s go.

Squirting sugar water on the swarm to keep the bees calm until a professional bee catcher could come help me

Yeah. Simple is great, but it ain’t easy.

Misting swarm #2 with sugar water

So what is your version of “simple”?