It’s Father’s Day here in America, so Happy Father’s Day to fathers everywhere 🙂
Joanne and I headed out on an amble-through-Campbell bike ride this morning (picture perfect weather, btw) and as we cruised down one road through the next, we came across a woman we’d met a year ago… working in her large garden, just as she had been a year ago when we met. Her name is Joanne. In addition to having one heck of a (working) garden, I recalled her husband as being a beekeeper. (A beek)
We stopped to chat for a few minutes and I was astounded to hear that this season he’s already harvested ~400 pounds. At 1 lb. per quart, that’s a lot of honey – and we’re not even half way through the season. As I peppered her with questions, she finally said, “I’m not the beekeeper, go ’round front and I’ll have him come out and talk with you.” And so she / he did.
Nice fella. Like most beeks I’ve met (not many, btw) he wasn’t exactly a fashion plate kinda dresser. In fact, I swear he had on the same sweats as the beek I met a few weeks back over in Saratoga.
Anyway, he came out and introduced himself: “Name’s Jim but everybody calls me Fuzzy”. Turns out (no surprise) he knows Mr. C. We spent about 15 minutes with me asking questions, him answering… probably the longest 15 minutes of his life 😉 He looked like he was starting to wilt a bit so we bid him adieu and pedaled to the next street over where, rumor had it, another beek lived.
One down, one to go.
I think I may have mentioned it in an earlier post, but I’ve come to the conclusion that beeks have a different perspective on flora and fauna and the relationship it plays in our lives. In days gone by, I thought it was important to remove / kill any / all weeds on our property. Ugly. Ruined our lawns. Made the property look crummy.
After becoming a beek, I began to look at weeds as food sources for our bees. Nectar and pollen are what our bees need and, don’tchaknow, weeds have some of both. And when they are converted in to honey that I eat, my allergies get reduced to non-issues – no drugs. no shots. no surgery. The just go away. (or should I say, after 38 years of terrible suffering from hayfever / allergies, I no longer have any symptoms. Could be our local honey. Could be the allergy gremlins just moved on to pimp somebody else – it’s your call as to which you believe.)
Where was I… oh yes, returning to our amble, as I turned the corner on the street where I thought the other beek lived, I looked for the front yard area that appeared unattended… dry grass (if any), weeds… you know, raggedy. And I went up, knocked on the door and asked if this was the house of the beek.
Lucky guess on my part, eh? 🙂
Turned out to be true. It was before noon and it was a Sunday, so she wasn’t exactly ready for unexpected company / drop-in visitors, so we chatted for a few moments (we have a friend in common) and said our good-byes.
Two beeks, nice bike ride and Father’s Day… doesn’t really get any better does it?
Sure it does: I cooked one of the Abalone I caught on Thursday for mid-day Supper. Herbed rice, brocoli and Ab… just like “back in the day”.
Two beeks, nice bike ride, Father’s Day and a wonderful Ab dinner… doesn’t really get any better does it?
Sometimes it does: Owen and Scott called today and we had good discussions about life and the challenges / rewards of being a good parent.
Just doesn’t get any better, does it?
No, I’m not sure it does.
As always, thanks for stopping by. Be well and don’t forget to write when you get work.
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