Resolution(s)

This will be my last post in my beekeeping blog.  Beekeeping is a fascinating hobby. One that I will most likely have for the rest of my life. However, there are so many other things I want to learn and do. So I've decided that I am going to create a new blog for 2011. One that will act as an electronic diary of sorts. Of all the lessons I learned throughout my first year as a beekeeper, the most important (and one that I'm learning to let carry me throughout my  life this year) was one I learned on one of my first days inspecting my hive. One that I would have blogged about right away if I had let it sink in the way it was supposed to.

I was standing behind the wide-open hive. The bees were calm that day, staying inside because the weather was still cool but sunny.  Greg was watching me as I was struggling to pry out one of the frames to inspect the comb without crushing dozens of delicate little worker bees. He could see that I was anxious and frazzled and even thought he was a beginner just like me he gave me the best advice I've ever gotten. I've read a handful of beekeeping books cover to cover. I've done hours of research online.  I've spent hours listening to seasoned beekeepers lecture on countless beekeeping topics. Despite all that information I've absorbed. The thing that sunk in the most is what Greg said as he was watching me do my first inspection. He said, "Slow down. Be deliberate." What Greg was trying to sat was that I needed to calculate my movements in order to avoid fumbling and making mistakes. To move with patience and purpose. Cool like a cucumber. Those words calmed me down, allowed me to relax, and kept me from pulverizing dozens of my amazing little honeybees as I slid the frame back into place. Best beekeeping advice ever. Even though it came from my partner who was a novice just like me. 

 Remembering that phrase has helped me become a better beekeeper than I ever expected to be in my first year and now going into 2011, I think it will be my new way of life. I want to encourage people to live their lives in a more conscious and purposeful way-environmentally, emotionally and dare I say, spiritually (but spiritually in the "live a meaningful life" way rather than the "preachy bible-thumping" way that I absolutely despise). All doing so with calm, poise and deliberation and less hurry, worry and stress. There will be posts about beer making, edible mushroom growing (of the legal variety), bread making, traveling, crocheting, knitting, and my early attempts at sewing, beekeeping, gardening, farmers marketing and canning and preserving. There will be posts about  imaginative ways to save money, good music, delicious recipes, good advice from good people, raising chickens (as soon as I figure out how to do it while living in a 2 bedroom apartment) and whatever else piques my fancy this year. This is my new year's resolution. Creating a genuine and handmade life, slowly and deliberately.

What do you think?

One of my worker bees on a sunflower, September 2010