My life seems to go in stages.

Maybe everyone’s life does this. Maybe it’s just mine. But I have significant stages in my life where I live in different places, do completely different things.

I have lived on the very edge of the Pacific Ocean in a tiny fishing village. I have lived in New Zealand, Scotland, and even a short stint in the South Pacific Islands. I know what it’s like to be a nomad.

And I know what it is to have a home.

We’ve been given notice that we must leave our paradise on the Farm by September. It was a surprise and a sad surprise. I spent a couple days walking around the farm, imprinting the smells, the textures of the soil and leaves and the way the sun sparkles across the pond at dusk. It is a beautiful place that we’ve had the privilege to live in for a year and a half. And now it is time to move on.

Having a home is a very rare thing, because often I forget what home is. Recently I’ve realized again, that the box I sleep in isn’t my home- it’s definitely a house. Where I keep my stuff isn’t a home. Home is being with Marc, home is the sense of belonging and being safe. I haven’t had that taken from me.

Imagine the next adventure! Imagine the next stage in life that could be completely different than what I have been doing. Though the bees will be staying as part of my “home” now. I’ll be spreading them out all over the island to willing hosts. I will continue to do this as I simply love it!

But the rest of it, well it’s up for grabs.

So what’s the next adventure? I’ll keep you posted as it unfolds.

Have you been here before? What great adventures did you find yourself in that you never would have imagined? I’d love to hear your stories!

“Disbelieving that interests are only valid if they come with monetary or status gain. We do things for the love of what we do and trust how our needs are always met.”
-The Organic Sister 

I needed to read this quote today.

We’ve been doing a bit re-haul, re-evaluation of what we want from life, what we need, how we want to live, how we want to parent, and how we want to face the world in adventures and impact.

At Backyard Feast, the author and her “Skipper” contemplated living on a boat as a more sustainable, affordable choice but they chose against that.

“Sailing is a light way to live, but you have to get to land to get to your food, and there has to be extra food and supplies that you can buy from those who have more than they need.  Sailing away also began to feel like a kind of opting out of the world’s problems, and ethically I struggled with that too.”

So we didn’t want to throw away that thoughtful glance at living on a boat. Also, there are complication with living on a boat, like laundry and the expense of upkeep. But it is still something we long for in our hearts.

Last week,  I read a lot of the blog by The Moneyless Man, about a man living without any form of currency for the last 18 months. Alternative living like this excites me, though I’m not thinking of throwing away all I know just quite yet.

There are so many different ways to live the 80 or so years we have on this planet, yet most people go to university, (or not) get a job, go into mass amounts of debt to buy a house they won’t own until they retire, work jobs they don’t prefer, (-or hate) and then have to buy things and go on extravagant vacations just to make the rest of their working year bearable. Yes I know, it’s a run-on rhetorical sentence, my English prof would have my head.

I’m not saying that everyone who owns a house and works a full time job is unhappy. I think it’s just important to be mindful of our choices instead of just flowing with the “normal” way of doing things. And that’s what we’re slogging through right now.

What is a sustainable, affordable way for us to live and raise a child? What steps do we need to take now to make that happen?

What do you think of these thoughts, dear reader? Your opinions are highly appreciated.

The saying goes:

“A Swarm in May is worth a load of hay
A Swarm in June is worth a silver spoon
A Swarm in July ain’t worth a fly.”

Well, guess what month it is? It ain’t worth a fly! That’s what month! And we are having swarms upon swarms. In fact, Marc just called me less than 2 minutes ago and said “Guess what?” and I said “NO!”

-Yup, another swarm! I’m running out of equipment! I picked up $1800 worth of used equipment in the Spring and I’m down to my second to last bottom board, and my last outer cover. Just to clarify,

You have a bottom board, a super (at least one, perhaps several) with 10 frames each, then an inner cover and an outer cover.

Alright, so the bees and I are going to have a little pep talk. Bees, it’s time to settle into your homes and enjoy. You have plenty of room, you have food. You are happy, I promise! With all this swarming, you are going to make your keeper go out of business buying sugar, off her rocker trying to assemble new equipment until well after her bedtime! Besides that, you’re going to break the bank buying all this equipment to house you!

The reason they say that a Swarm in July ain’t worth a fly is because the hive has to have enough food and enough bees to get them through the Winter. You need -they say- 100 lbs of honey in the hive so that the bees survive the Winter. Now that’s a lot of honey. Anything in excess of that is mine as the Greedy Beekeeper!

To be honest, we had such a mild Winter last Winter, and our weather is not as extreme that I am not as worried about a swarm’s survival here as I would be in oh, say, Saskatchewan. I mean, heck, my bees were flying all through January and February last year which is a bit ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous, we have been trying very hard this year to grow cabbages. We planted the seedlings when it says on the package (March 1st), we tried to provide them with a warm environment and lots of water and they are seriously 1 inch tall. Perhaps it wasn’t warm enough.

But then we have this cabbage bit of root that we pulled off our old cabbages from last year’s garden. It was forgotten about in a bucket of weeds all Winter. It had no love, no nurturing, I did not once sing over this cabbage to encourage growth.

And we were told it won’t make a cabbage ball this year, they do not form “fruit” two years in a row. But it was sprouting leaves so I stuck ‘er in the ground and thought we could collect seeds off of it or something.

This is the cabbage that could not be. The unlikely cabbage, the inadvertent cabbage. The miracle cabbage. I think it’ll make a fine cole-slaw, don’t you?

Alright bees, wave good bye to the dear readers!

… now if you’d just behave, I’m sure we’d all get along beautifully… this means no more stinging me in the back of the head….

Just wanted to draw your attention to a wonderful post done by Backyard Feast on a journey into Self-Sufficiency.

Her and her husband live in the Cowichan Valley, which is on Vancouver Island, (often referred to as “The Big Island” when we feign attempts to imitate Hawaii…..) and they are successfully gardening and growing their own veggies!

It’s encouraging when you find people in your area doing similar things to what you’re doing. But I find in general, the blog-o-sphere wonderfully encouraging at attempts to grow your own veggies, take advantage of the land and really connect with nature.

Dear readers, your enthusiasm you share with me as I learn how to catch swarms or have garden failures keeps me going! I am so grateful for your comments and enjoy sharing your worlds as Marc and I bumble along here on Tiny Pender Island.

I said to him the other day, “We are trying so many new things. Gardening, Sailing, Beekeeping. And we don’t know anything about any of them. It’s amazing we have an success at all!”

Oh and to give you a taste of what is to come, Sunday morning found us catching yet Another Swarm! This one even bigger than Miss Marilyn!

Photos to follow…

Please meet my assistant, Manfred Lawrence Archibald the Third.

Or as I call him, Habib.

Which Marc refers to as his “slave name.”

Whatever his name, he is a wonderful model for my baby-knits.

He also is willing to model in the nude.

More importantly,

like the sweater?

I hope someone little and living in my belly likes it too.

Whadya think, Belly-Resident?

Like your new sweater?