Blessed Be ~ Half for you and half for me ...

I've been spotting nests everywhere in our garden which is an absolute thrill! A few times while looking out the window I've caught Robins, Red Winged Blackbirds, Sparrows and even a teeny little Wren pulling apart the liners of our hanging baskets. 

There was a lot of cooing happening outside our bedroom window and by the twigs sticking out it looks like the Doves were thinking about nesting in the eaves but changed their mind (thankfully). They would have been completely exposed to the elements and we have had high temps combined with heavy evening rains. The Doves had done this once before and ended up deserting the nest during a brutal rain/wind storm which was heartbreaking.  When we took it down we found 2 perfect little white eggs inside, untouched.

The heat and rain has  made the garden explode and while this is the time of year when our garden begins to take on a life of it's own and look a bit on the "wild" side, we only need to see all the bees , butterflies and dragonflies enjoying the perennials to know that the garden is for much more than looking nice!

Spotting the Chinese lanterns spreading across the garden makes me think of cooler days and my favourite season Autumn! 

We recently watched a fantastic drama/ documentary called Honeyland about the life of a wild bee keeper in rural Macedonia . Honey land tells the story of the balance of humanity and nature and follows a woman using ancient beekeeping traditions in the mountains of Macedonia. The film crew spent three years on location with Hatidze Muratova, whose philosophy to harvesting honey is 

 "take half, leave half" 

Winner of three awards at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and nominated for two Academy Awards at the 2020 Oscars for both Best Documentary Feature and Best Foreign Film. I highly recommend this amazing documentary.

The land of bees speaks much more than simply about bees

"The hum of bees

is the voice of the garden"

-Elizabeth Lawrence-

Watching Honeyland sparked an interest about reading more and more about wild beekeeping and bees. Did you know that the Queen Bee spends most of her life in the hive?  She never visits a flower or make honey. Her primary diet is royal jelly, the substance secreted by the worker bees. The Queen bee is often the only survivor when winter arrives and she is the one who will build the new hive in the Spring.

The trumpet vine is in full bloom and welcoming hummers and bees daily! 

~Magical~

"I want to be magic.

I want to touch the heart of the world and make it smile.

I want to be a friend of elves and live in a tree.

Or under a hill.

I want to marry a moonbeam and hear the stars sing.

I don't want to pretend at magic anymore.

I want to be magic"

-Charles de Lint-

"The flower doesn't dream of the bee,

it blossoms and the bee comes"

-Mark Nepo-