Sidewalk Beekeeper

Andy had some work to do on the hives in Savannah yesterday and when he forgot to take some honey to our friend’s antique store, I gladly offered to bring it, because I knew the kids and I could use the opportunity to visit my sister and play at Forsyth Park.

There is a new honey shop opening at the Tanger Outlets in Pooler and when the owner asked us if we had any honeycomb available, Andy decided to take off a super from one of our hives in order to make room for the Tupelo flow that’s happening soon. The shop owner is actually a commercial beekeeper, but they use plastic foundation and aren’t able to harvest honeycomb. We don’t usually sell raw honeycomb, but it is actually a lot easier to harvest than extracted honey and it’s also gorgeous, which matters to some people, not to mention sort of a novelty. Our minivan acted as a mobile honey wagon, since our friend wasn’t at his shop and Andy had a super full of honeycomb to cut. Thankfully he brought soap and water and made it work.

In the meantime, Bullfrog, Pinecone, Buttercup, Goliath (the goat), Lulu and I grabbed a picnic at the park, got some shark balloon hats, visited a family friend on Duffy St, saw Opa, checked out Daniel Malone’s house renovation progress and had an overall awesome day.

Being back in my hometown with my baby sister and kiddos was such a treat. Andy’s hardwork to cut out the comb, deliver it and get back to the farm to butcher our sheep after managing the dozens of other things happening on a daily basis, reminds me of how thankful I am for him. Coming home to the peace and quiet of this farm we’re on was a breath of fresh air after the bustle of downtown Savannah. It’s a good place to be.

 

 

5k

I ran my first race last Saturday. The only time I’d ever run 3 miles without stopping before Saturday was on the Wednesday beforehand when I ran the course with some friends. My time was 28min 58sec, which doesn’t mean a whole lot to me, because I’m just so thankful that I ran the course without walking even though I wanted to walk the majority of the time that I was running. I wouldn’t call myself a runner. I played soccer a little in high school and a little club soccer my freshman year of college, but never have I run just for fun. I actually wouldn’t even call it fun. It was kind of painful and incredibly challenging mentally when I wanted to quit almost before I started… But, I did start and I did finish and I just might do it again since I’m now indoctrinated into the running world… With a second place medal to boot.

XO

Goliath the Goat

He was covered in poo and hay and his mama was going a bit crazy. Perhaps she knew there was nothing she could do for him or perhaps we are giving her too much credit. Either way, he was found and then ‘operation save the baby goat’ was formed. One of triplets, he didn’t have a chance. Weighing 1 pound after a few syringes full of colostrum were administered, he couldn’t stand up and was quite bluntly: a runt. His eyes were cloudy, he didn’t make much noise, if any and there wasn’t a lot of hope, but just enough for us to give him a chance.

We don’t always give them a chance. They aren’t always discovered on time or sometimes there just isn’t time or resources to help. This little guy has been good for all of us. Squeezing in feedings and towel changes as he soils the bed in his (our only) laundry basket and just loving him has been quite the ordeal over here.

Sure, we’ve had baby goats in our house before and a rejected calf and weak chickens and ducklings, and who knows what else, but it’s been a few months and I guess every few months or years it’s good to save a little life that would otherwise die. Or at least try to save a little life. It sort of lifts the morale around these parts, because loss and death are inevitable when dealing with life. At least here and now. So, when a little runt of a goat appears and is desperate to live, we are so thankful to be part of it.

XO.

Birthday Week

Last week we celebrated Bullfrog’s birthday. He turned 5. It’s crazy to celebrate 5 years of his life when the memories of his birth are still so vivid. He’s growing up. Oh boy.

On Wednesday his Opa came over and took him out for  lunch. Wednesday night he had a milkshake with Andy after Awana. Thursday his Goma and Grandad came over for dinner and cake. Saturday was a big deal with friends, games, food, icecream cake and a piñata. I sure am thankful for these sweet memories that were made and for his precious loved ones that celebrated his big day all week!

One of my goals this year was to make much ado about special occasions. I usually drop the ball when it comes to birthdays and holidays and I’ve always admired those people that celebrate those special days with gusto and themed napkins to boot. I want our children to know how very much we love them and even more, how much their Heavenly Father loves them. So, we celebrate.

Her hair

At 10 months old, our sweet Buttercup has a bit of hair on top of that precious head of hers. Yesterday it looked a bit like a dorsal fin. Everything about her is precious. I don’t feel too guilty sharing it with you either, since this isn’t our Urbanna Farm business blog and it’s not really a business-products-what we’re selling-blog at all. Just a little bit of personal with a lot of love. Oh the love.

XO

 

How it all began…

Andy and I are occasionally asked how we met. I love how our story is bursting with Divine orchestration and that God used something as simple yet incredibly complex as honey bees to bring us together.

The long and short story of how Andy and I met began with honey bees. Andy was a beekeeper and I wanted to be a beekeeper. I met Andy the night I arrived back to Savannah, Ga from Eagle, Co. I went to a late church service, introduced myself and asked him if I could see his bees.

A day or 2 later, I was suited up in long sleeves with duct tape securely fastened around the bottom of my pants to keep any bees from crawling up my legs and Andy and I were inspecting one of his bee hives. Months later we were married. I wore a $50 Calvin Klein dress from tj maxx and he wore some linen pants and a linen shirt and we didn’t register for anything because we thought that we already had it all.

Our family and closest friends came together and we were wed outside on a ridiculously hot June day in Savannah. A weekend honeymoon at a friend’s cottage on a river near Brunswick and we were married. 9 months later we welcomed our first born son.

Andy and I both had a desire to have a sustainable orphanage someday  and decided that farming was a great tool to establish a sustainable/full circle system that could feed hungry people and give nourishment and provision to those who need it. So, we decided to pursue what we believed to be God’s calling in our lives.

Thats where we are now. Still working in that direction even after many moves and joys and sorrows. We believe that we are right where we need to be. We don’t know if we will ever have that sustainable orphanage or if we will even be alive tomorrow, but I’m so thankful that we are together and able to be living this farm dream that we’ve been given. Thanks to God for the honey bees.

A wonderful morning

The kids and I had a big morning out as we went to the local coffee shop, the library and the park. It was such a treat to park the van, load everyone up in the stroller, meet up with a couple of friends and enjoy our morning. First stop, the kids chose a chocolate milkshake and I let them have one… At 10am… Because if I get an iced macchiato, why not? Turns out it was a lactose free milkshake, which seems a bit counterintuitive, but they enjoyed it and my iced caffeine/sugar in a cup was super tasty too…

Next, we walked to the local library where we returned our books and left because the children’s area was roped off for a restroom repair. I actually didn’t know there was even a restroom in that area of the library, so I’ll be sure to check it out when we return…

Finally, we walked to the park where the kids ran around, played, yelled, burned off energy and played and yelled some more. We brought picnics and had a really great time. I am so fortunate to have some other like-minded mamas in this area to spend time with. It’s encouraging to know that we don’t all have it together and we all struggle with being ‘a good mom’ or ‘a good teacher’ or ‘you name it.’ It’s nice to have friendships where you look out for eachother and share meals together and let the kids play and learn and grow together.

When we left Savannah, we knew we’d miss some of our closest friends to date. We have a couple of families in our lives that are truly kindred spirits and our hearts are knitted together in a special way. One lives in Alaska and we are so thankful to be able to see them once  year or so. The other lives on Wilmington Island. Moving here and finding ‘our people’ has been wonderful. Investing in relationships and getting beyond polite pleasantries isn’t always pretty. It’s not always easy to share what’s really going on in your life beyond the photos and pretenses of ‘perfect children’ and clean houses and laundry perfectly ironed and ‘everything is awesome’ idealogies.

Still, taking the time to get out of our comfort zone and routine, load up and leave the farm, hang out with friends and stretch our legs was such a treat. Maybe it will be our new normal. Either way, today we had a wonderful morning.

XO.