And so it can be said, that another summer at Honey Grove has passed.
Sitting here on this first day of September, the long awaited rain is finally coming down and there are no words left. There is not a thing to say, or think, or be. The poetic musings have retired for the moment and there is only stillness, a deep and all abiding stillness. A necessary stillness. A sweet and blessed and much required stillness. But before the stillness, there was summer and it looked like this: It looked like 400 pounds of fireweed honey.
And two solid days of hand extraction.
But it was all worth it, every back-breaking/hive-lifting moment, for there is nothing like the sweet golden alchemy of honey and the sacred company of bees to put the world right. The bees even brought home a blue ribbon from the Fall Fair last week, making us all very proud.
Otherwise, there was the garden which fed and fed and fed us. A garden that is still feeding us and reminding us that despite the heartbreak of the world, there is still a particular quality of morning light that insists there is always some beauty to behold.
Just like there are always more zucchinis to eat, or give away.
And there are hedges of kale that have the ability to make you feel healthier by simply gazing upon them.
And there are squash.
Yes, there are lots and lots of squash…and some of them have left the confinement of the garden fence entirely in search of broader pasture.
Perhaps they are feeling out numbered by the flowers.
And to be fair, there are such a lot of flowers.
Which Katie and I have fallen totally in love with, because we are women and women love flowers, we do, we just do.
And if I have ever wondered, what it might be like to be a faerie creature in a petaled forest, I now know. And Mark tells me that I might be careful what I wish for, for he says that an eternity in Faerie, is never a good plan, and I have to believe him, for the English seem to know these things.
And these flowers, bless them, for their beauty helped us to celebrate Cohen and Katie’s wedding. That’s right, Cohen and Katie got married and their beautiful celebration took place here on Honey Grove just a few short weeks ago.
And beautiful it was.
And delicious too, for you will not believe me when I tell you that Cohen and Katie catered their own wedding (a 5 course Italian meal for 70 people, featuring the Honey Grove Harvest, all things local and homegrown). It was a marvel of a task and even they have not fully integrated what it is that they pulled off.
Oh and this is not to mention the wood-fire pizza night that they hosted the night before their big day.
Which as you might imagine, was a smashing success.
And speaking of the brick oven, have I mentioned that Mark has fully launched the Honey Grove Bakery? And that he is now selling his wood-fire sourdough bread three times a week (made of freshly ground organic grains, grown locally whenever possible). And did I mention that his bread is a work of art? I mean truly, it is, it really really is, look.
A special thanks to photographer Bill Jorgensen of Courtenay BC, for coming out to our farm and taking these beautiful photographs of our baker at work.
And now, I must be away, for there is sauerkraut to make and there are more apples to gather, but mostly, there is a profound quality of stillness that has invited me to pause at the end of an unimaginable summer. An invitation that I have fully accepted.
Blessings From The Honey Grove Harvest,
Nao, Mark, Gus, Cohen, Katie and All at Honey Grove.
PS- Gus sends his regards from the lower field where he is playing in tall grass. He says that although he has no wise words for you today, he is quite sure that the trees might. He would like me to let you know that he himself is heading out into the forest at this very moment to find out what they have to say. I rather think I will join him.
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