There are certain gifts that are a joy every day. The bee trail Mendy made is that kind of gift. The new apiary is more distant from the house than ever before. This was mostly a result of picking the best spot I could possibly find on the land – a spot with southern and eastern exposure, protected from the wind and ideally somewhere in the middle of gentle slope.
There was some emphasis too on getting the bees a little less close to the house than the twenty feet out the back door at the rental house. I loved that I could watch them coming and going from their hives while I was washing dishes at the kitchen window. Though I enjoy the constant camaraderie of the girls around the house, not everyone does. And they do get a bit nosy (and grumpy) in the fall when time is running out on nectar gathering and can be pretty persistent in hanging around the back door if something smells sweet in the kitchen…or hanging around your head if your hair product smells interesting, etc.
So with consideration to Mendy as well as farm guests and friends who are not beekeepers, I picked a spot across the creek on the upslope of the field. It’s far enough but not too far. The apiary faces south to keep good sunshine on the hives (and on the solar fence charger that powers the bear fence) and to keep northern wind at their backs. The forest is behind them to block as much wind as possible. It’s on the side of the field that gets good morning light so as to warm up the girls early for their summer workdays. Unlike in Arkansas, I wasn’t able to place them where they’d get the first morning summer rays of light but hopefully they won’t sleep in too late. Here, they needed to be up the slope enough to be clear of the frost pocket that forms on the low side of the field as well far away from any flood zone of the creek. I tried to pick the best possible spot given the land.
But they felt far away. To visit required a walk down the road and around a house to cross the stone bridge and come up the field to the bee yard. Or jump the creek, which Ada the farm dog likes to do but the big rocks hiding in the longer grass along the banks makes that treacherous on human ankles. Mendy knew I missed my girls being right outside the door. So she began making me a path, from our back yard (where the future garden is planned) across the upper wooden bridge and into the woods.
It’s not far by that route, but it’s steep in places so she gradually fashioned a path that meanders up and over the hillside through the rhododendron and mountain laurel and right to the bee yard. It took a while. What a gift! The forest ground is soft and quiet and I love the tunnel effect through the ‘laurel hells’ a name the pioneers gave the thick banks of evergreens that made it extremely difficult to get a horse drawn wagon through these mountains. If I look down from the trail I can see the creek below.
Best of all it makes a jaunt to the bee yard not only easy, but also a magical passage through the forest. Judging from the tracks the deer and turkey are also enjoying this thoughtful path from our backyard to their favorite field. Thank you so much Mendy. It’s one of the best gifts ever.
with love, Leigh
—A Larrapin Garden…recently re-settled in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina. Posts on this blog may be boom or bust depending on the season, but if you subscribe here you’ll get one weekly email—usually on Wednesdays—to let you know what’s new. You are also invited to get garden related miscellany at the Facebook page or on Twitter. The Pinterest boards (Pinterest should carry a habit-forming warning label by the way) are here.
