Bee Happy

Chapter 1 The Flight Path of the Bee

Summer was in full swing, the flowers in the garden were smiling at the sun.  The air was filled with the sweet smell of bee balm and the sound of the honey bees swarming around the flower heads.  The morning glories were winding their way up the trellis beside the garden gate, blue and purple and pink blossoms announcing their beauty. 
Calli was lying on the ground, staring at the clouds in the sky.  Resting, that’s what she was doing. Soaking in the sweet smell of the flowers mixed with the rich smell of the earth.  She felt divine.  This was her place to revitalize and restore her spirit.  Being a part of the earth and watching the plants transform from seeds to sprouts to small seedlings and finally to mature plants, this was her calling. This was why she was here.  She’d read so many self-help books that touted the message of doing what you love and the money will follow.  Well, she was doing exactly what she loved, and it felt like she was chasing the money instead of having the money follow her into her bank account.  No time to wallow in that right now.  She had another six rows of peas to pick and get ready for the farmers market in the morning.  The sounds of the bees pollinating the flowers were like a happy tune being played on the stage just for her.  She was enthralled with the rhythm and the harmonies that nature offered anyone who would take the time to listen.  She was a master with time and patience unlike her parents who were continually harping at her to get a real job.  A job where you reported to your cell each and every day at the same time, a job where you sat at a desk and did projects, talked on the phone, listened to the droning of the rest of the captives in the office, who also had their own little cells where they talked to people all day about buying this or that or don’t you want to lower your interest rate… all those crazy telemarketing calls she listened to on her answering machine. 
She knew that her parents thought she was wasting her life by growing flowers, vegetables and herbs and selling them at the local farmers market.  They had bigger plans for her life, a career, a husband,
and kids
and of course grandkids for them to spoil.  Who said they had her best interests at heart? It sounded like they had their best interests at heart and if she was married off then they wouldn’t have to worry about her.
  Such is life, and it is her life after all, not theirs.  With a huff, Calli unglued herself from the warm hug of Mother Earth and got to work on those last rows of peas.

  Calli loved the sound of the snap of the pea pods as she removed them from the vine.  She moved quickly down the rows, filling her sling with the ripe pea pods.  Both of her hand
s were free to harvest the peas, the brightly colored sling was her prize invention.  It was similar to the slings that mothers carried their new born babies in.  It reminded her of a kangaroo’s pouch, protective and easy to fill with the harvest of her vegetable garden.  She filled it several times emptying the pods into a large basket.  She counted three baskets full just from today’s pickings.  Smiling she did the math quickly in her head.  This will be at least a $200 day tomorrow at the market with just this crop of peas.  Calli laughed out loud.  Try to convince me now that I’m wasting my time and not making any money.  This day alone will pay my rent and give me some extra cash towards my dream.  Calli didn’t talk to anyone about her dream.  Well, not any physical person.  She talked about her dream all the time to the birds, butterflies, bees, and her garden helpers.  She knew it was in safe keeping with them, unlike what would happen if she shared it with her parents or any of her friends.  It’s always best to keep your dreams pure until you can make them appear in your reality.  When other people start putting in their 2 cents worth of opinion, then the dream became cloudy, murky,
and
has
lost its purity and its true essence. Calli had watched as her brothers started talking about starting their own business, a bike repair shop.  They were the best mechanics she’s ever seen.  They could put a pile of junk back together and make it run.  But their parents had given them all the reasons why they wouldn’t be successful and they stopped dreaming and took a job at the local mall, where they put in too many hours, have no control of their schedule and make almost enough to support themselves and their families.  Calli wasn’t going to fall into that trap, no sir, not her.  She was her own woman and she had her own dream that she wasn’t going to share until it was a full functioning reality right here on her grandfather’s farm. 

  The bees kept flying back and forth between flowers and buzzing around Calli as she hummed a little tune.  Her mind was focused on tomorrow’s market and all her regular customers who would be thrilled to buy her vegetables, flowers and herbs.  She loved getting up early, packing her van with all the baskets of produce and buckets of fresh flowers.  You wouldn’t catch her sleeping in on market day.  She went to bed with the chickens.  Now, that’s an old saying that most people won’t understand.  She’d learned everything she knew about gardening from her Grandfather, he was her rock and she was his shadow.  That’s what he called her, his little shadow.  She knew that she would carry on the family tradition of nurturing the earth and
coa
ching an abundance of vegetables from her garden plot.  Yes, going to bed with the chickens meant that when the sun went down, she went to bed, it didn’t matter what the clock said for time, she was listening to the rhythm of
Mother N
ature and following her lead. 

  Two honey bees made a bee line for Calli and kept buzzing around her head until she stopped picking peas and looked at them.  They had landed on the top of a bee balm flower and were almost coaxing her to follow them.  Ok, I must have been in the sun too long this afternoon and didn’t drink enough water to keep myself hydrated, if I believe that these two bees are asking me to follow them.   She started picking peas again and these two little orphans were buzzing her head again.  When she stopped harvesting, they flew to the top of the flower again.  Calli shook her head and picked one pea pod.  Quickly she looked at the flower to see if the bees would fly around her again.  They looked like they were waiting….she picked another pod, they moved their wings, daring her to continue.  She quickly grabbed a handful of pods, slipped them into her sling and sure enough, the bees started buzzing her head again
.  This game of buzz and pick w
en
t
on for about 10 minutes, until Calli had enough and put her sling under the shade of the maple tree.  She looked right at the bees and said, “Okay, what do you want me to do?  Obviously, you don’t want me to pick peas.  What is your message?”  The two little bees almost jumped up and down; at least that’s what it looked like to her.  T
hey took off in the direction of the old machine shed.  One flying ahead and then the other one circling back so Calli could keep up with them.  When they reached the old shed, Calli had to pause for a couple of minutes for her eyes to adjust to the dim light in the shed.  She followed the bees by their sound because it was too hard to see them.  They landed and then came back for her.  She stepped over old
abandoned pieces of equipment, parts that belonged to some long forgotten farm machinery.  She almost tripped over a bucket filled with nuts and bolts and boxes of screws and nails.  Now there was something useful in this old shed after all.  The bees returned to buzz around her head, encouraging her forward. 
Finally they landed in the farthest corner of the shed, on some kind of box that was leaning against the back wall.  She stepped closer and wished she had a flashlight with her.  There were a few rays of sunshine seeping through the walls that had a few boards missing due to the age of this building and the neglect it had experienced over the years.  The sun gave her just enough light to recognize exactly what the box truly was.  It was an abandoned bee hive.  There were several layers haphazardly stacked in the corner.  The bees were buzzing around the hive and then sitting on the top layer.  Then they’d buzz Calli’s head.  She didn’t
know very much about tending
a bee hive but the thought of having her own honey gave her an idea.  Maybe the bees are really looking for a new home and maybe they want me to provide that for them.  And maybe I could learn how to become a bee keeper and sell my honey at the farmers market too!  The bees flew around her head even faster, almost giving her the ‘yes’ answer to her thoughts.  Calli laughed out loud when she realized that they were also telling her that the honey was theirs and they would share part of it with her but not all of it.  “Point well taken!” 
She
said out loud.  “I’ll be the keeper of the hive and we’ll share the honey.”  I must ask Grandfather what he knows about this hive and if he was the bee keeper.  Calli climbed back over all the buckets and parts and old machinery exiting the old machine shed and walking out into the sunlight.  She smiled up at the sky and watched the bees follow her back to her garden to finish her harvest.
This feels like the next step in following my dream.  “Woo hoo!”  She shouted as she jogged, this idea is the spark I’ve been waiting for. 

Chapter 2  To Bee or Not To Bee

  The little multi-colored banty rooster crowed at the crack of dawn, startling Calli out of her dream.  She was selling honey at her market space for $50 a jar.  Laughing at the thought, Calli stretched and jumped into the shower to finish waking up before she started loading her van with all the peas, tomatoes, herbs and flowers.  She had stored everything in the cooler last night before she went to sleep.  There was plenty for her to sell today.  This is the height of the vegetable season and she didn’t want to be late.  For sure, the early vendor at the farmers market got the most sales from the early birds who were looking for the best produce.  With all that she had harvested yesterday, she didn’t need $50 a jar honey to fill her purse and bank account. 

  Closing the sliding door on the van, Calli sighed with relief.  She had enough room for all her buckets of fresh cut flowers.  These were some of her best sellers, along with the peas.  Hurrying into the kitchen to grab some breakfast, Calli smelled the bacon and smiled.  Grandfather must have gotten up ahead of me again.  He’s amazing!  Calli lived in the family farm house with her grandfather.  The rest of the family had moved into town years ago, leaving
Calli and Roger to take care of themselves.  They didn’t mind a bit.  It was better for them not to have the rest of the family poking their noses into their gardening business.  Calli and Roger were a team.  Her grandfather had slowed down a bit once he started checking off his 80’s.  He really didn’t look a day older than 70, but she knew he was going to celebrate his 83
rd
birthday in a couple of weeks.