bees – Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs..

I am soo tired this morning! I think it is all this rain! We need it though so I won’t complain. Everything has been so dry and parched that a few days of straight rain will do everything good – for the farmers, for the gardeners, all manner of flora and fauna.

I can say we have some very happy bees! I have no idea where these ladies live but they are loving our lavender. It’s amazing how alive a yard can be when you stop and look. Sadly Billy told me that if you pay attention to your car’s windshield, you can tell just how reduced insects are these days – remember road trips and having to wash the dead bugs off the window? Do you still need to? Anyway we try to do our part over here in helping the insect and animal populations – we have so much life out there in our yard. Sometimes too much, but that is a story for another time. But we have little baby praying mantids, katydids, grasshoppers, jumping spiders, a blue jay nest with blue jay fledglings, possums, and I am sure some other nighttime creatures I don’t know about. And of course, butterflies and caterpillars. I do give them a helping hand, we have established a pretty good food chain out there so I bring some in. Some for the predator insects, some to help grow and release.

Speaking of little creatures, my little tadpoles are all tiny tiny toads now! We only have two left, and I have named them Simon and Garfunkel. They are still way too tiny to release, so for now they live here. We are enchanted by them and how very wee they are. How do these things make it in the wild? I am sure that is why they have so many eggs and tadpoles, it is definitely a numbers game.

Last night I spent a rainy, relaxing evening with my friend Kelly. We talk everyday but don’t always get to get together in person and it was good to just hang out. I got to visit with her daughter Tadpole girl, who showed me some of her new cool things she made, and then Kelly and I got to just sit and chat. I also got to check out her tadpoles and toads and insects and plants. She has a bunch of cats but has a large house and you never even realize there are more than one or two or three most of the time. I only saw three last night, Cecil, the buff old guy in the first photo, Buddy on the chair by the window, and then Pal, who is still sort of new to the house. Buddy and Pal were stray cats until this winter when it got really cold and Kelly let them in to warm up. I said, well, they are yours now, they are going to get comfy and that’s it. And she was like “No, no, we have enough cats, these are my outdoors buddies I feed..” Mmm hmm. Looks like I was right, and these cats have landed in the lap of luxury. Buddy in particular looked super cozy. And those toads are both girls, nothing going on there in that photo!

This has started already – homeschool planning for next year. I have a pretty good idea of how our structure and routine is going to work. I have all of the curriculum bought, and I am busy reading through it and looking at what we can do to enrich our studies in the fall. We are going to start a small version of summer school July 10th and do that for about a few weeks or so, then take another small break before we start up again for good in September. We are not super hot day people and it keeps us busy inside during the hottest hours. We have zero shade in our yard and it feels like the surface of the sun in the summer! We won’t be going all out schooling but it’ll be good for both of us. And I love my new planner from Schoolnest, and I also very nerdily like that the tabs match so well.

Annnd my cup is empty! Time for a refill! So not too much exciting happening around here, just…life, I guess, and that is perfect honestly.

How are you all doing? What is going on in your world?

From the Publisher:

Considered an “industry legend” by The New York Times, Andrew Coté has one of the most intriguing, challenging, and unique jobs in New York City—maintaining millions of honey bees atop some of the city’s most iconic buildings. His apiaries have crowned the Waldorf Astoria and the Museum of Modern Art; reside on the North Lawn of the United Nations; reign above stores, hotels, restaurants, schools, churches, and synagogues; and are situated in community gardens, and even cemeteries, throughout the five boroughs.

In this debut collection, Coté takes readers with him on his daily apiary adventures over the course of a year, in the city and across the globe. Here, among his many duties, he is called to capture swarms that have clustered on fire hydrants, air-conditioning units, or street-vendor umbrellas. Annually, he travels with his father to regions like remote Fijian islands, rural Uganda, Haiti, Ecuador, or Iraq with his organization, Bees Without Borders, where he teaches beekeepers how to increase their honey yield and income via beekeeping endeavors.

Written with Coté’s trademark humor, acumen, and a healthy dose of charm, Honey and Venom illuminates the obscure culture of New York City “beeks” and the biology of the bees themselves, from the humble drone to the fittingly named worker to the queen herself—who is more a slave than a monarch. The hive world, Coté reveals, is full of strivers and slackers, givers and takers, and even some insect promiscuity—startlingly similar to the prickly human variety.

For Coté, a fourth-generation beekeeper, this is a family tradition, and this personal significance pervades his celebration of the romance and mystery of bees, their honey, and the beekeepers whose lives revolve around these most magical creatures.

My Thoughts:

When I think of beekeepers, I think of pastoral, rural, peaceful settings, a life full of flowers and honey ; Andrew Coté is far from this image. His life and career is globetrotting, star studded, and full of rooftops and city streets, hard work and long hours (although I am sure those rural type beekeepers also work long and hard hours!)

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I should have realized that the life of an urban beekeeper would be leagues different from those on farms and homesteads, however I never would have imagined the amazing things that Coté, has done in his life as a beekeeper. One such thing is his Bees Without Borders program that he founded to help fight poverty, and he has travelled to such countries as Kenya, Nigeria, and Iraq and others, to teach them beekeeping skills. Some of the stories he had to tell about his travels were were humorous, while some highlighted the dangers he faced in his mission to help others, and bees.

Coté, also had stories to tell of commercials, tv show appearances (Cake Boss, for one), and being a beekeeper to the rich and famous – namely one very famous woman renowned for her lifestyle whose name begins with M. In addition to all of this, Coté, also founded the New York City Beekeepers Association, maintains his own empire of bees, and assists with dangerous bee situations that plague the city – such as a hoarding house whose bees became a danger and nuisance to the city, working side by side with the police in such cases.

I really loved this book – I loved hearing about all of Coté’s adventures, his family history with bees and beekeeping, and the little facts that he threw in about bees as well – such as the fact that the scent of bananas enrages them! This book was a great read and I loved learning about a whole different world, the world of the urban beekeeper.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.