Looking outside my window the world is huddled under a blanket of white powder. The sort that freezes your bones and after making snow angels and fairy igloos for hours you want to retreat from, at least for a little, to warm your fingers and toes. During a winter wonderland induced hibernation I have spent some time plotting for next summer's backyard flower farm. Yes, I know, or suspect, it will not be a full scale flower farm, but rather a step in the direction of expanded cultivation. My plan is to till more of our lawn into beds and intersperse flowers between the fruits and veggies already under cultivation. I'd also like to fill many of the little spaces between and amongst other plantings with FLOWERS! And maybe someday, perhaps not this year, I'll dream up a flower maze for our front yard, one that will thrill birds, bees, butterflies and neighbors alike.
Oh did I mention bees?! I have dreamed of keeping bees for, well let's say in honest the past four or five years, but probably long before that the itch began. This being said I don't like being stung and I fear swarms. I have done lots and lots and lots of reading about bees and talked to many a beekeeper. From all of this I've concluded that Top-Bar or Warre style hives are the route for me. Perhaps these too will come to be, all the better to pollinate our neighborhood.
So what say you, will I actually do with all these flowers? First and foremost I'm hoping to expand the local habitat for the birds, the bees and the butterflies. In this urban-ish neighborhood we aren't exactly festooned with eating opportunites for these creatures of our biosphere. Concrete doesn't serve well as sustenance. So, I'm intending to sustainably and organically cultivate flowers in an urban-ish environment that will attract insects and avian creatures alike. Then I hope to harvest blooms for enchanted flower portraits, more flower mendings, and experimentation with suspending flowers in sap resin on a small, medium and large scale.
Yes, these are my dreams as I walk stealthily through fresh fallen snow and brave our lake front Tundra. I am embracing winter in all her beauty, but hold a little longing in my heart for the bounty of the growing season.