Nectar Studio

Fox Den Escapist has rooted into Nectar Studio.
more on that later….

We are about to enter into full on summer here soon, and the hives are flowing. Our friends Homestead Ranch have asked Billy to step in and take over their stand at the Saturday Market every other week so they can venture out to new things. He will have his honey there those weeks, and usually on the alternating weeks they graciously sling it for us. My massage books are full on Saturday’s for the next 4 or 5 weeks, but I will start alternating those so I can also attend. I’m getting my hands back into herbal crafting, and am planning some delicious hive based products. I look forward to sharing those soon! I am also taking new clients, if you know anyone who would like to schedule a massage in my home studio. I offer 60, 75, 90 minute sessions. Back by popular demand is online booking for home studio Saturday sessions. Maybe in the future I will have more availability.

Nearly a year has gone by since I returned from the dissolving of a dream to create a tropical utopia. Though we still bare the financial setbacks from the situation, the heart centered gains have simultaneously been miraculous. Who knew I would never be content without a proper spring, or be able to live without the deep healing of a sauna in winter? This past September on my birthday, I found myself laying on the ground out in the bee yard next to a hive set next to the rose bush, with a knowing that it was time for me to build on what I have. I am a transitory creature - by nurture, but perhaps by nature I long to remain rooted. I went to 12 schools and moved to a new town and/or state each grade school year. That’s a lot of change for anyone, let alone a child. This pattern instilled in me that it was normal to do, and I carried that pattern into my adult life. I honestly don’t know how many times I have moved, probably a hundred. Though I don’t have any judgement about it, I doubt it’s good for anyone to move that much, let alone the environmental impact it creates. Long story short, I think I am tired of moving and starting over. I thrive in stillness and quiet. In fact, I like being at home so much that these are the goals : I want to work from home, cook at home, sleep at home, entertain at home, create from home and watch PBS British murder mysteries from home year round except the weeks I take regional road trips or have gone to the Baltics.

This leads me to a book I am currently reading and can already recommend, The Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings - A Year of Keeping Bees by Helen Jukes. There is an excerpt I related to whole heartedly, in my desire for autonomy and expansion while also remaining in my hive -

“In The Hive by Bee Wilson, I learn how in ancient Rome there were two categories of animal: wild ones, which could be possessed temporarily, and domestic ones, which could be owned. Honeybees, which could be kept but not tamed, didn’t fit into either. In fact, the Roman encyclopedist Pliny the Elder argued that, not either tame nor wild, they occupied a middle, indeterminate category all of their own”

In the gardens, we have many things in bloom, and are looking forward to so much more! Cherries, blackberries, comfrey, yarrow, saint john’s wort, various greens, sage, mugwort, motherswort, rose, garlic, elderflower, mountain mint, and more. Looking forward to crafting some medicinal magic with the Honey Shine that should be arriving tomorrow. While my husband tires away with the brunt of caring for our garden and the keeping of bees, I seem to have the fun part of this collaboration - the crafting! Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.