May 30, 2020
3 minute read
480 words
15 photos
Settling in to life at Struan…
I bet they knew the storm was coming before we did. 42,000 bees newly tucked into our 4 Warre hives. We’d decided to wait to strap the hives to the stands until we had finished 2 or 3 weeks of feeding the bees and taking off the roof to change the feeders. It takes the bees a little while to glue the hive body boxes together, but we knew that the hives wouldn’t be top-heavy since they would just be starting to build comb. Not super high risk for blowing over. We thought. We hadn’t counted on 50mph wind gusts in those two vulnerable weeks.
The wind swept in from the north like a dive-bombing falcon. Our tent billowing like a sail, we rushed to zip up windows and doors as the rain started blowing in.
Oh, no! The bees!
Robert rushed out into the storm, and after securing the ropes on the tent fly, he surveyed the damage to the bee hives.
The four new ones had all blown over.
Wet bees = about-to-be-dead bees, not good.
While the rain and wind were still raging, he managed to set the hives back up and strap them down, so our bees had a fighting chance of getting warm and dry.
In the weeks to come, we watched them working, some stronger, some weaker. They are all still with us. None of the colonies lost a queen. Praise God.
We’ve been learning a lot about bees.
Fragile, but they’re pretty good at surviving.
Kept by community and the hand of God.
Highlights from March to May…
The beginnings of a garden.
Window, roof, and door details in the house plan.
Lia learned how to drive a tractor.
21 trees planted.
Electric line, finally. 🙂
Slip forms built.
Walls started.
Cozy April mornings by the woodstove.
Long May evenings on the porch.
And more to come.
forming the back door
Joshua mixing concrete.
Setting stones in the first stretch of wall.
The cornerstone.
Mowing our lawn.
Alex helping with window forms
Making that mix. 
Pouring concrete into the forms.
So much rain!
a stunning sunrise
Over the next few weeks…
Building walls one stone at a time,
one batch of concrete at time.
A toast, to you and yours…
May you have joy,
Cozy and long,
And more to come.
And more to come.
EXTRA special thanks this month to these delightfulest folks…
Mama Tiffany, Mama & Daddy Brace, Joshua James, Robert’s sisters and Ransom, Brother Sean, Alex & Amelia Lerma, Mr. & Mrs. Guzman, and you-who-shall-not-be-named, you know who you are.
Thanks for being here.
See you out there…
RxL