Sunday, April 23, 2017

Making Balance

 
    Some days I wonder what on Earth I am doing.
 
          Constantly torn between the desire to bury my fingers in the soil so deep roots sprout and the desire to load up my car and chase horizons until there are no new ones to find.
 
Barcelona, Spain
         
          There is no finding balance between a pastoral life and a nomadic one. The trick is to make it; to forge it with little more than you strength of will if need be. If you wait to find it you merely tear yourself up. I think I’ve managed to carve out a simple scale that satisfies both needs.
 
Fish at La Boqueria, a famous market in Barcelona

            It’s a delicate act as both require money; I’ve been lucky with housing and jobs to make ends meet with enough squeezed aside to make my most recent two-month trip across Europe possible. It was long and tiring but also invigorating and amazing- I’d do it again in a heartbeat (with only a few changes), especially since I know with Sun & Bee Farm expanding this year- about three times larger- wish me luck- and the possible addition of life stock or a dog looming on the horizon in a very Schrödinger’s cat manner, I won't be able to take off for weeks at a time. I am hoping this trip satisfies that need for extended travel a while.

Bern, Switzerland. Possibly my favorite city.


Tschiertchen, Switzerland. Favorite Alpine vacation town of my family as my grandmother's sister lives here.

Winemaker at work.

            That being said, while seeding beets and lettuce on Tuesday, my thoughts were already turning to the idea of a two-week hiking trip in Nepal sometime in 2019. That is my balance. Days when the travelers itch burns something fierce, making plans with rough set dates makes it bearable. It is happening, boarding passes will be printed and you’ll be on your way. In the meantime there are mountains, coasts and rivers worth exploring and my painting, poetry and learning how to fly fish to keep my mind occupied.

           
Pisa, Italy

Postojna Caves, Slovenia

Coast of Pula, Croatia


            During downtime on my trip (there was a lot of that, as afforded by train travel), I made plans for future Sun & Bee Farm projects, including new flower essence infused facial toner spray, different salves, lip balm for cold-sore prone lips, as well as a t-shirt design for a fundraiser so I can purchase some produce bins as during the summer sharing with Laughing Crow Farm gets pretty tight and the bins themselves are $19 to $23 a piece (if you know of somewhere in the Kitsap Peninsula region I could get some on the cheap please please please let me know!).

Church in Budapest, Hungary
           
          After processing all of my photos and video I will be photographing my herbal products and launching an on-line store. That’ll probably happen sometime next month, but no later than June. I will also be posting here more regularly, sharing monthly farm updates, favorite food and beverage recipes (flowers are starting to bloom so that means adventurous ice cream season is here!), wild-crafting adventure videos, herbal tutorials, books reviews and more!
 
Rock formations in Bulgaria's only desert outside Varna.
 
            This new season is going to be great. As always Sun & Bee Farm will be vending at the Bainbridge Island Farmers Market Saturdays 9-1 in front of town hall, I’m in the application process to vend at the Suquamish Farmers Market on Wednesday afternoons (more details to come), and I have plans to vend at several other events this year including the Friends of the Farms Harvest Fair, probably a Christmas show, possibly a pop-up at Bainbridge Vineyards, and maybe even a larger event such as the herbal conference on Camano I attended last year. We’ll see about those last few though.     

Parthenon from Hill of the Muses. Athens, Greece.

Here's hoping for drier days and weekend adventures, Sabrina 

PS I made a video about my trip! You can watch it below ;)



 

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