The Birds and the Bees....

Mmmm-hmmm.

Don't act like the title of this post didn't draw you here! I'm on to you!

Unfortunately, the subject of this post isn't nearly so scandalous. I'm talking in literal terms, and "the birds and the bees" was actually an email that my landlady recently sent me.

See, for a long time--since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, really--my landlady and her husband have teen talking about adding some farmy elements to the old city brownstone. Since I am the most "farm inclined" of the group of 3 families who live in the building (and isn't it SAD that I would be the farmiest of us all. I mean, have you SEEN me?) I've been heavily included in a say as to what goes on in these "green" proceedings.

For some time, the thought was that we would get city chickens. If you'll remember, some time back, I wrote a whole big honkin' article on this here blog about this very thing--keeping chickens in an urban space. I was inspired by others who wanted to keep chickens in suburbs and cities and, secretly, I sorta was prepping myself for attempting that very thing.

But then things got complicated because there was not enough room for proper chicken housing (at least not in my opinion, since these birds would need to be protected from my landlady's dog AND cat, who also use the backyard)--either in the back (too much space was needed for garden) or the roof (not enough gating to keep them from falling off the sides).

And all that went moot when my landlady attended a green conference in which the plight of bees was mentioned. We all know we NEED bees to even eat fruit or veggies, right? Without polination, we are sunk. And yet, bees seem to be dying out for no apparent reason--now attributed, by scientists, to the general broad term of Colony Collapse Disorder.

Of course, we should all be in a tizzy about this and my landlady-all tizzied up--decided right then and there she was going to get two hives and start on the way to bee-keepin'!

Ok--maybe it wasn't quite as simple as that. I should probably backtrack here and let you know that I had a conversation--wow, it all seems so innocent now--letting her know that my Hungarian grandfather used to keep 40 hives. I MIGHT have mentioned that I took an Intro to class years and years ago (you know, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I tell you!)....

You see where all of this is going right?

So guess who will be beekeeping two hives of bees when they get here in roughly 10 days? YEP! Atop all of the other hair-brained--I mean NOVEL--things I will be doing, I will be attending insect royalty and trying to stay sting free.

Do any of you have bees? I am excited, I must tell you, but there is that part of me that feels like I might be too rusty to do some of the things I remember to be associated with bees. I will definitely be tracking my crazy misadventures here, you can be sure.

In other headline news: I am now taking violin lessons (you remember the violin I got for Valentine's day, right?)--and can play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star " "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "Hot Cross Buns." Yes, I think I am ready for my world tour now.

Plus, in the art department, I finished these two little cuties in time for Easter and Spring. And they are FOR SALE!


Click HERE to go to my art blog link for more on how to bring these little rascals to YOUR HOME!

Ok, folks! More mayhem soon!