Lazy W Marie

Leaky Trough

June 18, 2014

Sometimes this is just how life is. Leaky.

No matter how hard we try to stay filled with energy, momentum, strength,

great ideas, fun, peace, love…

We leak.

And sprout out of our sides in little, constant ways.

And gradually empty out, unless we take action to fill back up again.

I suppose if there is a consolation here, it could be that

the sprouting of good stuff often benefits others.

Like these geese who love this leaky trough so much.

So if you have sprung a leak and feel like you just can’t stay filled to the brim for very long,

please take heart.

There could be a design in it.

Someone may be benefiting from whatever

trail you’re leaving.

XOXOXOXO

Oh I Forgot I Have a Blog!

June 17, 2014

On May 23, 1980, my great-grandfather “Papa Joe” Neiberding wrote this in his apiary journal:

As usual, much has happened in the last twenty days and I have failed to write about it.

I know that feeling, Papa Joe. So much has been happening here at the Lazy W, in our family, in my mind and heart… I could sit at this keyboard for the next two weeks solid without distraction and still not tell it all. And actually? That sounds like a dream. Keep the dark coffee flowing and the glass bowls full of watermelon and almonds, and dismiss me to run once in a while, and I would be one happy camper. Err, writer.

How about some life snippets?

The gardens are ridonkulous right now! Once neatly spaced veggies are now growing together in deep, fluffy masses of green. I love every messy detail.

The baby chicks have all been graduated to the coop full time, except for Ethel. She is a permanent companion for Pacino, and they are very happy neighbors. She might soon gain Lucy as a roommate, too. You are going to love Lucy! If Ethel is a Las Vegas show girl, then Lucy is a punk rocker chick. So cute.

Handsome and I keep crazy evening rituals of gathering stray chickens and geese. They apparently love to be chased and herded. Sometimes it’s funny and we laugh and laugh and think we lead the most pastoral, romantic life ever. Sometimes it is less funny and we say swear words and get our tangly ponytails caught in chicken wire and almost slip in mud which is NOT actually mud. Oh, and Duck-Duck (the Canadian gosling? I told you about him, right?) is growing like a weed. And he loves to eat weeds! The Oklahoma kind of weeds, that are green and have itchy yellow flowers. Not the Colorado kind that make you wear patchouli and crave junk food.

Reading and running are high on my list of personal time passers this week. Here is my current reading stack:

Be sure to check out Jen Luitweiler's new book, Seven Days in May. — Be sure to check out Jen Luitweiler’s new book, Seven Days in May.

Reading Stack:

I’m thoroughly enjoying a thick chunk of fiction by Stephen King, 11/22/63. It’s a great lawn chair read: Part science fiction, part modern American history, all King. It has wonderful characters and thought provoking ideas about time travel, motivation, etc, etc.
I’m browsing poetry to soften my mind a little.
And re-reading The Rodale Herb Book as the mood strikes (this year’s Lazy W herb garden is epic so far and I don’t want to miss a thing).
I’m also constantly reading page after page of Papa Joe’s apiary journal, trying to soak up as much of his wisdom as I can.
Last but certainly not least, I’m reading Seven Days in May. It’s piece of historical fiction by Jen Luitweiler, the same author who visited the farm to answer Dinner Club’s questions on her book Run With Me. Remember? Super smart, loving, wonderful lady. Her newest book is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and it tells the stories of the 1921 race riots there. Important material, folks, so check it out! Dinner Club With a Reading Problem meets in early July to discuss it, and Jen is joining us once again! We are so lucky and excited. I’ll post a review here for sure, as well as notes from the discussion dinner.

Handsome and I have enjoyed lots of one-on-one time lately, recharging our batteries and filling those deep wells of love and friendship. Our thirteenth anniversary is fast approaching, and I am feeling all of those yin-and-yang things like, “Has it already been 13 years? But wait, is that all? Feels like we’ve built a lifetime together already.” Stuff like that. I love watching him with the animals, and I love watching him work on his own cars. It’s one of the sexiest things in the world.

Have I even taken the time to tell you all about little Meh? Meh is the name we have given to the newest baby, our little llama son.

I snapped this close-up while grabbing a few miles this morning. Meh had been following me and finally had enough of being ignore. So he criss-crossed my path and stopped, then just charged right up to my face and demanded a kiss. xoxo — I snapped this close-up while grabbing a few miles this morning. Meh had been following me and finally had enough of being ignored. So he criss-crossed my path and stopped, then just charged right up to my face and demanded a kiss. xoxo

Meh runs and I means RUNS to us when we call, that adorable sideways kicking style of running llamas do, then he cuddles our faces like there’s no tomorrow. He is a kisser, a nibbler, a neck-twisting sponge for affection. And we both are madly in love with him. By the way, Meh is his name because that is the sound he makes. Meh! But he says it cheerfully, not like a hipster.

So much more, you guys. Really. Just like your life. The days fly past. They are full to bursting with goodness and work and beauty and pain. Then they are yesterday and tomorrow is today and is almost over again.

Thanks for checking in with me. Thank you so much for stopping your busy life to read the silly happenings at the Lazy W. We feel very blessed and very excited for the future. I hope you do too.

And thank you, Papa Joe, for helping me feel less alone in the too-busy-living-life-to-write-about-it category.

Brave flowers, that I could gallant it like you
And be as little vain;
You come abroad, and make a harmless show,
And to your beds of earth again;
You are not proud, you know your birth
For your embroidered garments are from earth.
~Henry King 1592-1669
XOXOXOXO

Dulcinea the Wet Ninja Assassin

June 4, 2014

Hello again, and happy Wednesday!! Let’s go wordless this week. (Mostly.)

This is Dulcinea, our one-year-old llama, who recently became a big sister. She sneaked up on me the other morning as I checked the beehives. Literally walked up to me without a sound, sniffed my neck, and tapped her adorable rain-soaked snout on my shoulder.

Wet llamas are funny. Wet llamas playing secret-agent ninja-assassin while you tend very active bees hives… HILARIOUS. I nearly died.

Have the best Wednesday ever!
Be on the lookout for sleuthy camelids.
XOXOXOXO

New Baby, New Bees

June 2, 2014

This past weekend was busy at the farm. Lots of planting, lots of tidying up of the already flourishing edible gardens, lots of photo taking and chicken chasing. But two very exciting things happened that are totally news worthy.

Seraphine had her baby.

cria day three — This little guy was born mid-morning on Friday, May 30th. He is already running like the wind and nursing like a champ, and he is never short of kisses for Handsome and me. No name yet. But we’re definitely in love. xoxo

And I brought home two new hives of honeybees.

We had heavy rain at the farm all night and into the morning, sending the bees deep inside their boxes. I had a small panic attack thinking they had absconded on day three of living here. They're okay! Just staying warm and dry until the skies clear. If you look closely in the entrances you can see them churning about. Beautiful. — We had heavy rain at the farm all last night and into this morning, sending the bees deep inside their boxes. I had a small panic attack thinking they had absconded on day three of living here. They’re okay! Just staying warm and dry until the skies clear. If you look closely in the entrances you can see them churning about. Beautiful.

On Saturday evening Maribeth drove me to Noble, Oklahoma, where Brian and Marcy Royal run a wonderful little bee business from their home. We admired their peach trees (how could they not be well pollinated?), wished Brian well on their soon-to-be-born fourth baby, and put the two NUCs I had ordered into the back of Maribeth’s minivan, the one with the magic rear hatch. (When she’s not looking I play with it endlessly. You can close it without touching it, just using your mind powers.) We made a quick stop at her house for supplies I needed which of course she had, then drove the bees easily and without incident back to the Lazy W.

Once the two waxy cardboard boxes were settled onto their tabletop spots in my vegetable garden, we stood around in the purplish dusk eating sugar snap peas straight off the vine and accepting fuzzy kisses from the new cria (baby llama). I wondered that night, as I do so often, whether Maribeth knows how important a role she plays in our hobby farming adventures. I hope she does.

On Saturday night I went to bed a very happy beekeeper (but a very sad Thunder fan, because on that same evening my team lost their shot at the playoffs). My dreams ran thick with golden honey.

Early Sunday morning Handsome nudged me from sleep saying, “Hey are you gonna go feed your bees?” I sprang out of bed like a kid on Christmas morning, donned my pink bee suit, and ran outside. Past the hungry cats, past the fattening eggplants and cantaloupes.I ran straight to the bees and fed one of the hives all the sugar-water I could offer them, which wasn’t much. We’ve been trying to eat less refined stuff here and so I just don’t keep sugar in the pantry anymore. Also, I wasn’t planning to feed the bees so early in the season but am happy that Maribeth urged me otherwise. Maybe keeping them overfed and happy will be a good buffer against the odds. Two years ago, remember, I just kind of crossed my fingers and walked away, until winter.

After church and a family lunch, we stopped for groceries. I bought five million pounds of granulated sugar. Home again, I mixed up some thick, yummy syrup and returned to the vegetable garden. It was easy to gently brush the bees away from the feeding holes to position the inverted buckets. The sweet stuff was dripping softly, and my heart was content. I looked around and knew that everything growing nearby would not only feed these amazing creatures; the bees would also pollinate these plants and help them thrive. In one lopsided rectangle of earth, symbiosis and poetry were reigning.

I thought of my Papa Nieberding.

Excerpt from my great-grandfather's apiary journal, these pages dated May 1980. I was in Kindergarten, and Oklahoma was in full bloom just like we are now, 34 years later. — Excerpt from my great-grandfather’s apiary journal, these pages dated May 1980. I was in Kindergarten, and Oklahoma was in full bloom just like we are now, 34 years later.

May 2- This was truly a lovely day. The temperature was in the high 70s- and the bees were carrying nectar in loads- Tonite there was an odor of ripening honey. I haven’t any idea what the source.
May 3- The willows are blooming and should bolster the brood rearing.

Well, it’s mid-morning now and I have a long list of wonderful stuff to get done here. I wish you well, friends, however you are spending your Monday. I wish you good, nourishing food. Memories that heal. Friends who help. I wish you goals worth pursuing and love that catches you well at the end of the day.

“She did not need much, wanted very little. A kind word, sincerity, fresh air, clean water, a garden, kisses, books to read, sheltering arms, a cosy bed, and to love and be loved in return.” ~Starra Neely Blade
XOXOXOXO

Saturday Morning Stress Management Ideas

May 31, 2014

A few of my friends are having a really hard time catching their breath lately. Stress is building up and stealing their joy in heart-breaking ways, and I hate it for them. I hate it for myself, too, because I love my friends and want them back. LOL I want their shine back in my life. You know? : )

So today, before I walk out to the garden, before I start preparing for the new bees which we are bringing home tonight, before we go play with the new cria who was born yesterday…

Seraphine has once again gifted the farm with a beautiful, healthy little cria. And we are, once again, madly in love.

I want to share a simple formula I use in times of paralyzing stress.

Start with your environment. If you need to relocate to somewhere more peaceful than where you are, do that. Or, if you need to spend half an hour cleaning your house in order to enjoy it more, do that. I always think more clearly with a clean, shining room and a fragrant candle. That’s just me. Speaking of environment, I also suggest considering your most personal environment, your body. Go get really sweaty for a while, doing whatever you do that feels good to you (I like running, duh). Then take a shower and get cooled off and peaceful. Now your slate is somewhat clean and you are ready to re-energize. The mind-body connection is so strong.

Now just sit still and count your blessings, big and small. When I say small I mean notice the colors and fragrances outside that please you, the loving memories captured in your home’s furnishings, the sounds of your people or your animals, etc. Notice the incredible things, too, like every bill that is paid. Every physical ailment that is in your past. Every broken relationship that is either repaired or removed. Be as wild and thorough about counting your blessings as you can possibly be. Spend real energy on this, to the point that you feel silly, because it will fuel your asking for new blessings. Soon you won’t feel silly; you’ll feel exhilarated. I use a pretty notebook to record these things, and I am still playing with Ann Voskamp’s 1,000 gifts exercise. You do what works for you. Just be detailed. Notice what feels amazing to you, what things you can’t imagine losing. Rather than giving any thought to the problems you’re facing, be thankful for the problems you don’t have. Notice what physical pleasures, which thoughts and emotions, every plan that excites you or comforts you the most. Spend a little energy magnifying those things. I promise whatever energy you spend here will be restored to you in spades.

Now write down a few wishes. Don’t even call them prayers yet; call them wishes, and be happy about it! Like, totally indulgent. If anything in the world could go exactly your way, what do you want out of life? (And by the way? I had the realization recently that what I want out of life is in many cases very different from what society thinks I should want. Be genuine!) Think about that outcome in detail, imagine it. Dwell in the possibility of total fulfillment, both short-term and long-term. Now pray over these things. Ask for them boldly, beyond what you by yourself would be able to do. This means ask largely. Ask for the most overwhelming version of whatever your heart desires, and trust that the best possible thing for you will happen. It really will! Trust that Love reigns over your life, because He does.

Finally, go do something for someone else. Simple as that. Your needs are now met. Your biggest hopes are being fulfilled even before you see the evidence of it, and you have life and energy abundant in you, overflowing. You have plenty to share, so go share it! For the rest of the day, anytime you have the urge to focus on your problems (they are real, I’m not saying they’re not), just dismiss the thought and remember that the solutions are forthcoming. Instead of dwelling in frustration, pain, or sadness, make a conscious choice to dwell in the mystery of the future, the overwhelming possibility of EVERY SINGLE WISH GRANTED.

Life is beautiful! Treat it with that expectation. xoxo

Happy Saturday Friends! I’ll be back soon with farm updates and an installment of Tiny T’s love story!

XOXOXOXO

Seraphine had her baby.

And I brought home two new hives of honeybees.

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