Keeping the Swarm in Your Heart

I had a dream.  I picked up a large, golden queen bee in my hand and placed her onto the entrance to a hive.  She accepted it and walked Home.

The excitement begins!  As soon as I return home from errands, I find Eastern Shadow hive body exploding with bees!

The bees swirl and swarm around my Wheel Garden, just one part of my Lemniscate of the Year Garden and then settle in on an autumn olive tree between my house and my neighbor.  Is it a heart with arteries or an upside down deer?

Once the branch was cut, I put it down carefully before the trek through the goat barn and down to the new hive body.  I had to make sure to feed the goats, Arthur and Merlin, to keep them occupied.  (Of course, the bees swarmed when my husband wasn’t home to help and my 84 year old neighbor was kind enough to help cut the branch with an old pair of clippers he had while I held the branch, but he let me know that he was actually afraid of bees, so that was as much as he could help.  What a sweet man for facing a fear, taking a risk and believing me on how docile the bees are, especially at this time while they carry sweet honey in their bodies! Thank you Bob!)

Regardless of the interesting food I cut for Arthur and Merlin, they became interested in the large fresh branch I was carrying over my head through their barn and across their pen.  If you can imagine me, carrying a large, heavy branch and swarm over my head with both hands and trying to nudge two curious goats out of the way as they stood on hind legs to try to eat the leaves and bark from the “food” I was bringing them, then you can imagine how ridiculously funny I must have looked and why I had no hands to take any pictures at this time!  Good thing! (You want to know what a Melissae looks like at work…yep, picture that.)

The introduction to their new home went well and they began to settle in.  I ran out the next morning to see how they fared and to let them know I heard their name.

Entering Asteria for the first time, I let them know how I would love to work with them, as their Melissae.

The memory of a Swarm is so sweet to a heart.  The excitement.  The hope.  The pure joy.  The stick that Asteria swarmed to, is in the center of the Spiral Garden, another part of the Lemniscate of the Year Garden.  May the memory of the Swarm alway stay within our hearts.