Mid-Summer Waning Honey Flow Moon
Out to the bees in just a few minutes to slap on two more honey supers each, the six I finished varnishing yesterday while Mark put foundations in the frames. This will find six honey supers on colonies 2 & 3, while colony 1, the parent colony for next year’s only divide, will have four. Not sure if I’ll need more than these. I’m having to do this in the early morning, not the best time, but the only time I’ve got today.
At 9:15 Kate and I take off in separate cars for the Northern Clay Center. Our clay intensive starts this week, 10:00 to 4:30. I hope to learn how to make Japanese style tea cups and salad sized plates. Like tai chi working clay puts a premium on hand-eye co-ordination and sense of touch as well overall design skills.
A good while ago my spiritual journey had gone stale in the reading, meditation, contemplative modes I knew best. The next stage of my spiritual practice became gardening, working with the rhythm of flowers, soil, spades and trowels.
That practice went on for many years when Kate and I decided to add vegetables and the orchard with permaculture principles in mind. That added a good deal of oomph to the tactile spirituality, deciding to keep bees put animal husbandry into the mix. At this point my spirituality has become more and more attuned to the rhythms of growing seasons, plants and bees, all within the context of the Celtic Great Wheel.
With tai chi and clay my spiritual practice comes closer in again, my hands, my feet, my hips, my arms. Both clay and tai chi are paths on this nature focused ancientrail, though for me they are quite a bit harder. But that’s the push I need to grow.
After our first day at Northern Clay, I have my Woolly meeting tonight at Highpoint Print co-operative where we will make prints. One more step down the ancientrail of the mind/body link.
