

Today was Spring Family Day on The Quarry Farm. At 1 p.m., the temperature was in the 90s, sending a puddle of honeybees up the side of the north hive to coolâŠmaybe. We are very, very new to beekeeping so I donât know why they are washboarding backwards and forwards above the hive entrance. But I did learn this week that this inch-by-inch dance is called âwashboardingâ and I would do it to cool off outside my hive if I were a honeybee.

So a little before 1 p.m. the first family arrived. The Rita the Greeterâs table and umbrella was up, ice water and cookies were in the pavilion and âstaffâ appeared as coolly collected as anyone could be during a Midwest heatwave. Dragonflies swanned in and out of blooming Lizardâs Tongue on the quarry wetland. Pearly Crescent Butterflies flickered orange under Buckeye tree leaves. Nemo cooled in her mud bath and Beatrice emerged from her own spa to visit with her piggy admirers.
âItâs all so peaceful,â someone said.


I smiled, making a mental note to take my new plants out of the truck as soon as possible. At 6 a.m. this morning, My Steven saw the donkeys at the front door, Nemo lounging in the flowering herb bed and several goats munching away at the blossoms. I forgot to latch the lower chain on the south gate last night. While Steve sold his bread at the Bluffton Farmerâs Market, I bought new herbs from Ann Boydâs My Own Backyard.
âYes it is,â I replied.