Category: Uncategorized

We thought we wanted to just remodel our kitchen. Then we went to go look at a house “just to see”, and 45 days later, we closed on it.

The past week was just downright wild. Rosie finished 5th grade. Mercy finished Pre-K. 5th grade had a graduation pool party. Taylor started to get all the feels about Rosie getting so big:

Closing, Moving, and the first night.

We had an excellent Realtor (and our neighbor) Chidi- he walked us through the process and joined us for a pic after closing, and then we will be putting him to work selling our old house in just a few weeks:

Since we are moving as quickly as possible, I borrowed my mom’s van for these few days (thanks mom!). Its much better than spending money renting a truck to tackle all the things a moving company can’t get, but driving this van comes with its own vibe. So I rolled up to the closing attorney (who was an old high school friend of my brother Jake) driving this bad boy, complete with the first load ready for the first night at the new (and very empty) house:

Also, I had to pick up Rosie from her last day of school in the van, along with her friend- I’m sure riding in that van created a memory both of them will carry with them for a lifetime.

After a couple hours at the pool, the girls and I came to the new (and very empty) house. It has no TV or internet, so we spent the night like savages: building a swing and kicking a beach ball around. The girls shared Mercy’s bed, and the air mattress I brought deflated before I even got on it.

Taylor went home to sleep in a bed.

Moving Day

The moving estimate/moving process was an interesting one at best, and let me tell you why.

In order to figure out an estimate, I had to do a video call with the company to tally all the items that are going to be moved. So, we did that- because I sure as hell am not going to mess with moving myself, or getting friends to help. That window of opportunity in life has closed.

After the video call several weeks ago, I reached out again saying that we have a ton of boxes that also need to be included; they said ok, no problem, we will add a few hundred dollars to the quote.

Then on moving day, I hear: “each item needs to be in a closed box, otherwise we will have to wrap it (in plastic) for you.” This is a silly rule, we are only going 1.5 miles.

Taylor had a hell of a time helping the mover align his original “quote” with what actually needed to move. And let me tell you, pictures of boxes fall short on how much stuff there actually was. The moving guy had to re-tally about everything upon seeing our packing in person (luckily it was only a few hundred instead of a few thousand dollars difference), and they were off to the races.

These movers were huge. 5 of them. Like oxes, and it was 93% out with 99% humidity. They didnt stop all day. They were polite and worked like mathmeticians figuring out the right geometry to get each piece of furniture out of the old house, and into the new. One guy bear hugged a dresser and walked up the stairs alone. My back hurt just watching that.

They did an amazing job. I can’t believe it all happened in one day, and if you ever need to do a move, check these guys out, they did a great job.

Now, we have to spend the rest of the summer selling the old house (1.5 miles away) and getting settled in the new house: I can’t wait to set up this smoker and dig into my new hobby.

After years and years of talking about renovating, the smarter solution isnt to renovate.

We “looked” at a few houses. In fact, only two houses- and Taylor really liked the second- it had what she had been describing a renovation to be- an open kitchen, extra bedroom, and more. It came upon us quickly- we were mostly looking to get ideas for what to do with our renovation, but the spreadsheets of numbers comparing the financial impacts of staying versus the numbers of going came out awash.

Buckle up, this is going to be crazy. First, we have to do a ton of work. Then, we have to do our normal stuff, and then we have to do a TON more work.

In the mean time, we need boxes. Places like UHaul sell boxes, for around $3 each. The moving company sells boxes for $7 each. No thanks.

Instead, I got to know the manager at my local grocery store, assured them I wasn’t homeless, and they set aside hundreds of dollars worth of boxes to use- a true godsend.

After getting the boxes, we have to get them home, re-build them with a tape gun, find the right size for the items we are packing, pack it with the newspaper grade paper we got from Amazon, take it back outside and seal it, and label it with the room and contents in each box.

In addition to all the packing and sourcing of free boxes, normal life things have to continue; Mercy’s soccer team, seeing my cousin in New Orleans a few weeks ago, Amelia’s graduation, and going to the beach for memorial day.

Recently I have been using ChatGPT to turn pictures of people into a specific theme, and it has been fun. But after all of these events, more boxes need to be sourced:

There are 15 days lefts until we own the new house. Moving day is one day after that, then we move aggressively to sell our current house. At this point, there is no time to think- I am just running off of adrenaline at all the things that need to be done before we meet with the closing attorney’s- and all of the work is based off of things I am not too good at: being very quick and detail oriented with emails for all the paperwork the banks require of me, as well as the realtor, movers, new homeowners insurance, closing attorneys, etc. In the meantime, we try and pack 5 boxes a day if we can help it.

It is exciting, yes. It will be the last time we ever move. And im excited- the new kitchen has a gas range I look forward to using, and a ton of other parts I am excited about- we can’t wait to have you over. In the mean time, wish us luck these next several days.

Taylor travels for work several times a year, and since we didn’t have a “Luke and Taylor” type of trip planned for the year, adding a few days to her work trip and using the time to see Jazzfest seemed like the best move.

Getting there wasnt great. After departing Charlotte, a storm was approaching the New Orleans airport, and seemed to just stall. It wasnt going anywhere.

The pilot came on and said “New Orleans has issued a groundstop.” What does that mean exactly? My phone had GPS, so I tracked it- we flew past the airport, south over the gulf. We were flying low, and the swamp was beneath us, and the storm was in front of us.

It was the first time I wasn’t 100% confident I was going to walk away.

The Food

This is the reason to come to New Orleans, and in order to do it right, reservations have to be made well in advance. So, we did. Most places worked great, one place was just decent at best.

For dinners:

Started the time by visiting Katies. This Was on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives season 11 (I think), and I couldnt say enough good things about it. My cousin Mary recommended it, and everyone else visiting for Jazzfest had the same idea.

The DDD featured item, the Crawfish Beignet, was just insane. Flavortown for sure.

After Jazzfest, we found a place for sandwiches that was still open around 9:30; An amazing sandwich, and about 1 mile walk from our hotel. The place was packed to the gills.

Brennan’s was the focal point though, hands down. Its an institution in New Orleans, and the creator of the dessert “Bananas Foster.” My cousin’s husband, Steve, works there, and he must have called in or something. When the front waiter (not the back waiter; this place has a “front waiter” and a “back waiter” for each table), said “Mr. Logan? We are pleased to have you, and our chef has a few special items we would like to offer family this evening.” Damn.

Let’s get weird: ordering the most unusual thing on the menu is what I love to do; so this time, I started off with Turtle Soup.

We got a steak tar-tar appetizer thing; I ordered the crawfish something. And of course, the bananas foster. I’m not joking when I say it was one of the top dessert’s Ive ever had.

The last dinner was Mr. B’s bistro. We don’t talk about Mr. B’s Bistro.

Lunches

We did what we could, starting with “The Turkey and the Wolf”. Taylor suggested this originally, and I thought to myself, “I don’t like turkey sandwiches. No”.

Boy was I wrong.

Our schedule was a bit screwy that morning, so we wandered around and got there way early. 10 minutes after opening, the line was 50 deep. Also a DDD featured restaurant. And if you look them up on youtube, they are on “Sandwiches that made history.”

What is so famous?

Bologna. And a Collard Green sandwich. Calling it a “sandwich” just seems a bit disrespectful.

It messed me up the rest of the day- the sandwich was 6″ thick, and I just didn’t have space for anything else. 100% chance I would do it again.

Festival food was tricky; a New Orleans food blogger made some reccomendations, and those ones had some pretty crazy lines. This was the only giant music festival where fresh seafood was an option, so of course I did: hit up Lil Dizzys. All the food vendors had some awesome signage:

Po Boys were also on the list; after our architecture tour, we made our way over to Mahoney’s; Was it simple? Yes. Amazing? Also yes. Just what we needed.

Drinks?

Yes, this city is known for em. The are known for too many of em. But, we strolled, and a few places were worth checking out:

• Napolean House; a light Pimm’s Cup. This was where the first Mayor of New Orleans lived.
• The carousel bar. We didnt get a drink. Just a pic.
• Sazarac Bar. Fancy fancy fancy. They invented the drink for goodness sake. It was the first one I had, and it was solid.
• Courtyard Brewery. Have you ever seen a handwritten beer list?

Honorable mention?

The hotel pool. Packed solid with people. Also having a crawfish boil that day, and time with my cousin and her husband:

The 9th ward, with Bourbon Street and all the tourist spots- I would venture to say its best to have an early evening in that area.

Jazzfest

They expected over 500,000 people for this two-weekend event. The day we went, there were 5 semi-trucks of Coors parked by the gate- and I have never seen such a gigantic crowd in my whole life. The scale was just bonkers.

During the single day we were able to attend, the Eagles, T-Pain, Little Feat, and several others were scheduled- AT THE SAME TIME.

We posted up a few hours early to see T-Pain and it was so, so fun. Jazzfest ends exactly at 7pm, and he played the last hour of the day- just jamming in so many bangers into that set, it was hard to believe:

• Low (Apple Bottom Jeans)
• Good Life (With Kanye West)
• All I do is Win
• Kiss Kiss (With Chris Brown)
• Im in luv (with a stripper)

While waiting, we put our chairs down to save our spots and made it to the small side tent (The biggest tent I have seen in my life) and saw Eric Lidell in the Blues Tent; packed crowd with hundreds outside the tent trying to hear. If you haven’t heard of him, give it a try. Its like a jazzy, blues version of Zac Bryan.

But, clearly T-Pain was the highlight.

T-Pain,

My name is Luke, and I wanted to tell a story about “Low”. It came out in 2007 when you and I were 22 years old. That year, I was in college, and “Low” came in hot. When we went out as college kids, that song was played all the time. Here is a picture of me in college, as well as the woman that became my wife:

“Low” was a good time. It got people moving- I am not the center of the party, but when that song hits, people like me got out of our chairs, and we danced.

Fast forward to 2010. “Low” is 3 years old at that point. You and I are both 25 years old. That woman from the pictures above- her and I got married. The wedding was huge, and the reception was at the Country Club . We were young and had tons of energy, and so did our guests. You know what we did during the reception? We got low. All of us. Just like three years before when the song first hit in the clubs while we were in college, it was like muscle memory kicked in. All of us- just a gigantic party- and we all got LOW!

The party last hours and hours, and it was just a big time.

Fast forward to March of 2026. “Low” is 19 years old. We have a daughter, and she is 11 years old. T-Pain, you and I are 41 years old now. And my daughter wants to do a dance in her 5th grade talent show at a local, suburban school. You know what she did? She got low. I kid you not, I thought she was going to get thrown out of that public school- and it was one of my most proud moments being a dad.

Three months later, my wife and I were able to make it to Jazzfest in New Orleans. Yes, there was an overwhelming amount of people there- the largest event I have ever been to. A few months before when I heard that T-Pain would be in the lineup, I started digging in. It wasn’t just “Low” that was played all of those years. It was:

• Good Life, with Kanye
• I’m in Luv with a Stripper,
• Kiss Kiss, with Chris Brown
• All I do is Win, with a ton of awesome artists.
• Cyclone
• Got Money, with Lil Wayne

Recently the album “On Top of the Covers” was released, and the story changed.

Not only does the T-Pain/”Low” story mean a good time at a party, but now that I am old, the story got even better: it now has a jazzy little sister that covers all the bangers I love, and it is so, so smooth and good. There is no auto-tune, but it hits all the notes covering all of our favorites:

• Thats Life, by Frank Sinatra.
• Summertime; this is traditional, but I like the Sublime version
• Don’t Stop Believing, by Journey.
• American Woman, by Lenny Kravitz.
• Tennesee Whiskey, by Chris Stapleton (I saw him live last year for the first time, amazing).

Just yesterday morning, while getting ready to go to Jazzfest, I played this album in our Hotel Room. The vocals have emotion, the rhythm is slower, and adds some special flavor to the songs we know, and when my wife heard those tracks, she said “This is T Pain? It is so, so good. Ok, we don’t have to see the Eagles (Who were performing at the exact same time), we really have to see T-Pain.”

I thought to myself, “I know baby. I know”.

We posted up in our spot 3 hours early. I didn’t know it, but T-Pain, I have been waiting 19 years to get Low.

Look at that crowd- it is the biggest crowd I have ever seen in my life; and T-Pain, we were all waiting to get Low, because that song is a good time. It is American Culture and heritage at this point. Right now, “Low” has overtaken “California Luv” as the anthem for a party. Spotify says it has been streamed 1.5 BILLION times; Tupac’s California Luv: 1.1 BILLION by comparison.

This crowd with me yesterday would say the same thing. You see, this is my story of “Low”. But the people watching the show were my age too- and “Low” is their story too. It is all of our story- T-Pain, you have been with all of us for years celebrating good times as we got “Low”.

Thanks for the good times T-Pain. I hope there are many, many more.

Sincerely,

Luke .

P.S. I may regret this, but here I am; all 41 years of me, still goofy as hell getting low:

Costco sells vacations too- so we got one for Spring Break this year. Taylor has co workers that have travelled a bit to Mexico and even though I am a bit of a wuss, Taylor convinced me it is worth it (it does have the best deals on all-inclusive types of resorts).

We did all the normal things, packed the car, dropped the doggy off, and set out- to CHARLOTTE. Why Charlotte? Well, costco sells cheaper trips if you are willing to fly at crazy hours like we are. So for the 7:30am departure, we went to Charlotte the night before and started our vacation right. Also Mercy had phone using the hotel phone to call Zippy. Sometimes I forget that she was born in a time when landlines didnt exist.

TSA was not being paid, and the national headlines said that lines were hours and hours long. Per usual, I was overthinking this- and wondering what time we should arrive for our 7:40 flight. We decided to catch the 5:00am shuttle from the airport hotel to be prepared for the worst.

At that hour, on a Sunday morning in Charlotte, it was the shortest and easiest TSA experience I ever had. Those people didn’t give a DAMN. Anyways, with my trusty fanny- ahem- MANNY pack ready to go, our $50 burger king breakfast hit the spot. Actually it made me feel terrible, but Rosie was excited about it because she had never had Burger King in her life.

The flight was great- Mercy kicked the seats in front of her and that stressed me out as the lady in front turned around. Taylor and I switched seats- she is better at dealing with that than I am.

Dreams Playa Mujeres

Early flights are cheaper- and give us almost a full day at the resort, so we explored for hours.

After a day of travel, I was thirsty and took a pina colada as we explored- but the tricky part was, there were no pool chairs available. The sun was hot, our room wasnt ready- and I was ready to rest. The front desk had to call their manager around 3pm, and we were ready to get to our room.

Resort Pools

The pools were great- there was a lot going on, they had some pretty huge water slides and hot tubs. Almost all pools were about 4 feet deep, some more shallow. Mercy was pretty good at swimming, so we felt fine. The hardest part was getting a chair- if you didn’t get out and reserve a seat by 7:30, you were out of luck. So, whoever woke up first in our room get that chore. Then, the hotel sent out an alert to all guests: “If you are not at your chair for 40 minutes, your stuff will be moved”. I’m not sure how that would play out exactly, but the last 2 days got much better.

Also the beach was covered with seaweed and smelled bad- the sand was beautiful though.

Resort Food

Is resort food ever amazing? I don’t know, but this place was for families- and the food was a solid 7/10.

There were a few options: Asian Fusion, Seafood, Mexican, Hibachi, French (no kids allowed there), and a Brazilian Steakhouse. We really liked the Brazilian Steakhouse, especially since my birthday dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse was snowed out this year.

Besides the pools and the food, the landscaping was beautiful.

And, Taylor and I got to do some time in the spa and get a massage- the kids hung out in the “kids club”, and I felt ok about that- there is a ton of security and cameras around there. The steam room, sauna, and massage were a great escape.

The Best Part

Was the day excursion. Looking online from Greensboro, it was hard to tell- it is an overwhelming amount of choices, and I wasnt sure what was safe. After getting there, Taylor asked the front desk and got a solid recommendation for a day trip to the island we could see across the water. Since the beach at our hotel was so sucky, I was glad we got a chance to do this and see a beautiful stretch of sand in Mexico.

The water was an unreal color of blues- almost neon it was so radiant from the sunlight. The crew was amazing- they let us board first and get the VIP seats on top of the catamaran. It may have been an hour to cross the water- about 5 miles – from the port in Cancun to Isla Mujeres, The island of Women.

Rosie and I snorkeled- Mercy was too young so Taylor stayed with her- and I kid you not, it was the most fish I have ever seen. We could almost touch them- yellow and black and white zebra fish- just hundreds of them. The waves were a bit rough, but Rosie was a good swimmer so I wasnt scared. The water was a bit chaotic with several boats in the same place, but I kept an eye out for where we were supposed to go, and Rosie and I held hands through it all- it was so special, Im glad we got to do that.

Some people at the resort were telling us about their trip to Isla Mujeres the day before, and said it was worth it to get a golf cart and explore the island- so we did.

Im glad for this- it was just the right amount of exploring and adventure for me without being too unsafe. And, Rosie got a chance to see some of the smaller, run-down houses on the island. I was glad for this teachable moment so she could see how a lot of the world lives much differently than we do.

Did the kids get along?

Yes. There were a few arguments, but they got along great, and I think it is a combination of two things:

1. I had a good, brief conversation with Rosie about Mercy’s personality based on a book I am reading about the Enneagram. In just a few minutes, I shared how it is super easy for Rosie to make friends, but Mercy is a little more introverted, and looks to Rosie in a big way- so when Rosie toys around with her younger sister, it isn’t that Rosie is doing something bad per se, it just feels worse because of Mercy’s personality type.
   Rosie’s response to this? “What you just said sounded really wise”. That convo was on the first day of our trip, and may have had an imapct?
2. Rosie didnt have any friends there. Duh. But, this often leads to arguments at home- Rosie wants to run off with her friends in a normal way, and Mercy wants to be included, so Mercy feels sad, and Taylor and I have to intervene. This week, they just played together awesome, and I was thankful.

Ok, I am getting tired of writing this post now. Here are a few more pics:

Taylor and I got to talking last night about our family trips and how they have changed over the years, and we tried to remember where we went each year and how lucky we are- so here is a list of our trips as a family of 4.

May, 2021: Charlotte White Water Center

This was our very first trip as a family of 4; we were just coming out of the throes of Covid, didnt have much money, but wanted to get out of the house. We did a day a the Whitewater Center, and a day in downtown Charlotte. Mercy was pretty small, and Rosie wanted to try a ton of things- and we found a great balance. Blog post here.

December 2021: Washington D.C.

Sorry, we dont have a ton of family pics from that trip, so here is a picture of us with a dinosaur. But, still coming out of Covid that year, D.C. was fun, and cold. Pushing the stroller in the subways for Mercy was a challenge- but we were seeing as a family we really valued these times together. The rooms seemed very expensive for us at the time, but they were a great location and made the visit special. The blog post for this trip is here.

February 2022: Colorado

Im reluctant to include this one because Mercy didnt come- she was a bit too young for skiing- but I still valued this trip. Jake turned 40, so we dug deep in our pockets and went to go see him for his birthday. Skiing out west was so fun. Im hoping we can have another fun trip with this crowd one day. Blog post

June 2022: Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Going to the beach with Taylor’s family is a blast, and we were seeing that we (our family of 4) enjoyed our trips, and wanted to do some family time at the beach on our own- so we got a condo in North Myrtle for a few days. Again, no good family pics of the 4 of us, but Myrtle Beach is a special place for kids this age. Post here.

July, 2023: Asheville NC.

On a map, there are lots of great places within a few hour drives of our place in North Carolina. Having seen the beach the previous summer, we wanted to show the kids the mountains and made a fun time of it. Tay was awesome at planning almost all of our family trips so far, and family trips were becoming the highlight of my year each year. Blog post here.

August 2024: Disney World.

Tay had been dreaming of Disney for years- literally- for reasons I won’t get into here, but after thinking of it for so long, and trying hard to convince me, we finally made the trip. I admit I dragged my feet a lot looking at the price tag, but I am so thankful we did it. This was a long trip, but Im glad we did it that way- we didnt miss a single ride, took our time and had a blast, and now I have no desire to return (again, just because we got to stay and do everything!). So, so fun.Blog Post here.

July, 2025: Merriewold

Again, not a ton of pics of the 4 of us, but here is a shot of the girls and I on the steps of the gate house at the entrance of the park. If Taylor had to spend time convincing me to go to Disney, I had to do the same to get her to drive 10 hours to a small town in upstate New York to spend a week at a lake. Mercy was old enough to swim, and Rosie was young enough to not be a teenager with an attitude, and I admit: this was my favorite family vacation of them all. When I asked Rosie what her favorite family trip was, she said Merriewold- but I think that is just because it was the most recent. Blog post here

Ok, so what?

I’m just grateful that we have gotten to share all of these experiences together. Who knew that when we spent what seemed like a ton of money in 2021 to go to Washington D.C, we would get a chance to travel to all of these great place in the next 5 years? It’s not cheap, and I am not 100% confident that we are being very wise when spending money this way instead of investing it for retirement, but each of these memories has been special.

It takes work to make these things happen- there were a few disagreements between Taylor and I as we planned many of these trips- and I was in the wrong about most of those disagreements and I am glad Taylor learned to value family trips as a child, and fought to make them a value in our house as well.

Taylor taught me that it is good for your mental health to have something to look forward to, so we like to have something on the calendar. And, I think these things give our kids a since of identity: these trips with our family show our value of just being together and trying new things, getting out of our routine and comfort zones, having patience with each other (I have the most room to grow in this area), and laughing.

Next time, I’ll share about our 2025 family trip to Cancun: one more for the books!

This weekend the original plan was for Taylor to host a murder-mystery party, something she has been hoping for for years. However, she was asked to be a mentor to someone going through confirmation, and had to go on a weekend beach retreat.

What would you do all by yourself?

Well that’s an easy question. Ever since last year when the girls watched Jaws, they have been itching to watch another scary movie.

So we went to the elementary school’s ice cream social, then grabbed Whataburger from the newest location here in town, and set up camp for a movie night. It was great, but I forgot how scary the movie was since seeing it in theaters. The crew of skeletons was too scary for Mercy, but Rosie and I had a good time- in the room with the loud subwoofer to really experience the whole thing.

Volunteer, obviously

Above is a picture of Rosie at a volunteer day in 2016- she has been doing them almost her whole life. Today was no exception- Rosie volunteered to help paint the building for kids, and I was asked to help lead a team in restoring the bee hives we will be using for bees over the coming weeks. Mice had taken up residence, so we had to scrape all the old stuff out, burn it with a torch to sterilize it, reassemble them, cut bottoms and tops for them, and this team of teens did an excellent job. And rosie eded up being quite the mess after painting- something I didnt think through before immediately dropping her off at Zippy’s house afterwards.

Obviously there was more to do. The girls spent the night at Grandmas house, and with the day alone, there were a million different options. If you had to take a guess about what came next, and you guessed “cleaning out the garage”, then you are exactly right!

In a perfect world, this would happen twice a year: moving summer stuff to the front, and winter stuff to the back and vice-versa, in spring and fall. That doesnt always happen, and Taylor, who appreciates order, is about to jump out of her skin because of the chaos. Anyways, here is a before and after:

In the midst of it, I put hands on the charcoal grill that has been sitting idle for a while, and got the itch to put it to work again- and since this weekend I answer to no one, this was the weekend to use it again.

The motion-activated flood light that went bust last year also needed some fixing, so that was replaced too. Climbing on a ladder to fix some electrical items when no one is home isnt THAT dumb of an idea, is it? Anyways, fixed it.

The cast iron skillets, some of which we got as wedding gifts, and others we acquired over the years also needed some seasoning, so took care of that too. In our 15 years of marriage, I must have used one of these pans each day we have been in town- but they say not to use it with tomato sauce. I do anyways, and this rust is the result.

Later buddy Leo came over with his kid, and we grilled some steaks, watched some games, and had a grand old time eating like kings: twice baked potatoes, ribeyes, and some grilled peppers.

Stephen and I went to Beekeeper Bootcamp this past weekend, and it was a good time. Allow me to explain.

What is beekeeper bootcamp?

It’s pretty much like what you expect- take a bunch of people, and teach them the basics in a crash course over a weekend at his home in middle Tennessee.

What we learned is that there are two ways to keep bees. The traditional method involves putting bee hive boxes one on top of the other, ordering some bees, keeping them in your hive and feeding them sugar water throughout the year to give them the energy they need. This can also mean inspecting the hives many, many times a year for the parasitic bugs called Varroa mites. Plastic honey comb, spraying to kill varroa mites, and generally pissing the bees off so they try and “swarm” (which means “run away”). The success rate of this approach by lasting through the winter is about 50%.

This bootcamp teaches another approach: beekeeping the natural way. This means catching a bee swarm locally instead of buying them online, not feeding them sugar water, not treating for verroa mites, and generally not messing with them nearly as much in horizontal beehive boxes instead of vertical boxes. There are no plastic honey combs for the bees to use. By using local bees, they are more evolved to survive the winter, already immune to verroa mites, and strong enough to not rely on being fed sugar water. In short, the goal is to reproduce the way bees live in the wild: they have good instincts that can be built upon. The success rate of this approach is 85%.

This natural approach has come with some serious drama in the beekeeping world that I won’t get into here, but the class is taught by Adam Martin, and he has written books on the topic.

This course taught us how to go through a bee hive and inspect it for a few things: if they are growing properly, if they have food, a queen, and it taught us about the different types of beehives.

The picture above is Adam, without the bee suit. You might think he has balls of steel for doing this, and maybe he does. But if the bees are treated kindly and you dont move fast, dont wear red, and dont kill any bees, they are generally pretty happy, and wont try and sting you. I picked up a bee frame with bare hands and didnt get stung.

We each got a chance to be hands-on. Adam was an awesome teacher on this- it is something he really cares about.

I don’t really know how to preface these pictures, but here are a few more of us in the class doing the hands-on part:

Adam built this niche world in apiary and sells beehives and focuses on the education aspect. He sells his honey for $40/quart, and champions the healthy aspects of local honey: he hasnt had a cold in 5 years.

His wife, Leslie, went to elementary school with my friend Steven back in California before they began their homesteading/beekeeping operation- which was a beautiful site to be see. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more, but time was short.

Besides Adam, there is another person in Missouri that also champions the natural approach to bees: Dr. Leo Sharashkin, a true Russian, who has been successful in his own rite. His focus was on horizontal hives (as opposed to vertical) because they are easier to handle than vertical hives, which can weight 85 pounds, and each need to be moved and rearranged several times a year. Bees are often killed in this process, which pisses them off, and they swarm and sting whenever this work is performed. The natural way (as seen in the pictures), means there is a good chance the bees wont get bothered at all.

But why did you do bee camp?

This, too, is a very good question to ask. Our church, an Anglican Church here in town, has a farm and several other ministries on site. The farm had bees a few years ago, but I hadn’t seen them in a while so I asked Steven, the farm director about them.

If you know Steven, you know he has a great deal of joy- so when asked about the bees, he responded with an immediate invitation to beekeeping bootcamp- and who says no to that? So, we registered, got a small airBnB, and went.

Where did you stay, and now what?

No, it didn’t make sense to do a drive like this- it was madness, but I really enjoyed spending time with Steven. We talked about every topic under the sun and are kindred spirits when talking politics, theology, parenting, and a whole lot of other stuff I wont get into here.

We stayed in a place a few minutes away- and I kid you not, out of all the places I have been in Costa Rica, upstate New York and Italy, no area had worse cell phone service for our Verizon phones than this area of Tennessee.

The little town just north, Columbia, was awesome- seems like it is the new town growing on the heels of Nashville’s success.

We made it home safe and sound after a unique weekend.

Now that Steven and I have done the course, the next goal is to catch a swarm over the next 10 days or so- which means putting a “trap” in a tree about 15-20 feet off the ground- which is great for a person who is still mildly afraid of bees and heights. Stay tuned!