The Joy of Preparation

“During the wintertime, an ant was living off the grain that he had stored up for himself during the summer. The cricket came to the ant and asked him to share some of his grain. The ant said to the cricket, ‘And what were you doing all summer long, since you weren’t gathering grain to eat?’ The cricket replied, ‘Because I was busy singing I didn’t have time for the harvest.’ The ant laughed at the cricket’s reply, and hid his heaps of grain deeper in the ground. ‘Since you sang like a fool in the summer,’ said the ant, ‘you better be prepared to dance the winter away!’ ”

— Aesop's Fables

As I stand here painting bee-boxes I can't help but remember the old fable about the Ant and the Cricket. Diseny did a cartoon of it a long time ago, and I still remember vividly the Cricket standing out in the cold in the snow as the ants partied and feasted by the fire. 

In previous Springs, I felt much like the cricket, but this year we are practicing the worth ethic of the ant. We have spent most of January, February and now March preparing for, what we believe will be, an amazing Spring and Summer. 

When one thinks about beekeeping, people rarely think about the hundreds of hours of work in the workshop or study in preparation.  Much of beekeeping happens in the off-season... the building, the planning, the painting, the studying and the anticipation. 

As I stand here painting box after box of what will be filled with bees in the summer, right now I think about the promise each box holds as well as the responsibility.  These are the boxes of life, of sustenance, of the love of nature. These are the boxes that carry hope, determination and perseverance. These are the boxes that our children will inherit. 

May we be people of intention. May we see the value of preparation. May we see the hope that lies within empty boxes.