I have never been much of a story teller.....it is a skill I'd like to develop...I have always been drawn to books on story telling (Nancy Mellon, Ruth Sawyer ) but quite frankly have always considered myself too much of a beginner. This afternoon while I was out gathering some elderberries on a country lane here in Ashfield in the field across the street I noticed a young deer and a baby deer grazing. I pointed them out to Zoe and stepping gently on the earth we moved closer so that she could get a good look.

When we were back in the car Zoe said tell me the story of the deer! I almost said we have a great deer book at home (Stranger in the Woods- beautiful photography of a baby deer)

Instead I began....... Deep in the woods lived a mama deer and her baby deer. Every afternoon as the sun began to get lower in the sky, and after the baby deer took her nap the mama deer led her baby into the near by meadow to frolic and to graze on the grass and wildflowers. In the corner of that meadow is an Elderberry tree. Some days in the afternoon a little girl named Zoe would go out with her mama to collect Elderberries to make medicine. Sometimes when Zoe was very quiet she could catch a glimpse of the deer. Zoe knew that she had to sit still and quiet so as not to scare the deer away. She sat there and imagined what it would be like to be a baby deer

Barely a story but Zoe wanted to hear it again and again....and everytime I repeated it it began sounding more and more like a story. At bedtime we pulled out the Stranger in the Woods book, looked at the pictures but told our story. I shall have to do that more often.......starting very simple may be the way in for me. Not having a fixed intellectual idea about what a story is........

I also noticed a large hummingbird enjoying the hyssop this afternoon.


We stopped by Warm Colors Apiary (S. Deerfield) today to pick up some more honey as we shall be making another syrup tomorrow with the apprentices. A Wild Cherry Bark cough syrup with some black cherry juice to flavor (I'll post recipes tomorrow). While at Warm Colors I was again reminded of how rich our area is.......A farm for all our needs.....so many neighbors doing great work. I feel blessed. In their little retail area the smell of beeswax surrounded ...mmm......as well as buying 5 pounds of AMAZING honey! we picked up a little beeswax pinecone candle for our nature table. Zoe could not stop smelling it all the way home going........"(s)mells good mmmmm!" They also have a DVD A Day in the Life of a Honeybee Farm which looked great.


WARM COLOURS APIARY LINK

They also have what looks like a fun event approaching...... September 9th, 2006 - 5th Annual Honeybee Festival
Bee talks, and live bee demonstrations. Area chefs cook and offer samples of thier favorite honey recipes, entertainment, and farmers market.