Know Your Dirt

Living in your parents’ house at the ripe old age of 24, while your best friend and her husband have the idyllic newborn, dog, and two-story brick house with a fenced-in backyard (not to mention a Nintendo Wii), gets you thinking about what you really want out of life. This past week, I remembered with renewed energy that I want to raise bees.

Bees aren’t exactly a dog or a newborn, a husband or a house, but they have begun to symbolize in my mind the things I want most, or perhaps better phrased, the lifestyle I want to lead.

Today I read two blog posts online that have similar themes: “Locals Only” (a post on naturalpatriot.org) and “The Garden” (a post from one of my classmates at gentleplanet.blogspot). They both discuss the idea of planting native plants in your yard and discouraging the growth of nonnatives.

Pam at gentleplanet.blogspot lives in El Paso and is xeriscaping with plants that already know how to deal with desert life, as compared to the lawns her neighbors are wasting water to try to keep green. Emmet at naturalpatriot.org takes it a step further and discusses the effect that nonnative plants have on local animals. I might be a German-American who thoroughly enjoys Chinese food, but the rabbit who lives in the thicket behind/under the garden shed doesn’t necessarily share my views on culinary diversity. He prefers to nibble on the native weeds.

Which brings me back to bees. The lifestyle I want to lead involves at least one beehive and at least a small meadow in my backyard. (Ideally, it will involve miles of fields and moors with sheep grazing on them, too, and a windmill, along with the bees and meadow, but let’s not get hasty.) Before doing this, I would research the plants native to my area that local bees like best. I would encourage the growth of native plants to replace the nonnative, and I would make sure that the bees I raise belong to the climate and geographic area that I live in.

And I’m sure I can get help from my mom in choosing plants. Ten years ago, she went through the National Wildlife Federation to make ours a certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat. It may only be ¾ of an acre, and there may be humans living in (gasp!) an unnatural house right smack in the middle of it, but still our yard functions as a sort of nature preserve, because my mom makes sure to encourage native plant life and animal life. (No one can I say I don’t come by this naturally!)

With a backyard like this to enjoy, it’s not too pressing for me to leave home just yet. And until I do graduate and move away and begin my beekeeping dream in my own backyard, it’s important to remember: no matter where you are, encourage what should be there naturally. Whether it’s your yard, your home, or yourself, everyone will be happier if you do.