July 11th- July 15th

On the Eleventh Agape took the interns and her friend to a local school in Robins Bay to teach the summer camp kids about essential oils. We did some yoga with them, some activities with plants, smelled the oils, and Agape taught gave a lesson on oils. It was nice to be around some more Jamaican children and see a glimpse into the schooling system here- I could tell a lot of spirituality is tied into the classroom, and I know that Jamaican schools are every exceptional. After the lesson and lunch, we cut wood and drilled holes in the wood to finish making our hive stands. We then drove them up to the bush and set them down where they would wait for us to come back and plant. Once we retuned to the farm we distilled some more sweet wood, which is always wonderful. I ended the evening taking a night swim with Miles and we admired the mighty moon.

The Twelfth was my hardest and most demanding day thus far, but it was also satisfying and accomplished. On the night of the Tenth we sat down to create a plan for the next day; With high ambitions, we packed that day full of work- with the hopes in mind of accomplishing a lot of bee stuff in the next week. I was ready but weary that we would actually meet all of our goals because in Jamaica, there isn’t much planning that happens. Tasks, duties, and goals get done when they get done, and if it doesn’t happen the time you planned it too, then oh well, it will happen at some point. So I was pleased and surprised at the end of the day when we accomplished all of our goals. We woke up at 5:30 to go to a new apiary in the bush to clear and weed whack it. I became more confident using a cutless this time, which was nice to overcome some more fears. The cool of the morning made it a lot more bearable. We went down, and Miles and I went straight to the neighbor Tacula’s yoga class. After yoga we scarfed down our lunches, and all went down the road to harvest chigganey to distill. Half way through harvesting, the boys came on their bikes to us with news that the plant actually doesn’t yield oil, only the flowers, and there weren’t many flowers in bloom. So we were left with a bunch of bags filled of chigganey and tired hearts. We went on to harvest sea rosemary next. Besides sweet wood, sea rosemary is my favorite distillation we have done so far. You can smell the deep saltiness of the Jamaican ocean in the oil, and it is beautiful. Near the end of the distillation Kwao took us up to the apiary in the bush to plant the hive stands we brought up. It was hard work and we planted about 16 until the sun stated to set so we watched the beautiful neon pink clouds dance around us as we sat in the bush drinking our beers, listing to Kwao safely and quietly tell us stories. I love listing to Kwao speak, its so conscious and subtle, but always full of power and lessons. Once we came down I was so drained, I ate my meal and then took a night swim in the ocean to catch the stars and fell into a long, deep sleep- goals met.

On the Thirteenth I woke up feeling sick both literally and emotionally. I think all of my hard work since I had been here finally caught up to me. I called home and got a boost of energy and love from that, and then told Agape how I was feeling. I was reassured to hear we would not being doing bees that day and would have a relaxing day of distilling. She had me drink fermented bee pollen, eat some propolis, take two goldenseal tablets, and drink tons of water (of course)- this should make you happy, Dad J. I’m so grateful for Agapes endless knowledge and love, and I am so excited to continue my usage of natural medicine back home (more so then I have in the past), When I get back home, which I will. J After I did some yoga, we went and cut fever grass (lemongrass) to distill. We split the grass into two batches- we cut one up and left one plain to see the difference in distilling. Fever grass is one of those plants that cuts you up and makes you itch like crazy when you are handling it so I was bright red by the end of our work. We distilled the first batch and watched and smelled the retort chug out beautiful lemony and energetic smelling light- yellow oil. This is the highest yielding distillation I had done thus far so it was really fun for me to see that much oil at once. Citirus, pimento, and fever grass are some of the highest yielding oils they have done here at the farm. When you are home crafting, and trying any aerometric plant you see to distill, you can never expect a high oil yield because your purpose is not for commercial sales and usages, so that is where the excitement and creativity lies here. When the batch was distilling, we all went down for a swim, and once we returned we found that the bees had tracked the smell of the fever grass, and they were swarming the distillery. The boys bravely put on their veils and loaded the still for the next batch- beekeeping and oil distillation internship- am I right? We had a mellow night after that accompanied by some thoughtful writing, eating of frozen pineapple, and drinking juice form Lities (my go-to is the sour sap). I love to read, but I haven’t been reading many books since I’ve been here, but I’ve been reading from the languages of the world rather. Nearing the end of the second fever grass distillation all of the power went out so we turned off the still and called it a night, with a valuable 74 mls at hand.

On the fourteenth we went back up to the apiaries we had been working on to do hive scans and transfers- I made it without getting any sting this time! It gets easier and more fluid with every visit to the bees. The bees energy and vibrations defiantly are transferring into mine, making me think, act, plan, and play differently. I believe my energies are also beginning to transfer to them. All living creatures nature is to have a symbiotic relationship with one another, and this relationship is beginning to solidify (I think), and I have no fear towards the brilliant creatures, jut admiration, awe, and love. Every sting is the bee giving you their life, their energetic and thoughtful life, and that is something to be grateful for. I love and appreciate the bees, I love all bees, I love all creatures and life. The clouds blessed us with some overcast while we were working which made for am easy day. One of the hives had crossed-combed which was great to see how a hive would look like in the wild. We harvested a lot of honey this day, which is always a nice feeling. I am beginning to really understand the difference between top bar and langstroth hives (they have a few langstroth amongst the top bars), and how to work with each, and what their benefits and disadvantages are. I am also confident in my abilities to do a hive scan- first you look for eggs; then you know there is a queen. If you find eggs you look for queen cells, and if you don’t find either you take totally different measures: Every hive brings something new, and there is always a different action to be taken during each scan, and I am really learning all of the actions and their meanings. I know this journey will be never-ending and there is and great amount of information to gather, but I feel blessed and excited to be starting now. When we came back down I experienced my first day-time downpour here which was nice to have some mellow time in the house writing, and listing to the sounds of the water transferred through droplets and in rain. It was nice to have a relaxing day to prepare for our late evening. After we cut pineapple peels and distilled them, Kwao and Emanual took up to a party down the road. The sound system was broken so the party didn’t even start until about 3, but we had been there for hours so we were all exhausted. It was a good music and fun to see the gigantic speakers and the party culture. No house or place in Jamaica in complete without a badass sound system. It was also a fun feeling to be at party in the country in Jamaica and know a fair amount of people; I am in love with their experience I am having here.

On the Fifteenth I slept in, which was needed. After a slow morning we walked down to Taculas house and she showed us all of her beautiful artwork. Her house is so magical and inspiring. On the walk back, I got some melon and ginger juice from lities. I went for a swim then chilled on the hammocks for a while. After lunch I gave some guests of Agape and Kwao the essential oil smelling tour. We began a co-distillation of sweet wood and cedarwood sawdust, and as the still was working Agape taught us how to make food for the bees, and then we relaxed for the rest of the night, water colored, and watched the stars.