Honestly I wonder sometimes which I really love more: beekeeping or gardening? Working with the soil and helping plants to grow is an intoxicating drug for me and one I could easily spend all day stoned on. But at the same time, the bees are my zen. When I’m working with bees I’m thinking about nothing else; hours slip away when I’m in the apiary.
In my last post I mentioned that I am going back to being a seasonal employee at Johnny’s. April 30 will be my last day there until after Thanksgiving. I’m going to miss my friends at Johnny’s, but I know I need the time and flexibility to be able to tend my apiary if I want to succeed at beekeeping. But I still have bills to pay and while I’m glad to be able to say that Runamuk is at a point where it is supporting itself, it’s not yet able to support me─or my kids. So this summer I’m offering up my gardening skills to local residents. Yay!
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I seem to do well with legumes: look at these gorgeous peas!
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Here’s an example of my work: some sexy-looking potatoes right there!
For $20 an hour I will help with whatever gardening project you have in mind for this spring and summer. Overwhelmed with the amount of work at your homestead? Getting on in age and just can’t do the hard manual labor anymore? Want to get into gardening but have no idea where to start or how to grow? Well I’ve got 2 hands, a strong back and enough muscle (usually) to get the job done. I can help with bed preparation, tilling, digging, planting, weeding, pruning of shrubs, berry bushes, fruit trees and more. I can teach you how to grow and guide you all season long. Or I can take orders and do the brute work for you, leaving you free to enjoy the best parts of gardening: harvesting.
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I can help you create bee-friendly spaces in your garden, around your home or farm, or on any other property you might have.
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I seem to have good luck with peppers too.
Want to help native pollinators on your property? I’m your girl! I can assess your gardens, homestead, farm─any property─for existing pollinator habitat and I can identify areas of opportunity for growing your local native pollinator populations. I’ll draw up a plan for enhancing pollinator habitat wherever you are, and I can even help you implement that plan. Check out Runamuk’s “Consultations” page for more details.
It’s new for me and a little scary, so to test the waters posted my gardening services for hire on a few facebook group pages to see what would happen. Within no time at all I had 6 local clients who want me to work for them this season. That doesn’t sound like much, but it sufficiently replaces my Johnny’s income and still leaves me the time I need to manage my apiary and tend my own garden. I also expect to pick up a few more gigs once the season is actually underway.
I’m really excited about the upcoming season. With the Queen-rearing this year, the new happenings at the Madison Farmers’ Market, and my gardening side-business─I think it’s going to be good. If you or someone you know lives locally and needs a gardener this growing season, feel free to contact me by phone or email. If you’re interested in establishing pollinator habitat you should contact me─I’ll definitely want in on that.
Gardening is an amazing way of connecting with nature. Toiling hard in the garden will make you healthy and gives you vegetables, which provides healthy food.