Merry Christmas

I'm posting a day earlier than I usually do for the sake of not having to wish you a belated Christmas. I'm including some of my favorite holiday gifs as gifts! 

Corny I know. 

But since this is a the two weeks of the year I get to screw around, I can go off-the-rails a bit. 

I can get personal. 

Not that I haven't been personal, but I can have an excuse to write about something other than writing. 

Not that I need an excuse. 

I sound nutty.

Anyway...

You may not know that I live on acreage that allows us to have bees.  That just means you haven't looked at my bio lately. 

Ahem. Here is its:
Slave to a ninety-pound German Shepard and a computer she calls "Dave", Stephanie strolls along the twenty-seven-acre property in Central Texas her three dogs own when she isn’t writing. Stephanie reads for the love of words and writes fiction about Dark Hearts and Heroes revolving around social taboos.  When ever asked, she'll reply her whole life can be seen through a comic—sometimes twisted, sometimes funny, but always beautiful and its title is adventure. Come play!

So, yes, I have twenty-seven acres and I have named it Terra Sedo. The direct translation is Calm Earth and means Sanctuary.

And when I look at this gif it gives me the same feeling I have about Terra Sedo:

So, we have honey bees (naturally) and we had our first pull in early September. 

Those are half gallon glass mason jars. 

The right jar was a melody of clover and wild flower tasting honey I named Lavender. The middle jar was so smooth I called it ambrosia. The left jar had a kung-fu kick that made me pull back in surprise. I called it Texas Spice.

The interesting thing is that no two honey frames tasted the same. We only pulled 3 of the 7 frames because our hive was brand new. The queen had never suffered a winter and we wanted them to remain strong. 
​
So, for Christmas, and with limited supply, we sent honey and cookies to family in which will probably become tradition. 

We'll be able to extend our honey gifts to friends as the bee hives get strong and plentiful.

​We also have chickens.   

And I did an experimental garden this summer to see if I could grow stuff. 

But I don't think my success had much to do with a green thumb. Terra Sedo is fertile land. I've seem more bumble bees, butterflies, dragonflies here than I ever have in my lifetime. 

I've also witnessed wild grapes growing in the remote areas of our property that made store bought grapes taste like water. Each grape tasted as if it had come from a winery and could be a wine in themselves without the fermentation. 

In fact, with grapes like these, I wonder how fermentation could have happened because they're just so good! On the other hand, I could see why fermentation because you don't want any of these to go to waste!

In alignment with being a Sanctuary, we run a dog vacay and rescue operation through an office and yard on the property. 

And when family comes to visit they are welcome to stay. If they can't, we're close enough to Austin that driving to the city of "keeping it weird" isn't a hardship.

My mom and cousin, Franny in Austin... buying Voodoo Donuts

Plenty happens through the year that I forget about and this is just a fraction I know. But it's what I've got for now. 

​Happy holidays to you and may Peace be your Gift that Lasts the next year through!