Sometimes in life, things don't turn out exactly as planned. No matter how much we hope, pray, meditate, or wish for something to work out...the plan we have just doesn't come to fruition.
Now for those of you who have read my blog for any length of time, you already know that I believe we all have the power to help shape our own lives and our destinies. But I also believe that no matter which higher power you believe in, there are just some things that are out of our control, or beyond our current comprehension.
Such is the case with our baby bluebirds. After days of cautiously monitoring their well being from afar, and the occasional welfare check inside their box, we have lost all 5 of them. We don't know what happened, and on a rational level we know that this is how nature works, sometimes babies don't make it in the wild, but it still makes our hearts heavy knowing they are gone.
All we can do now is to clean out the box and wait for another bluebird family to start anew. I've read that this doesn't take much time at all, so I will keep you posted as to whether or not we get to root for more baby bluebirds sometime soon.
When I sent my son an email about the loss of our bluebirds and my sadness, he wrote back explaining that it was all part of the circle of life. Of course I'm aware of this circle having lost loved ones and pets who I miss dearly, but I tend to focus on the upswing of the circle most of the time and not the part at the bottom of the circle I suppose...or whichever part represents death.
I do this in many ways, mostly by knowing that those I've lost are always nearby. I pay close attention to little things that act as reminders of their ever present love and guardianship. And I also help to focus on life by bringing more life into the world.
One of the ways I bring more life into the world is by planting and nurturing things, like a pound's worth of cosmos seeds that just arrived in the mail from Eden Brothers. I also try to exchange plants with other people, mostly old fashioned or heirloom varieties because those help give other creatures the pollen they require to exist and thrive.
I have to say that I've even been toying with the idea of beekeeping in hopes of giving honey bees the best chance possible as they are dying in unimaginable numbers. Colony collapse is a huge issue that I think many people either don't realize, or don't fully understand the impact of it happening...because I believe that if they did they would be as freaked out as I am about it.
Sometimes the circle of life theory isn't about nature at work as it should be, but it's because of us human beings turning the world so topsy turvy with our desire for perfection...be it plants, lawns, or whatever...that we ruin what has been in existence and thriving for millenia.
Although I've known about this bee issue for awhile now, it wasn't until more recently that I actually became alarmed at what is really going on. So in my own small way (which every small act can add up to a huge change I believe), I am doing what I can to help save the bees.
We buy only organically grown foods...but I have a caveat to all that is organic. Don't let the label organic be the hook on which you hang your environmental hat folks. You see, sometimes organic fertilizers and other so called organic growing methods can harm things just like non organics can. The impact is often far less, don't get me wrong, but if you are doing things without fully knowing the entire spectrum, you can still be hurting the environment.
For instance, if you use vinegar in lieu of other weed killers, you can actually be harming helpful critters in the soil that are overall good for plants. Or if you look on the label of some organic fertilizers you will find that they contain bat guano. Mining that particular ingredient can often be disruptive and harmful to the ecosystems in other parts of the world.
So, what's an environmentally conscientious girl or guy to do you ask? Just be cognizant to the best of your ability of what you are using and what you are planting. Don't succumb to the hype of great advertising and pretty packaging, but really look at what you are buying and do some research. Some of those gorgeous hybrid flowers you are planting that "just have to be full of pollen because they are SO much bigger than their ancestors," may have very little pollen content, or worse yet, the blossoms maybe so huge that the pollinators can't even reach the pollen because evolutionarily speaking they haven't caught up yet.
Phew, I'm apparently on a roll, but I'll stop now. And I will be the first to admit that I've been guilty of waving the environmentally friendly flag without crossing all my t's and dotting my i's from time to time.
And I know how it is to have someone banging the drum...eventually we all tune it out and go about doing whatever it was we were doing before...but maybe, just maybe we can all learn something if we stop and listen for awhile.
If you want more info on bee colony collapse you can watch the video at the end of this post.
Ok, so back to the beauty that is nature...back to beautiful roses and fresh (yes organic) peaches so yummy that you might have to say ''mmmm" when you bite into them.
The roses are Carding Mill and they have a really interesting, or as my husband puts it "weird" scent. Maybe it's the myrhh scent, which heck if I know what myrhh smells like...because to me they smell kind of like orange Pez candies.
And with that keen observation we have come full circle with this little post of mine, from tragedy to childhood memories of yummy candy with a lot of gobbledy gook in between. Somehow I think my view of the circle of life might be a little more oval or some other geometric design whose name I can't remember, but it's all good I think...don't you agree?!
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