Dwelling is not primarily inhabiting but taking care of and creating that space within which something comes into its own and flourishes.
Martin Heidegger
When it comes to making and harvesting honey, care and labor are not only concepts applied to the act but are the act itself. The ancient Greeks knew that laboring over something, creating something included not only the process of forming and sculpting the product but also caring for it, tending to it in order to honestly bring it into being.
By creating the perfect dwelling place for bees through music, by planting bee friendly flowers, as well as relying on a natural process, thus lowering our carbon footprint, we not only create the perfect space for the making and harvest of honey - we form a place of dwelling.
Dwelling, in turn involves caring for said space. Bees are some of nature's hardest workers. For them to dwell there must be space of mutual care, which in turn they transform in a gentle abode for their generous labor. And this is the only true and honest way honey can be made. Only in such spaces, the poetics of being are truly present. The sweetness and binding force of different types of honey- be it from acacia, amorpha, or sunflowers - can only be truly experienced after a long devotion to its meticulous craft. It’s no wonder that many cultures have regarded honey as a sacred substance. The saccharine nectar has been used as a powerful ailment and in religious ceremonies as a sacred offering for thousands of years. It is still used in many cultures today as a symbol of sweetness, purity, and fertility. And all of these properties are brought forth into being through a dedicated work ethic of deep care. Nothing more, nothing less.
But careful labor is never easy, and it is never short and sweet. Then again - imagine, after the long and difficult process, tasting the first spoon of natural honey - this is the impression we want to give with our produce. Tasting something that comes from being’s essence after a long day of work and worry.
All of this comes from the creation a place of dwelling. For us to create is to preserve something meaningful that we have carefully labored over. Engendering a space of belonging, a space of dwelling able to produce something honest – a devotion, a home, a family, honey.