When I bought Dan two beehives for his birthday way back in January, I wasn't sure if the look on his face was one of surprise or anxiety! Fortunately now, the pleasure of enjoying our own honey at breakfast has taken the sting - sorry, I couldn't resist that - out of establishing another new home grown product.
This is a hectic time of year for us with holiday makers appearing in greater numbers at the shop. There's so much to be done around the shop and farm. Last month On The Table were runners up in the Diversification category for the Cornwall Business Awards 2007. This was both a surprise and an achievement - the competition was stiff and included many much larger businesses. The judging panel was stuffed with the great and the good - people like Tim Smit and Eddy George - so to have garnered a silver was a real thrill.
Talking of hectic and bees, I love this poem by W.B. Yates - stress busting poetry at its finest.
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
xx Jo
