|
Crossing the Red Sea
•Our
best crop
•My brother
Tom
•Coming
out of the fire
•More
than a truce
•the
bears and the bees
•Billy
Engelhardt
•Wherever
we go
Coming out of
the fire
So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the
fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers crowded
around them. They saw that the fire had not burned their bodies, nor was
a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there
was no smell of fire on them.
Daniel 3: 26 -27
February 1, 2000
near West Canada Creek, Herkimer County, New York State
I have come to say goodbye to a friend. She sits quietly over by a barn,
covered by a foot of new white snow, continuing to carry blue barrels
with tons of honey in a most honorable way. Still a glorious red despite
most of her cab being burned two weeks ago when the wiring in her dashboard
caught fire, our faithful 1996 Dodge bee truck waits for our next move.
We came together like a blind date, never having met each other before
I drove up to her at the dealership, her engine already running and warm,
and the distinctive purr of her diesel engine cutting through the air
that frigid winter afternoon. I signed the paperwork, and we were off
to the Finger Lakes to get a wooden bed built for her.
The early days were busy, averaging 1,000 or so miles week after week,
of driving bees throughout the night north from South Carolina, continuing
through Maryland and Pennsylvania the next day to New York or Vermont,
then working with the bees and taking honey to market that day or the
next.
When the government agent saw the 1995 logbook for the red bee truck,
he looked me straight in the eye and called me a liar. He did not believe
anybody could work that hard. I said, Sir, every mile we traveled that
year is noted in this book, thumping the log book down on the table with
a formidable bang. She was a worker and a friend. 152,437 miles is a long
way to go together.
The claim money from the loss of the red bee truck enabled us to diversity
into the research, manufacture, and sales of honey wild cherry syrup. God had
already provided a second bee truck to keep us working with the bees,
and it became increasingly clear that we did not need two bee trucks with
two crews as the parasitic mites had decimated the number of colonies
in our operation from 1,900 to around 1,200.
God allowed a natural pruning of our operation with the bees and trucks,
and through the prayers sometimes without ceasing was to shift the focus
of our work from 100% farming towards making value added products like
honey wild cherry syrup and elderberry-honey-propolis extract, which had a higher
return and had formulas using our niche of raw honey as one of the ingredients.
It was not an easy process, but God had a plan and saw me through every
step of the way.
towards the end of 2000
We have had three more fires, making a total of four for the year, including
the bee truck. An electrical fire burned down a honey house where pallets
of our jars were stored, and vandals burned stacks of equipment and four
hives as they made their way to a swimming hole, drinking and being wild.
I have never seen anything like it; the fires will not stop this year.
Thinking of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago, I can not say that I have
come out of these fires without smoke on my clothes like they did. It
must stick to me and be evident in obvious ways from time to time. Often
I later see how God uses these experiences to adjust my plans, at other
times, the reason and value of a fire remains a mystery, and I just have
to keep moving forward in faith.
It is all very humbling. I am purified by each experience, and pray that
through all of these fires I become a better person.
Darren
coming out of the Plessis yard with a load, August 1999
|
