Grassland and Bees of Prosperity

Yesterday I drove out to a little farm in Grassland, about 40 minutes outside of Athabasca. The place is called Bees of Prosperity, and it is a small operation run by Krystal and Stefan, who grow vegetables and keep bees. They sell their produce at the Athabasca Farmers' Market on weekends.

I knew Krystal from Couchsurfing, as she was one of several people in the Athabasca area to whom I'd sent a message/couch request before leaving Thorhild. She was the only one to reply, and I'm very glad she did. She and her partner Stefan are from Edmonton originally, and they've both lived in Montreal for several years.

I spent the afternoon hanging out and chatting with Krystal, who showed me around their property and took me to meet their bees. One of these took offense at my presence and this unfortunately led to her (its?) death as well as a painful bump on my neck, which is still present today. I made a, ahem, beeline out of there so as not to cause any further apian deaths.

Later on I took a walk down the path which led to several decrepit wooden huts, built by an old recluse who had spent his entire life there, alone. On my way I encountered a deer, a frog, many birds, and far too many mosquitoes. These critters have become the bane of my existence since I've moved into the camper. They are everywhere, all the time, it seems. I wish I could just eradicate them all in one fell swoop, as Shakespeare would say, but this, as Krystal has informed me, would not be good at all as mosquitoes are a key player in their ecosystem. Well, ecosystem or not, I had to slaughter 20-30 of them in my camper last night before sleeping. I was surprised that so many of them had managed to sneak in while my doors were open, always very briefly. I later found out that my forgetfulness was my own undoing, as I had left a window open overnight.

Stefan came home from work around 6 and Krystal made us a lovely vegetarian taco dinner. We then had ice cream and chatted until late. They are both well traveled and it was a joy to converse with people with such a grounded and balanced understanding and approach to life.

I came back to Athabasca today to do some biking and utilize the free wi-fi at Athabasca University, and tomorrow I leave for Slave Lake. I will spend the weekend there and on Monday I'll drive to Driftpile, where I'll begin my first volunteer shift for North Country Fair. So excite!