The Honey Farm by Harriet Alida Lye

Author:Harriet Alida Lye
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liveright

XLIV

THE TREES are starting to crisp around the edges. Burnt-brown, not fire-red. This isn’t from any premonition of autumn but rather from the scorching summer heat. Many of the plants in the garden are surrendering their fruits earlier than usual. Silvia wonders whether the farm is in some kind of microclimate or whether the drought is affecting the whole province. By the end of June, the fuzzy-headed clover will have finished its season. The bees will have sucked the purple straws dry. The buckwheat—flowers the colour of a baby girl’s room—will be ready to harvest as well. Goldenrod has bloomed early this year too, so its peppery nectar will bleed into the rest.

“It’s baking out,” says Ibrahim as the group walks towards the back lot for the next harvest. “We’ll all turn to banana bread.”

Once they’ve got their suits on and Silvia and Ibrahim are preparing the tools, Ben starts singing “Tupelo Honey” through his veil. “You can’t stop us on the road to freedom, you can’t keep us ’cause our eyes can see . . .”

His voice is nice; he doesn’t sound like himself when he sings.

Silvia does the smoking while Ibrahim extracts the frames. They move in rhythm, not touching, swiftly swooping around each other. Ben stands to the side, observing. When the frames are out he’ll uncap the wax cells and drain the honey, but until then he just watches everything, singing and feeling pretty productive.

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