Lofty Dreams ~ Home Sweet Home #5

Ideally, I'd like to have a live/work loft space in the city and a cozy little cabin in the woods. I really miss living in a loft... Unfortunatly, gentrification has infected every last bohemian enclave in Chicago, so finding an affordable loft space is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I'm always up for a treasure hunt though, so I know I'll find what I'm looking for when the time comes. I'm dreaming of an old warehouse or factory with exposed brick walls and pressed tin ceilings, exposed beams, wooden flooring that go on throughout a huge open floor plan. I want plenty of room for an studio/office where I can make soap and candles, jewelry, art and pottery. I'd love to have a big play area where my kids can stretch out, let loose and play!



I dream of giant windows with tons of light! I picture the light pouring in over a little wooden indoor greenhouse where I can grow an herb garden. I'd grow common herbs to cook with, magickal herbs for witchcrafting charms and formulas, shamanic plants and entheogenic botanicals that make you "fly" and aid in lucid dreamtime!



I'm going to the Chicago College of Healing Arts next Spring to take a year long program called Foundations in Herbalism. "The program provides an introduction to plant medicine and lays the foundation for further plant medicine training. Students are taught the skills necessary for designing and making herbal formulas, as well as organic growing and wildcrafting of herbs, and the ecological and political concerns of modern herbalism. An integral part of the program is its series of country weekends, where students are given the opportunity to work with the growing, harvesting and processing of botanicals. Hands-on medicine making labs allow students to gain experience in creating their own tinctures, pills, salves, essential oils and more!"



I imagine creating a rooftop garden and keeping bees! Rooftop beekeeping could help to combat colony collapse disorder. Read more about urban beekeeping here...



There are many benefits of a rooftop garden beyond the fact that they can be quiet urban sanctuaries. They add another dimension of green space to an urban scape without taking up an extensive area of land in densely populated places. In some European countries such as Switzerland, bylaws have been passed that new buildings must be designed to relocate the greenspace covered by the building to their roofs. Existing buildings must also comply with the bylaw by greening at least 20% of their rooftops. Read more about "green roofs" here...

Derrick R. Cruz

Derrick Cruz is the designer behind Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons. He creates beautiful handcrafted jewelry, accessories, and functional Art Objects, each piece rich with symbolism. I was instantly taken with Derrick's jewelry the from the moment I saw it! Below, is the "Only Daughter" necklace (that I soooo covet) from his Bendición Collection created for BBlessing. One of five visual chapters in a story inspired by a vintage portrait of a little Hungarian girl in a black dress with her bees.



"After weighing the words "Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons" for some time, their blatant reference to outsiders and men seeking redemption caused a greater alien to rear its head—an only daughter among favored sons. Quiet and stern, she seeks no grandeur. With her are the bees, heralds of our awful stewardship of the world. These are the friends she keeps. Deprived of guidance, our daughter enters a hero's journey..." Oh my poor bleeding heart, I swear this brought tears to my eyes! The story goes unfinished though, there will be two more visual chapters to the collection! I pray there's a happy ending for the lonesome bee girl...

Recently, Derrick was featured on the Selby website. Intrigued once again, I proceeded to his website to see what see what he was up to. He has a line of fancy limited edition, handcrafted straight razors for ale swillin' razor cheeked rouges! The 'Mammoth Razor' is comprised of a mammoth ivory and sterling sheath, a masterfully restored vintage blade and a quartz Stanhope lens. Each razor can be personalized with a custom image in the Stanhope lens and or the addition of a Scrimshaw engraving on the handle.



More importantly though, is his project inspired by the disappearing Honey Bee. While researching bee mythology a few years ago for his his Bendición Collection, he found out about the honey bee crisis refered to as "Colony Collapse Disorder". Whole colonies of honeybees are abandoning their hives en masse and are not returning! Approximately 80% of all insect pollination is accomplished by honey bees, so this could effect the entire global food supply...scary! No bees=no food! Derrick curated this amazing installation called "A New Hive" at Earnest Sewn in New York, in an attempt to bring this matter to awareness. For this installation, Cruz collaborated with designers and artists Monica Byrne, Cory Gomberg, Caroline Priebe, and Ryder E. Robison to showcase beekeeper-inspired suits, limited-edition eighteen-karat-gold honeycomb accessories, drawings, and sculptures to benefit the nonprofit group Bees Without Borders. Look at this room...isn't it gorgeous!? In the center of the room, 3,000 bees are in an observation hive made from found objects.



He created eighteen-karat gold pendants cast directly from a piece of abandoned honeycomb wax.



Then he had PapaBubble Caramels Artisans insert the necklaces in a 25-inch hivelike pyramid made of sugar. The pieces of gold were in crevices filled with honey. From what I understand, anyone who wanted to purchase a pendant would have to crack through the hive, stick the piece in their mouth, and suck the honey off to get to the gold....hmm...delish!



“The rich folklore and natural history of honeybees inspires an ethereal childlike curiosity in individuals…Curiosity leads to contemplation, internalization, and then to genuine concern. I hope A NEW HIVE will help us regain respect for these amazing creatures; after all, almost everything we eat is made possible by bees." Derrick Cruz



Donate to "A NEW HIVE"! Proceeds from donations to "A NEW HIVE" will support research and education focusing on the development of sustainable beekeeping practices as well as the up-keep and foundation of new hives in local gardens.


* A side note*
I used to make beeswax candles, soap, lip balm, skin salve and sugar scrub using beeswax and honey. I noticed a sharp increase in wholesale costs so I starting using other natural products. Soy wax for my candles, ect... But the healing properties of honey are unparalled so I started searching for a local source. I thought maybe I could find a local bee farm just outside of Chicago. (I found out about the honey bee crisis during this time.) While trying to find a local source, I discovered that people in cities everywhere are keeping bees right in their backyards, rooftops, and community gardens! Chicago has beehives on top of City Hall! I met a woman who had live bees shipped right to her house! My current living situation permits me from keeping bees unfortunatly, but I found a non-profit organization near by called the Chicago Honey Co-op. I'm hoping to volunteer in the Spring!

"Urban beekeepers, an unofficial secret society of asphalt naturalists, romantics drawn to the beauty of a beehive's intelligent design, epicureans seeking the delectable taste of locally procured honey, and off-the-grid types keeping nature alive in the city."



The healing properties of honey are not just recognized by holistic health practitioners. For example, Derma Sciences Inc., a New Jersey company that makes medicated and other advanced wound care products, began selling "Medihoney" the first honey-based wound dressing in 2007 after it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The product is effective in healing wounds which are resistant to strong antibiotics.

Beeswax candles have an instantly recognizable scent – a subtle and deliciously sweet honey-like perfume that induces an instant feeling of calm and wellbeing. When burned, beeswax candles release negative ions that improve the quality of the air. As opposed to Paraffin candles that are a by-product of petroleum–a fossil fuel and pollutant. Also, the light produced by beeswax candles is natural like sunlight...solar frequencies. The light produced by paraffin candles is like a fluorescent lightbulb...chaos frequencies!

Honey is the Nectar of the Goddess: check out The Bee Goddess