Life at a "Swell's" pace

This time of year, spring, seems to bring out the honeybees. On a small road outside of the city there's fields of turnips, butterweed, and radishes and they're all in bloom right now. I love how the honeybee farms rent out their hives to help pollinate the blooms of the crops. This one in particular is one of our favorites. The honeybees are healthy and thriving, as we enjoy their company. We respect their space and they respect ours. Olsen Honey Farm is based out of Albany, Oregon, and operates out of Olsen’s home in with six to 12 employees. They keep 7,000 bee hives that they rent to about 50 farms around Oregon, Washington and California. They've been operating for approximately 18 years.

Pioneer Cemetery has been on our local bucket list for awhile now and this week we finally got to walk through it and tour the grounds. It was established in 1866 officially, but was used by the Elias Briggs and his wife to bury their children in 1852. It's hard sometimes looking at these cemeteries and not feel empathy for these poor families that went through such heartache. I can't imagine burying one child, let alone several. The history behind this cemetery is in the first picture. The family brought forth the idea to make the cemetery official in a way to honor their children. The city of Springfield, Oregon, agreed and made it an official burial spot in 1866. In 1872 they plotted two acres and the cemetery was used as a burial place for the area's loved ones until 1900. The cemetery fell into despair and in 1978, the city cleaned up the cemetery and honored the pioneer families and their loved ones buried at this spot. It's been part of the city's historical places ever since.