The gentle breeze whispered, “Come on out,” as the branches’ unfurling leaves waved at her, coaxing her from the open back door. New ferns spilling out of her mama’s concrete urns gently billowed, and freshly mown grass signaled the end of winter’s imposed rest. As she kicked off her shoes, her tender feet laughed, tickled by the sun on her face and minions of gentle sword-like pricks of the blades that surrendered under her steps.
A few steps away were her favorite flowers. Stooping, she picked the year’s first dandelion bouquet, sure of where Mama would put them — in Granny’s old honey jar. But as she rushed to the door with her blooming surprise, she saw it.
“Maaa-maa!” she screamed, dropping the flowers and the stowaway honeybee in a heap on the porch.
POOR BEES. Seeing them raises our adrenaline, and rightfully so, especially for the many allergic to their stings. Some of us put a healthy distance between them and us and enjoy the fruits of their labor. And yet others care for them, understand them, and protect them.
Heidi Fowler cares for the bees and for the children who misunderstand them.
The California native connects nature, life lessons, and her understanding of God’s plan for his creation. Her earliest connections date back to her childhood.
“God has a plan. There’s a reason for the animals we have and the systems in nature. He has the answers within His creation, and we just have to tap into them,” Fowler noted.
Her childhood on her family’s small homestead sparked her love of animals, gardening, and cooking from scratch. And home-grown meals aren’t the only thing she cooks up from scratch. Fowler is a children’s book author.
“I told stories before I could write. I’ve always loved writing and have written stories since I could put sentences together,” she said.
She told her first stories before she could write, but her first published works were poems in print before she graduated high school. Then, life got busy, leaving little time for writing. With her training in early childhood education from Taft College in California, she worked in preschools and operated a day care. Even though writing seemed on the back burner, her experiences were at work, teaching her things that now inform her writing processes.
Fowler shared, “Working with children is very rewarding and challenging at the same time. Young to learn. It’s easier to learn when they don’t realize they are learning. Telling a good story gets people engaged. When you inject the lesson into the story, the education happens organically.”
“Bee Helpful,” Book 1 in “Rubee’s Happy Hive” series, is Fowler’s first book, followed by Book 2, “Bee a Good Steward” and Book 3, “Bee Truthful.” Geared towards ages 2 through 8, the books in Rubee’s Happy Hive series and an upcoming series, “Grandma’s Garden”, are available on Amazon.
Her years of beekeeping made writing her first book series a labor of love.
“Beekeeping is an experience I wish everyone could have. Bees are absolutely amazing and are one of the most misunderstood creatures that widely impact our food system. Once you learn how they live and work, you see them in a new way, so I decided to start with bees for my first series,” said Fowler.
Sharing the creative process with her father, who illustrates the stories, is a bonus.
“My father is an excellent artist, but this isn’t the type of art he’s used to doing. My mother was the cartoonist, and my father did landscapes and portraits. He stepped out of his comfort zone to do these. I’m glad he did. I love working with him on these books. Better than my happiness, he told me he’s found what he wants to do now — illustrate books. That makes me smile.”
Writing and illustrating the books were one thing; pursuing publication, which can be a long journey for many authors, was another. But for Fowler, it was easier than expected, thanks to her Lincoln County community.
She said, “The wonderful thing is that at least three people stepped in to help me find a publisher. I’m so thankful for their help. This is one of the places the community here shines. I had no clue how to go about doing this. Everything from finding the publisher [forward] just happened naturally, like it was meant to be. I’m sure God had His hand [in it] through the whole process.”
Boosting Fowler’s inspiration and foundation for her stories are her five children, two of whom she homeschooled, and her three grandchildren. She also has the support of her “wonderful husband who supports me in all I do.”
She believes everyone has talents and that using her gifts in animal husbandry, gardening, and writing is a way to use hers to glorify God.
You might say she’s tapping into the plan. GN
