It has been an exciting year for our family. We are pleased to announce the formation of 43560 Enterprises, LLC. This company realizes a long-held dream to provide to individuals, families and community organizations the skills we have been honing for decades. Our Grateful Trees & Bees division brings together and formalizes the work we have been doing in the areas of arboriculture, beekeeping and vegetable gardening.
43,560 represents the number of square feet in an acre. It’s a figure that makes that space seem as big as it feels to us most days. Thinking about the acre or half acre most of us Americans live on in square feet renders it a space worthy of playing a role in the birthing of a new culture that lives in symbiosis with the natural world. What would our world be like if we each optimized the 43,560 square feet we have?
We believe that it is possible to transform the traditional American acre from a space of manicured, pesticide laden lawns to a space brimming over with life. We have created and witnessed that transformation on our own land. Our backyard, once nothing more than a sea of fescue, has filled with life from all the realms — green vegetable and floral beings of countless variety, birds, butterflies, bees, grasshoppers, spiders, dragonflies, praying mantis, moths, trees, mud, skinks, squirrels, turtles, voles, snakes, rabbits, faeries, spirits of the land, and two very sweet and curious little boys. The change has come from allowing our trees to flourish, from the humming of a honeybee hive, from the working of wood for firewood and from the installation and ongoing engagement with a kitchen garden.
As we began to truly use our 43,560 square feet — to optimize our American acre — we noticed a remarkable by-product. Yes, we had firewood for heating, flowers for beauty, animals and insects to watch for amusement, and delicious, wholesome veggies to eat. But those we expected. What we never dreamed would happen, is that our acre grew. Yes, with every new enterprise, we watched as our backyard got bigger.
We encourage you to use your acre to achieve your dreams. 43,560 square feet is a lot of room for enterprise.
© 2013 Grateful Trees & Bees.
