A real Millionaire Next Door

Just a great little article from one of my favorite blogs. Over the past couple of years I've really tried to get my (our) financial house in order. The article hits the financial goals I have in life right on the head. Like John in the article, I want to retire at 55 with the house paid off and no debt. Pay the light bill and food, that's it! Oh, and $1,000,000 in the bank. If this interests you too, a good book to start with is The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley. It's a bit statistical at times but it's a great peak inside of what makes someone quietly successful. Of course I added the Amazon.com link but your local library should have it for free (that's how I read it).

What's your financial goal in life?

Pickles & Beer and Honey????

As you may or may not have heard, my latest plan to flush success from the Victory Garden is to start bee keeping. Yes, you heard right. I've been thinking about this for a few months, almost a year now. I was mesmorized by the South Carolina Bee Keeping Association table at the SC State Fair last fall. For $40 they offered a begining beekeeping course, complete with resources and a practical day. As serendipity would have it, this past winter, just before the classes started, I met someone who calls himself a honey producer. Yes he's a beekeeper too but he has over 80 hives. His honey is amazing! So much better than what you get in a supermarket. He sends them by tractor trailer to Maine for the blueberry nectar and California for the almond bloom. When not on the road they stay on his farm about 30 miles down the road..... but I digress.....

So, much to my wife's dismay, I'm picking up another hobby. I spent an afternoon out on the bee farm installing some new hives. After that I was hooked. I didn't even get stung once! (although that will probably be more the exception than the rule) One Saturday soon I'll be picking up my new hive of bees. The raspberry bushes are already in bloom so I doubt they'll still be flowering when the hive arrives. But my garden is already planted! And as soon as they arrive they'll bee able to spend all day pollinating my (and the neighbor's) garden, assuring me my most successfull harvest yet! AND THEN THERE'S THE HONEY!! I'll be making more mead than traditional beer this year. But that my friend, is another post.......

A great article about how amazing honey bees are.

http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/guest-column-lets-hear-it-for-the-bees/