Thank You Jeff

I first met Jeff sometime after I moved into the Domes in 2002. I got to know him much better when I was living at the B Street house and he would come over to tend his bees there while I tended mine. Beekeeping with Jeff was always a privilege. Up until working the bees with him, I had always put my hive tool back in my pocket in between uses, making my pants sticky. On the day we collected frames full of honey from the bee street house it was Jeff who taught me how to gently brush away the bees with my fingers and bee brush. He also taught me that I could rest my hive tool right on the corner of the box, and it wouldn’t disturb the bees at all. Sure enough he was right. He had a gentle way of telling me what and how to do things that was so tender, that I felt like Jeff was a very influential teacher-friend in my life. Since that day, I always rest my hive tool on the corner of the hive, and I think of Jeff every time. Thinking of him will surely feel different now.

As Amy Zents remarked, Jeff always did what was right and had more fun doing it. Right before I moved into his place at N Street, he invited me over for a smoothie. When I got there, he had all the fruit in a stainless steel bowl, not a blender, pulled out a potato masher and began smashing away. He said he didn’t like to use electricity if there was another way. There are many other everyday and ordinary things about life that have evoked Jeff’s memory. He used to make fresh muffins on weekend mornings. He never used a recipe, just grains from Jennifer Green and his imagination. Of course, we always ate them with fresh honey. I loved him for his quirks. He just had a way of doing things. Every time I see melons and squash planted in a garden, I always think of the way he did it--in little round mounds. It was always a treat when Jeff played the piano. One night I had the pleasure of hearing him and his partner Kristen singing a duet. I remember Jeff’s beans growing on the side of the house out in the gardens. And his basil in the wooden barrels. And he used to dry oregano on the beams in our house. Gosh, he was so great in the garden! He loved all life so much. I miss him dearly. I wish now I would have thanked him for how much he taught me and how much fun I had with him.

Jeff was so vivacious, so full of life and energy, and i want to remember him that way.