Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1152518
204 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 9 care of me when I was small and vulnerable and now I can help them when they're in trouble." It's also meditative. "You have to move slowly around bees because they become agitated. They're empaths and can sense your energy; you must…be careful and mindful. For those reasons, I will always be a beekeeper." And now, May comes full circle. She and her wife Jenn Jackson have purchased a Carmel Valley property that serendipitously faces the mountain where Franklin Peace kept his hives. "I'm attached to the land here because of my grandfather," May says. "I've always known I wanted my 'forever house' to be somewhere on the Central Coast." Jackson has also fallen in love with the area. "I just calm down when I'm in the Valley," May says. "The pace is slower, and the jitteriness of everyday life goes away." Will she keep bees? Of course. "Our number one need was land and a green buffer from neighbors so we could keep a small apiary." May's book is doing quite well and has been translated into 13 languages and published in 17 countries. Amazon chose it as one its top five books last April and displays it in the front window of its Time Square store. May has been busy promoting the work in cities and on NPR stations nationwide—and here in Carmel Valley. "I spoke for fifth graders at Tularcitos Elementar y, my old school," she says. "That was the best stop on the tour." And the honey bus itself? Don't go looking for it. "When my grandparents died, the house went to my mom and her brother. They quickly sold it. The bus was torn down and sold for scrap," May says sadly. "I harbored fantasies of using it, but it was too old and fragile to move." "The Honey Bus," a delightfully captivating book, is available at Pilgrim's Way Bookstore and River House Books in Carmel. May will be giving author's talks, honey tasting and book signing at Carmel Valley and Monterey Public Libraries on October 5. More details are at www.thehoneybus.com. Photo: Meredith May Honeybees are an essential component of modern agriculture. Meredith May might argue that they were also essential in healing a young girl confused by her abrupt change of circumstances, a story told in "The Honey Bus." Meredith May will speak at local libraries on October 5th.