Is running a campaign stressful: Yes.
Is putting 10,000 bees in the cab of your pick-up and driving 2 hours 
listening to “bzzzzz” stressful: Also yes.
But both are worth it.
Raising bees, and birds; boarding horses, and growing food are all integral parts of the American tradition. Providing for friends and neighbors; providing for one’s self; and knowing the value of hard work to derive a reward is one of the most important things we can do as a community member.
That is why I have decided to enter this race.
I have no desire to rule over my fellow man, but I do believe we need new leadership in place so the people of this county can better rule their lives.
Our county has abandoned the ideals of Growth Management. The COMP plan has been butchered and rapid- incongruent growth has happened as a result.
My family and I are one of less than 100 small ranchettes still within the Urban Services Boundary. What was almost ALL small ranchettes when our family bought this land a half-century ago has now become 30,000 residents in subdivision homes. I know that my farm is now an outlier, and I have made amends with that, but that does not mean others should have to suffer the same fate.
We must stop the special exemptions and mass growth west of our USB. It is poor planning, and frankly disrespectful to those who live there currently. When several commissioners suggest that 20-acre ranchettes are somehow bad- we know we are in danger.
It is time we had someone on the commission that said, “it’s ok to have a small family farm”, or “not everything has to be a picture-perfect subdivision”. Just because you hide a multi-thousand-acre PUD behind a thin tree line DOES NOT MEAN you have protected a rural society. You have only hidden a manipulation of the natural landscape.
Not so fun fact: Our farm lost 140 chickens last year to predation. Coyote’s roam our pasture nightly, in-search of food and shelter within the urban jungle that has become Palm City. During high rain events, their numbers increase dramatically. I don’t blame the coyotes. They are animals, after all- and just trying to survive. I blame poor forward planning, and mass development. It’s not to late to stop the madness.
Remember this, as we prepare to vote in August.
P.S.
On a positive note, the bees are doing great- and the new colony seems to be settling in well. The larger hive in the background already has honey in the Super- and all signs point to a fantastic harvest this year!