Farm, Circus and Merriment at Bee Haven

 

                Deena Frooman is a juggler.  That’s not just a metaphor.  She’s actually a world-class juggler who’s travelled the world to learn from the best. She turned her passion into Good Clean Fun, a company that brings crowd-pleasing activities to corporate events and festivals.  Ingeniously, she’s also developed a curriculum for school residencies, the STEAM Circus, using hands-on activities to demonstrate the physics of Newton’s laws.  Now she’s juggling yet another venture at her rural Wadmalaw property “Bee Haven” turning it into a destination for family play experiences.

                When my granddaughters Lana and Emilia and I arrived for a visit, Deena was busy packing up 140 kits that included juggling balls, spinning plates and other props for a school program but she took a break to show us around the property. “When families come, the dads always want to tour my tiny house first.” We did too.  It’s a work of art. The resourceful use of space includes a loft bedroom and a miniature bathroom with an reclaimed airplane sink and walls lined with Deena’s kitschy tin lunchbox collection.  Through the windows you can see the thriving garden and, in the distance, the bee hives.  But my grand daughters were eager to meet the animals. And the Nigerian Dwarf Goat siblings Dandylion (“he is pure rascal”) and Carolina Jessamine (“named for South Carolina’s vining flower…sweet and mellow.”) were excited to show us their tricks.  They can “high five”, dance, scamper up and down the teeter-totter, and come like dogs.  Deena said, “I learned how to train them on YouTube,” where she’s learned most all that she knows about farming.  She discovered that the goats needed rain water because the local water had too much iron in it and she learned the clicker method of positive reinforcement that she’s using to train her chickens and the super-cute bunny named Tisha.  Who knew you could train chickens!?         

         Once I was able to coax Emilia to put the cuddly bunny back into its cage, it was time for “Instant Art-ification”.  We took turns sitting on a crazy looking pedal powered spin art contraption made from a bicycle.  The girls put paper and paint into the cylinder mounted where the handlebars would normally be and pedaled until the paint splattered.  Instant art.  Meanwhile, we learned about centrifugal force and primary colors. We bumbled and laughed as we tried to spin plates on long sticks while learning about center of gravity.  We dipped expansive wands into buckets of homemade solution and blew humongous bubbles and we clapped for Deena’s stupendous juggling performance.  It was a day of old fashioned, unplugged family fun and the best nearby road trip we’d taken.  As we made our way home Emilia was already planning to have her next birthday party at Bee Haven.  Lana was dreaming of living on a farm and we all agreed with another recent visitor who said “Bee Haven is two acres of WOW.”

If You Go:

http://goodcleanfunfamilyplay.com/  Bee Haven in 30 minutes from Charleston.  For private visits, group tours and birthday parties.