I grew up on my family’s 40 acre ranch in Arizona, and without other kids nearby, I spent my days looking for natural treasure: white quartz and black mica. To me, they were all beautiful. Somehow, the ordinary desert looked magical, especially when I added drops of water, and the dull sun-bleached rocks revealed their color in glimmering depth. It felt like the desert was sharing her secret with me: beauty in the unexpected, and potential in the overlooked.

This land that I was so fortunate to grow up on was my grandfather’s. After he helped develop the surrounding town of Carefree in the 1950’s, his goal was to turn his personal property into a guest ranch, complete with gardens, livestock and citrus. He began, but health issues cut his time short. Nonetheless, this rural Arizona upbringing shaped me. It grounded me. It yielded perspective and taught me how to see hidden beauty and feel the unspoken. I left my desert home for Maryland 20 years ago, but the lessons of the desert never left me. I continued to look for quiet beauty in the everyday, and on weekends, took trips searching for that same overlooked potential in cast off items and vintage pieces.

Fast forward, and somehow, amidst the chaos of our swirling world, the silent call of the desert beaconed. Something inside me told me that it was time to go home and sprinkle water on those desert rocks again.

Twelve acres of my family’s 40-acre ranch remain. My children are the 4th generation of this land. Now, neglected citrus lay dormant, sun-baked horse stalls splinter in the sun, and a rusting windmill sits chained. My goal is to breathe life back into the ranch and transform it into a place that the community can enjoy. I hope to continue the story that my grandfather started 70 years ago... and maybe, just maybe, with a little care, I can get Windmill Ranch to bloom again.

Honeybee Home owner, Katy Saxer (below photo) has done various aspects of home decor. In 2007, she founded Primitive Beginnings, an online store specializing in primitives and bedding. Over the next 10 years, Katy participated at Country Living fairs in Ohio and New York, and Maryland barn sales in Fallston and Frederick. Primitive Beginnings evolved into a gift and apparel store and opened its doors on Main Street in Ellicott City, Maryland, where it continues as a historic main street destination. Katy sold Primitive Beginnings in 2017, and a year later began Honeybee Home, LLC to focus on her love of natural design, and community-based events. Primitive Beginnings store, Main Street Ellicott City, Maryland