Seven Ways to Help our Pollinators!

"The Keeping of Bees is like the Direction of Sunbeams"
~ Henry David Thoreau


One of my favorite experiences from the 'Menu for the Future' discussion group hosted at the  Kingston library so far was hearing Laurie Sybertz's first hand account of bee keeping.  She and her husband, Joe, keep bees.  Or at least, Joe does.  They really are fascinating, hardworking, humble little honey bees and are crucial the the successful pollination of many crops, contributing to at least one third of our 'plant' diet through their efforts.

Laurie also shared with us their plight, which we covered in more detail in our newsletter this week (see our website at www.southshoreorganics.com for a copy).  The buzz is that with the use of insecticides, and large scale agricultural farming practices which destroy diversity and the introduction of gmo crops, nearly a third of bee hives have been disappearing.  This is quite alarming, and is a new trend that has been established year on year for the past three or four years.

Lobbyists, bee keepers, organic consumer associations and farmers are all doing their bit to address the problem, but you can help too and the future of our food system may depend on it!  Here's what you can do:

1. Resist Perfection - allow a portion of your garden to return to its 'wild state' with brush, grasses, weeds, deadwood and leaf litter to allow pollinators to find food, seek shelter and breed.
2. Plant Flowers - a native flower garden in a sunny area, or even a herb garden.  Hummingbirds and butterflies like yellow, red and orange flowers while bees prefer blue, purple, white and yellow flowers. 
3. Avoid Pesticides - pesticide misuse is one of the most significant threats to pollinators.  Urban and suburban yards make up a large portion of land undergoing regular pesticide application, avoiding it is not only better for pollinators, it's better for your children, pets and water supply as well!
4. Use Honey - support the honey industry and substitute honey for sugar in your own kitchen.  When baking, use half as much honey as sugar, reduce the liquid by 1/4 cup and add 1/4tsp of baking soda per cup of honey used.  And don't forget to buy local honey.
5. Eat Ice Cream - Haagen Dazs launched a new limited-edition flavor called Vanilla Honey Bee, the company donates a portion of the proceeds from all 'honey-bee dependant flavors' to honey and sustainable pollination research.  Visit their website www.helpthehoneybee.com.
6. Bug Someone Else - pollinators are fragile and easily hurt, but they won't bother you if you leave them alone.  Instead, bug your family and friends about the importance of pollinators in our food chain.
7. Buy Organic - Organic farmers create pesticide free,  pollinator friendly environments while providing healthy, fresh produce.  When you buy organic you keep pesticides off fields and reduce exposure to GMO crops.  Many organic farmers also keep bees because they know it improves their yields.

It takes more than 500 bees to make just one pound of honey, and honey is surely one of mother natures sweetest gifts.  Long ago, we knew the value of the honeybees bounty as in ancient Egypt, taxes were paid with honey and in early Greece and Rome, honey symbolized fertility, love and beauty.  Today we seem to have lost appreciation for this amazing insect, thank you Laurie for sharing your story with us, and for providing the resources for this blog, and the newsletter article.

Resources: MaryJanesFarm magazine

www.ccbee.org

www.pollinator.org

www.nappc.org

www.honey.com

Savoring the Snow

As I sit and write this post, I am looking out at a gently blanketed landscape and the snow flakes are dancing like butterflies.  Today has a meloncholic feel to it, the forests always go quiet when it snows and so do the roads as we, like the animals, huddle down.  Maybe we are not as far removed from primal instincts as we think.

I also feel a particular appreciation for the snow today as this might be one of the last gentle dustings we get this year, and then no more until next year when we hope and pray our Christmas will be a white one!  What lies around the corner is long days starting with early mornings, farmers have already been planning the growing season and taking stock of their 'to do' lists, taking trips out to the green house or the barn with a combination of anticipation for how much needs to be accomplished and excitment to get underway. 

Knowing Spring is on our door step and she brings all her craziness and energy with her, I think today is the perfect day to putter around inside and wear your slippers or just your socks all day and appreciate one of the last quiet days we will have this year.  And, as promised, in celebration of the snowy day, I have included a recipe for some cookies.  A sweet friend, Ashley, baked these last week (using organic ingredients) to share and they were DELICIOUS!  It is Martha Stewart's recipe, Ashley added cranberries and I loved them so much I ate more than my share and didn't regret a thing!  They are absolutely worth a quick trip to the store for any ingredients you don't have!

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Coarse salt
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely grated zucchini
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Beat 1 stick butter and the sugars until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Beat flour mixture into butter mixture. Mix in zucchini, oats, and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 17 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
4. Beat together remaining 1/2 stick butter, the cream cheese, and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread 1 heaping tablespoon filling onto the flat side of 1 cookie, and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining filling and cookies.

The Distinction of a Species

I watched a movie once when I was a little girl about a disease that swept through the world and turned people into dust.  I was so disturbed by it, I had one of those moments wherein your perception of the world is altered along with your relationship with it.  And not because nearly everybody the lead character knew died one-by-one leaving only him and the heroine to repopulate the earth, not because of the tragedy of whole families being wiped out virtually overnight, but because I realized for the first time that my whole world was vulnerable.  Does anybody else recall the moment when that realization came to them for the first time?

'Of course the world is vulnerable', my mom said, 'life is precious, a meteor, a plague or any one of hundreds of natural disasters could forever change the face of this planet and life on it' - but it was more than that.  I realized for the first time how dependant we humans are on each other.  Our skill sets have evolved over generations and become so specific, I realized how much knowledge and progression would be lost.  If I were the last person on earth, I couldn't run or repair a power station or build solar powered panels for my house, and if I could, supplies would eventually run out and I couldn't build more.  Where would I get gas for my car?  There would be plenty cars around so that wasn't a problem, but once gas stations ran dry?  What then?  I am not a doctor, and after all the supplies in the pharmacies expire, I don't know anything about using plants to treat illness and disease.  If we managed to propagate, I could teach children to read and write, but I couldn't teach them physics.  Back then we didn't have the Internet to answer our questions only the library, but how much knowledge gained since the inception of the computer would be lost forever?  And then the biggie:  once the stuff in the grocery store went bad, what would we do for food?  So in my little girl mind, even if you survived and everybody else was turned into dust, you quite possibly would end up starving to death or dying of disease so maybe dust was a better way to go.  As I get older, I realize we would endure.  We would gather, organize, plant crops and reform little communities - it would be a very different life, but not necessarily a bad one. 

There have been many movies since that portray the demise of the human race usually involving some sudden and hugely destructive force, but what if we, us humans, are the cause of our own demise?  What if we build, grow, expand and consume ourselves out of existence?  Extinction is nothing new, species have been coming and going and evolving on our planet since it's birth, a typical species becomes extinct within 10 million years of its first appearance.  We the people have only been around an estimated 250,000 years, that's like a nano-second in the grand scheme of things, and in that nano-second we have inflicted more change on our environment or adversely affected or displaced more living species than any other organism in earths 4.54 BILLION years.  We assume we have the right to permanently alter landscapes and think we are very clever for taking a year or two to develop new organisms in a genetic science lab when it takes Mother Nature hundreds of thousands of years to accomplish the same thing.  We are powerful, rulers of the planet and at the top of the food chain.

I can't help but wonder, will another intelligent species be uncovering our bones and the remains of our cities, a 'lost civilization' out of earth one day?  Will they sadly shake their heads and say: How unusual, they destroyed the world that supported them and designed their own demise.

Dark Knight Moon

I have a confession to make - it is about a newly . . . revealed . . . fettish.  Its the radishes. I can't help myself and may need the help of family and friends in the form of an intervention.  They are organic and beautiful.  They grow underground, and you can smell the earth, they are demure to look at and all pepper and spice to taste.  I am so enamored with all the different radishes you get, and so when this one appeared on our farmers harvest list for South Shore Organics this week, I just had to have some.  I had to. 

I am of course, talking about the winter root - Black Radish.  They are Spanish in origin, and are bigger than the little red ones we are used to seeing, and talk about sexy!  Dark velvety skins hiding pale white flesh - these are the vampires of the underground: one bite and you're hooked!  Here you go - this is my take on a photo for the cover of a Twilight themed radish novel:

Last month I wrote about a radishing princess with a beautiful heart and the mattador who won her love with his beautiful heart, well, the Chiogga matador that beet all other admirers to gain her affection better watch out!  A new man arrived in town this week and he is ruthless, hungry and dangerous! 

Oh the drama, promise of romance, intrigue and suspense - what will happen next?  Will the radishing princess fall for the dark knights charms?  Is it any wonder I am infatuated?

A New Place to Eat

I had the occasion to travel on the Red Line into Boston the other day.  While clutching a railing for support in the swaying cart, I zoned out and let my mind wander as I people-watched because, let's be honest, the Red Line may not be pleasant but it is fascinating!  Occasionally when I have these moments I think 'if I was an alien who was beamed down for the first time into this exact moment - what would I think?'  And then I glance around like I am seeing the scene for the first time.  I would assume subways are where people sleep, read, sit, look unhappy, eat, stand . . . wait, did I just say eat?  Eeew. 

Then my wandering brain really kicked into gear, thinking about our relationship with food and how low down on the list of day to day priorities it is that we have started to 'squeeze it in'.  You see people eating in cars all the time too.  Instant oats, breakfast bars and shakes, grab-and-go snacks and lunches, hot pockets, pop tarts, sandwich wraps, take-it-with-you-soup-cup and we haven't even gotten to drive-thrus yet.  Which begs to be asked:  Are we too busy to eat?  Is the car, subway, bus and train the new dining room table? 

Why do we do this to ourselves?  At what point did we say 'strawberry pancakes in the form of a pop tart on the subway - what a great idea!  It will save me at least 15 minutes over a bowl of granola and yogurt!'

Seriously!?  Is eating an unsatisfying meal while hurtling through the bowels of Boston the best we can do? Then it made me think back to a show I caught on TV where a woman was packing dinner into Tupperware so her three children could eat in the car on the way to their piano lesson, baseball practice and dance recital respectively.  Does anybody else out there think we are losing the plot? 

I think we owe it to ourselves to treat ourselves better, to take a moment and think of what we are giving up in exchange for those precious minutes: good healthy food, some face-to-face conversation, or some 'me' time, a few minutes to reflect on what our day will bring or did bring.  Do we really accomplish anything in those sacraficial minutes anyway?  To quote an age old and over-used verse:

To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose,
A time to be born, and a time to die,
A time to plant, and a time to harvest,
A time to weep, a time to laugh . . . .

Well, surely there is a time in between all that to eat too?

Surviving Sleet

Here we are again, are you ready to celebrate another storm in New England with me?  Ready to break out the baking pans and punctuate these days with some delicious decadence?  Are you, like me, determined to embrace the gifts of today regardless of how much snow there is to shovel?  And since there has been A LOT of snow to shovel, I feel the need to put the calories back in my body lest I wither away to nothingness and we can't have that, can we? 

It just so happens that conveniently - I love it when this happens - my calorie craving has coincided with a cheesecake craving!  And not just any cheese cake - I want a BAKED cheesecake!  What good is a cold day of wintry mix if you aren't going to at least turn the oven on?  So, this is my special choice for this little winter storm:

Philadelphia Double-Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

24 OREO Cookies, crushed (about 2 cups)

1/4 cup  (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted

4 pkg (8 oz each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup  sugar

2 tbsp flour

1 tsp  vanilla

2 tbsp (heaped) cocoa

1/2 cup blueberries

Method:

• Heat oven to 325ºF.
• Mix crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch foil-lined pan. Bake 10 min.
• Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour cocoa and vanilla with mixer until well blended.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.
• Bake 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil to lift cheesecake from pan. Top with berries.

Enjoy!  A few more snow storms accompanied with decadent ideas and we may just have turned this winter around, don't you think?