Monthly Archives: June 2011

your honey ain’t just honey, honey

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This weekend I saw the documentary Queen of the Sun. While I felt like the movie was lacking a clear story line and perhaps message (other than the fact that trying to control agriculture may leave us with none) the content of the movie, the facts and the images to prove those horrifying facts were incredible.

The one that resonated the most with me was the fact that bees are often fed High Fructose Corn Syrup. And you guys know how I feel about that (see number 9). They feed the bees HFCS to help them grow strong, to get through cold winters, etc. But what do bees normally eat in the winter, you ask? Why, honey, of course! You don’t think they just make honey for us, do you?

So here are some bees, making themselves foodstuffs for the winter, and some beekeepers take that, sell it, and feed the bees HFCS instead. Which, to me, is already deplorable. Couldn’t commercial beekeepers just leave enough honey for them to get through the winter and take the rest? But, as the movie pointed out, it’s mostly about finances. The commercial beekeepers can’t afford to do that.

And, in some cases, if the beekeepers are feeding the bees HFCS, the HFCS is getting into the honey they produce. Which means your honey ain’t just honey, honey.

There are many other atrocities that are happening with bees that should alarm you. Monoculture is one of them, which basically boils down to only one crop being produced in a large area, which doesn’t leave much for the bees to eat. Which leads back to feeding them sugar, etc.

Another is moving bees to pollinate monoculture crops, such as almonds, which leads to death in transport, more sugar feeding, and cross contamination of disease among the North American population of bees.

And why should you care? Because, in case you didn’t know, bees pollinate most of the food we eat. So no bees, no fruit. No vegetables. No nothing.

I encourage you to see Queen of the Sun. To do some research about bees. To advocate for natural beekeeping. To advocate for an end to monoculture. Because we all love fruit and veg, right? And we’d like to keep that around. Here’s some more information.

 

 

this is why i’m hot

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A few months ago, I mentioned to you that I may or may not be on Jimmy Kimmel Live. With Hanson. No big deal. I promptly forgot about it because the show wasn’t aired the same week. But, finally, they aired the episode with Hanson yesterday.

Do you see me? In the bottom right hand corner? Amazing. What a lucky girl I am.

Speaking of lucky, I also this week received my birthday gift from SS, one of my sisters from the east coast. And while I am excited about the canning supplies (thank you thank you!) what I was most excited about was the entire jar of atomic fireballs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you who knew me in college, you might have known that freshman year I showed up with a loud mouth and a giant container of fireballs.

Literally that many. I kept them (I am embarrassed to say!) I think three years before Sierra or Katie or someone made me throw them out, good or not. But now I have my own stash in my kitchen. I have been eating them on the way to yoga, on the way to the grocery store, before work…you get the idea! I love them, this coming from someone who can’t tolerate spicy food at all! But they are the best of the best, and I am so thankful for them. In fact, I think I might have one right now…

 


Let’s move it, I like to move it, move it.

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So in case you forgot, my sorella is getting married. This means I need to whip into shape in a mere 14 weeks so that I can impress the crowd with my good looks to distract from my nervous speech.

Anyways, so starting this week, I am going to be adding challenges here so that I can challenge myself to a more active lifestyle. It’s summer. It’s time to get moving.

Challenge 1: Walk 10,000 steps 7 days in a row (running included.)

This challenge is brought to you by my pedometer, which I bought a few months ago thinking it’d help me walk more. For a few weeks it did, but I need to have a goal to reach to get motivated. Normally my steps are around 1.5 miles, which is about 3,000 steps. Embarrassing. But that’s not including any running I’m doing. But I don’t run every day. So starting today, I am going to get my 10,000 steps (about 5 miles) in every day until next week.

Who’s with me?

and we disappeared into the groove

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Tonight is our first concert night of the summer. I am thrilled to be going with Traci, one of my bests from my study abroad in 2006. (Pause for 5 years. Wow.)

This is us circa 2007, on our way to Marc Broussard’s concert in Boston, July 16, 2007. Ticket cost? $18.

This is Traci and I at Chilton (Greystone Mansion) recreating one of our favorite Gilmore Girls scenes.

Not to be confused with the episode with the first and only traffic light in Stars Hollow.

But I digress. The point is, I like Traci a whole lot, and I like Marc Broussard a whole lot, too. And I couldn’t be more excited to kick off the concert summer with them. Ticket cost? $30. Marc, you’re moving up in the world. I am glad you’re still around four years later, and running strong.