Food for thought...

First of all, you have to watch the guinea fowl at Verde Farm
It's hilarious...

I thought I'd chat with you a minute about food. Food for us and the bees. And I feel somewhat of a hypocrite right now because I'm not sure I'll have time to grow anything this year. Hopefully, I will have time to visit our farmer's market. Usually by now I have plants growing under grow lights in my basement and in my potting shed.

But, I would like to recommend that all of you read this book.


And I would like to challenge you to grow one edible plant. Just one. You can get Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver at your library. The first time I got it I listened to it on cd in my car as I ran errands. It's easy to read or listen to in bits and pieces. I enjoyed it so much, I bought the book and read it cover to cover. If it doesn't motivate you to grow your own food, nothing will. It's about a family's plight that decided to either eat local food or grow their own. The whole family got involved. And by local I'm not talking about your local grocery store, where food can travel as much as 1500 miles to get there. I'm talking about local farmers or local farmer's market. If I remember right, they would eat anything grown or sold within a 100 mile radius. It's a very interesting story, and included in the book are recipes.

Here is a little snippet from the book...

"Oh America the Beautiful, where are our standards? How did Europeans, ancestral cultures to most of us, whose average crowded country would fit inside one of our national parks, somehow hoard the market share of Beautiful? They'll run over a McDonald's with a bulldozer because it threatens the way of life of their fine cheeses. They have international trade hissy fits when we try to slip modified genes into their bread. They get their favorite ham from Parma, Italy, along with a favorite cheese, knowing these foods are linked in an ancient connection the farmers have crafted between the milk and the hogs. Oh. We were thinking Parmesan meant, not "coming from Parma," but "coming form a green shaker can." Did they kick us out for bad taste?

For those of you who are linked to Farm Friend Friday, or who are interested in growing your own food, I have a challenge for you. Please encourage your blog readers to grow one edible item. Just one. I think it should be something us bloggers try to motivate everyone in America to do this year!

And for beekeepers....if you are having an early spring, like we are....FEED THOSE BEES. Chances are good they are out of winter food. I'm VERY concerned about my bees on our farm. This is the time of year we lose a lot of bees to starvation.

This is what a pollen patty looks like. I will be putting these on my hives as soon as it's warm enough to get into them. I could have gotten into them yesterday, but I was gone all day. I ordered these from Dadant.

And this is a feeder that you can slide into the bottom of the hive. It has sugar water in it...one part sugar, one part water.

The best way to feed the bees......

of course, is by growing plants, trees, and shrubs.

And by making sure you have something blooming

all season long.

Cindy Bee

PS - Still appreciating your prayers for my cousin and his wife in Japan.. Millie Meadowsweet
reminded us to pray for the lost pets too.