I doubt I would ever style my car with leopard print

But I do like this NPR story.

And the sentiment behind it. Do you own your stuff?

Bees in the Corn

This morning I did a hive entry check because last night, while I was sitting on the porch as a thunderstorm went right around us, AGAIN, I thought I noticed fewer bees hanging on the front of hive number 1. Fewer bees could have been caused by the cool, damp breeze blowing in or it could be a sign of trouble. Anyway, I stood around in front of the hives today and I saw lots and lots of bees with enormous panniers of pollen. See the little yellow pocket to the right of the bee. Go ahead, click the picture for a better look.

I did a quick look around and realized the corn had bloomed and the bees were sneaking over the fence to partake. The bees love this stuff, though harvesting corn pollen has no economic benefit since corn self-pollinates.

Hold up a minute. Let me climb on my stump.

Many commercial beekeepers forget this important, natural step in the hive year. When the beekeepers become paid pollinators for crops requiring insect pollination, the needs of the bees are neglected. Years ago, bees were more viable because there were more backyard keepers and farmers who kept their own pollination hives, which allows them to stay on the property for the entire year. During the stationary hive year, the bees are allowed to forage for the nutrients needed to keep healthy, while those on the road are fed inferior replacements.

If we let the bees gather corn pollen, would we be any better off? With all the genetically modified corn out there, I'm wondering if the bees need to be left to their own devices. Could the genetically altered corn be the one thing that is killing the bees?

We grow only organic, non GMO, corn here, so I let (like I am in full control of all my 120,000 plus bees) my bees eat all they want, but I do wonder about the other, not so lucky bees (I'm also lucky, none of my neighbors are corn growers). If corn is genetically altered to produce Bt in the pollen, which it is, then is not the pollen an insecticide?

Perhaps cheap corn isn't as cheap as it seems.

More Unpaid Advertising

A few weeks ago, when searching for shampoo, I noticed these cute square packages, almost hidden on the bottom row. You guessed it, I wasn't shopping for shampoo at one of the usual venues, but at my natural foods coop. Because it isn't easy for us to recycle (I have to schlep glass and plastics 70 miles) so it doesn't always get done or it sits around cluttering my environs, I am always looking for ways to reduce my family's use of plastic.

This little bar claims to offer the approximate number of usages as a 24 oz. bottle of modern shampoo. The wrapper, which is corn based and biodegradable, declares the product:

• free of animal testing
• free of preservatives
• bio-degradable
• made with pure 100% natural oil

The maker also claims that the shampoo produces "thick, luxurious lather" and "rinses out clean and easily." There is also a money back guarantee and an old New England saw, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without".

What did I have to lose? I purchased a bar.

We love it!! In fact, I cannot imagine any reason for another plastic bottle to cross the threshold of my bathroom.

Another instance of reduction of waste being easy.

Don't Forget!!

Flip that switch tonight at 8 p.m. for Earth Hour.

No, You May Not Borrow My Pen

After seeing an article about the waste of half used plastic pens cluttering the environment and our homes, I, of course, looked around my home to see if we fell within the norm. I was horrified to find hundreds of the offending disposable pens purchased by some office supply fiend (me), donated by politicians and salesmen, and stolen borrowed from desks when I go to the office. I immediately issued an edict,

“No more pens will enter this house until every drop of ink is used from the pens we have.”

As usual, I spoke without really thinking about the difficulty of achieving the goal, but we did slow the flow. True, our little household doesn’t effect the demand for throw-away pens, but making an effort to rid our house felt good. The first thing I did was cull pens – ridding my life of frustration producing skip writers and ink gloppers. Then, we started using pens, determined to use one until no ink remained. Most of the pens were so poorly manufactured (counting on our inability to keep up with them or our preference for new) we never had the satisfaction of watching the ink sink to the end of the tube. Even though I did succumb to temptation and purchase the children some markers for their timeline and map work (I can’t punish my children for every hair brained idea I get), I haven’t purchased a pen in a year which is an amazing feat for someone who drools over/on/into the office supply catalog.

Until last week.

When I was getting ready to sign payroll checks, I couldn’t find a working pen other than a uni-ball vision elite with orange ink. The bank had already warned me against using orange, pink, and green ink (though I think it adds a happy touch) on the checks since it adds extra work because their scanners don’t capture nonstandard banking colors. I used one of the children’s markers, which is also probably non-bankish, and then purchased a delicious lapis blue fountain pen, hopefully made in the USA, and a bottle of luscious cocoa brown ink.

Now that I have this pen, I wonder why we have moved away from these wonderful, more permanent instruments; why anyone would sacrifice the feel of a nicely made pen and the flow of the perfect shade of cocoa ink flowing from the perfectly fine tipped nib. This may be my last blog entry. I'll do all my journaling on my 100% post consumer waste paper with my non-disposable fountain pen feeling good about my contribution to the environment while enjoying a luxury. Seriously, after a couple of days, I'm hooked.

It really only took one day to become hooked, but I did have to make a few minor adjustments to my desk habits. Learning to fill the reservoir with ink left me with a finger and thumb stained brown. I will also have to train myself to be more careful with my ice cold Tab unsweetened iced tea that has a tendency to perspire and leave unsightly brown blotches on my work. Other than those small annoyances that should be easily trained away, the conversion was easy. If I was a lefty, I might have to mirror write like Leonardo da Vinci did in his journals even though the ink appears to dry almost instantly, but since I'm not, I won't worry about it.

I'm done with disposable pens. Like line drying clothes, baking bread, and keeping bees and chickens, turning my back on this environmentally unfriendly habit is painless, even enjoyable. So, no. You may not borrow my pen because I only have one, not one hundred.

Does anyone else see the incongruity here?

I bought this light bulb today. I have been waiting for it for almost a week, because this is not a normally stocked lighting option in our small town. I want to help the earth by choosing lighting that will reduce carbon output. We are also readying our house for solar power and these bulbs are a must so I waited a week in low lighting conditions.

So, I go to pick up this wonderful earth saving bulb and look at the packaging. They have packaged the earth friendly bulb in a huge non-recyclable clam pack when the non earth friendly bulbs are still packaged in the minimalistic recycled cardboard (4 bulbs to a unit) boxes.

Now why would they do that? Don't they know that the people who are purchasing this bulb are thinking of the environment and want less packaging.

Tipping Point Meme

I'm not tagging anyone, so you can relax and enjoy the post. I saw this environmentally friendly meme at Poppins Classical Academy sometime in November and I thought it would be a great evaluation of sorts (I couldn't find a way to link directly to the meme but if you want to see hers, go to the Archive that includes November 19, 2006).

Three things I'm happy to be doing now

• Driving a fuel efficient car
• Choosing purchased food carefully to provide a healthier diet for my family, while not supporting industrialized food products like High Fructose Corn Syrup, and petroleum based preservatives.
  
• Providing pesticide free, hormone free, antibiotic free, naturally grown eggs, chicken, vegetables, fruit, and beef for my family and many others
  

Three things I want to do starting now

• Run my car exclusively on vegetable oil
• Start a local recycling movement so it is easier to recycle glass and plastic
  
• Grow more of what we eat

Three things I want to do someday

• Rely exclusively on solar electricity for our farm (My husband and I are working on this now. TVA says we are the only ones in this power sector who want to hook up an inverter. I like being first!!!!).
• Live smaller. I want to purge my family of clutter and have only the things we truly love and truly need.
  
• Get and use an Oatsmobile for local errands.
• I know this is 4, but I want a Jersey so I can have preservative free milk. I want to make cheese!!!!, though it has nothing to do with our sustainability plan.
  

Where is your Tipping Point?