Ever Considered Beekeeping?

Recently I reviewed an interesting article about honeybees. This particular discussion was not about the benefits of beekeeping. Rather, it was discussing the effect of small and simple efforts to produce an important effect. It did, however, get me thinking of other beneficial aspects of beekeeping! The article was spiritual in nature, based on how great things are brought about and burdens are lightened through the efforts of many hands anxiously engaged in a good cause:

“Honeybees are driven to pollinate, gather nectar, and condense the nectar into honey. It is their magnificent obsession imprinted into their genetic makeup by our Creator. It is estimated that to produce just one pound (0.45 kg) of honey, the average hive of 20,000 to 60,000 bees must collectively visit millions of flowers and travel the equivalent of two times around the world. Over its short lifetime of just a few weeks to four months, a single honeybee’s contribution of honey to its hive is a mere one-twelfth of one teaspoon.

Though seemingly insignificant when compared to the total, each bee’s one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey is vital to the life of the hive. The bees depend on each other. Work that would be overwhelming for a few bees to do becomes lighter because all of the bees faithfully do their part.” (M. Russell Ballard)

Excellent message...and interesting insight in the work of honeybees! Let's look a little deeper at the working side of their job! Among the resources that I reviewed, I found an organization promoting urban beekeeping... http://honeylove.org/bees/ . HoneyLove.org shares the following:

Fun Facts About Honeybees

• Bees pollinate 80% of the world’s plants including 90 different food crops.
• 1 out of every 3 or 4 bites of food you eat is thanks to bees.
• The honey bee is responsible for $15 billion in U.S. agricultural crops each year.
• Honey is the only food that does not spoil (bacteria can’t grow in it, and because of it’s low moisture content and low pH – honey can last indefinitely).
• Bees maintain a temperature of 92-93 degrees Fahrenheit in their central brood nest regardless of whether the outside temperature is 110 or -40 degrees.
• The honey bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.
  

Online beekeeping courses, such as the Penn State Beekeeping 101 course, http://beekeeping101.psu.edu/?gclid=CPTL_6TQ7bUCFfBDMgodpBIAmw , are also available. You have access to great learning opportunities online. These were just a couple of hits on a Google search for “Urban Beekeeping”.

It's hard to imagine any food closer to the source!

"Healthy Eating Choices......

Food Marketing phrases to watch out for:

 

1. No preservatives
   Who needs preservatives, when other ingredients cause the same effect? An example might be soda pop. It's made with phosphoric acid. The level of acidity takes care of the “preservative” function
2. No trans fat
   Does this mean that the oils used were “healthy” oils? Trans fats are byproducts of the hydrogenation process. Removing the trans fats does not make the oil healthy, just less harmful.
3. No sugar added
   Maybe no sugar. But, when you read further, will you find artificial sweeteners, or high fructose corn syrup?
4. Made with 100% fruit juice
   Is this telling me that it contains only 100% fruit juice? Or, is it “made with 100% fruit juice” (along with 50 other ingredients)? Remember, if it has 5% real juice in the fruit punch, it still was made with “100% fruit juice”!
5. Enhanced with.....
   The food was over-processed, they replaced a few nutrients lost in processing.
6. Flavor enhanced
   What did they use to accomplish this “enhancement”? Usually it's MSG, used heavily in processing, and in restaurants. Some pretty strange “natural” substances are used as flavor enhancements. Wholesome foods do not need “flavor enhancement”.
7. Made with whole wheat
   As we discussed with Fruit Juices, any amount of whole wheat makes this a true statement. This does not make this a “whole wheat” product! Rad the label to determine what else it includes.
8. Fortified with.....
   When a product is fortified with vitamins or minerals (iodine in salt, vitamins in cereal and milk, etc) do you consider the source of the additive? Natural vitamins would drive the cost of the product through the roof...it's a marketing tactic.
9. Kid approved
   Throw enough sugar into dog poo, and it would be “kid approved”! Does the ingredient list pass YOUR healthy-eating requirements?
   
   
   As you get more experienced at sharpening your skills, you will get some pretty good laughs at what you find marketed as Healthy Eating!

The Great GMO Debate

How can we really know what we're getting from our grocery store? How can our store owners even know?

While about 93% of our food supply is heavily processed, seriously depleting nutrient values, is that (or the remainder) even safe? Check out the discussion at KSL.com on the lack of requirement in my state to disclose any genetic tampering.

We've discussed GMO a bit earlier. It is my opinion that we need to be aware when our food producers are modifying their products. Somehow this is telling us they are improving on what God created. Perhaps improving our farming practices and education might make their farms both profitable and more natural. Additionally, the more of us that get serious about producing our own foods, the closer we all will come to the source!

View the story at:
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=24070586&nid=757&title=opinion-labeling-genetically-modified-food-not-required-in-utah&fm=home_page&s_cid=featured-4

America's Best Snack Foods!

 

NO! Twinkies are NOT our best snacks food ever! Our food supply has become so overly processed, that it’s not uncommon for a simple snack food to contain a list of 20-30 ingredients of additives, chemicals, flavorings, colorings, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, artificial sweeteners, and more.  Sure, we all love to snack. However, as we've discussed before, can we identify all the 'yummy' things we consume with snacks such as Twinkies (and that's before we deep-fried it)? I'm changing my paradigm regarding munching. 

In my sidebar quotes, you will find a comment that if your great-grandma wouldn't recognize it as food, you perhaps would not want to eat it.

Another consideration is............Try this on for size.....How many ingredients in apple slices?.....or nuts?....or veggie sticks? (How long can you make this list?)

Kinda basic, common sense logic. It really can be that drop-dead simple!