The natural world is abuzz with beauty as flowers begin blooming
and bees begin …
well, buzzing.
You know the sound, right?
It stirs thoughts of lush gardens on warm summer afternoons …
Photo by Counselling via Pixabay
But did you know that some bees’ vivacious vibrations are more than simply the beating of wings as they move from flower to flower?
Yup. When it comes to the big, beautiful bumble bee, “buzz” is the sound of pollination in progress.
Photo by P7r7 via Wikimedia Commons
This is yet another little bit of magic that happens right under our noses, and the Smithsonian Channel managed to capture some fabulous bee’s-eye footage of the bumble at work:
Behind the scenes of the culinary world, a revolution is stewing … er, baking.
Literally.
What’s in the oven?
Cutlery.
That’s right—baked, edible utensils.
Specifically, spoons.
Indian eco-preneur Narayana Peesapaty devised the idea in order to provide an environmentally responsible alternative to “disposable” plastic cutlery. He calls his spoons (and his company) Bakeys.
“Our Edible Cutlery is meant to be eaten after use. If you do not want to eat it, simply throw it away. Insects and stray animals will eat them up or they will degrade naturally in less than three days,” Peesapaty explains on the Bakeys website. “These are made of flours. The flours are kneaded with plain water—no additional chemicals and not even preservatives.”
Bakeys even come in three flavors: sweet, savory, and plain.
Until Bakeys are readily available around the world, you may just want to consider making your own edible cutlery (if nothing else, the kids will get a kick out of eating their cereal spoons).
Yuka Yoneda at Inhabitat.com tinkered around in the kitchen and came up with a recipe for spoons that will last for three hours after contact with food before getting gooey. “I was just as mesmerized by Peesapaty’s idea … and I wanted to see if I could make my own edible spoons, knives, and forks at home,” she says.
Knives and forks, it turns out, are not so simple. But she did master the spoon, and you can too. Watch and learn her technique:
The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,962 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,905 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane
Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …
For this week’s Make It Easy/Rethink Your Space Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, I needed to take a deep breath, inhale some calming lavender essential oil, and give myself a pep talk. And this was all before the badge earning began …
You see, this badge was all about a youngster in your life cleaning their room properly.
I chose Andy.
I should have chosen … anyone else.
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Cyrie Wilson!!!
Cyrie Wilson (Pixiedustdevil, #6941) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level Grow Where You’re Planted Merit Badge!
“Ever since I was little, if I saw a flower I liked, I would take it home and press it. I still do it to this day. My favorite flower to press is the forget-me-not, which is the one in the frame.
My recent collection (not all pictured) consists of more forget-me-nots, red clover, two 4-leaf clovers (found on the same day!), honeysuckle, scarlet pimpernel, speedwell, and common daisies. Rhododendrons are very common here, but I don’t like them because the flowers are sticky!
One of the rarest plants in my area is the Myrtlewood tree. It takes 10 years to germinate and 100 years to grow to commercial size. They only grow in a small area in Oregon, and anything made of Myrtle is VERY expensive.
The hardest part is identifying the flowers, I have a few that are nameless.”
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
