My co-housing community keeps bees. I’m still enjoying the last drops of honey from our first hive harvest last Fall and looking forward to more, but mostly, I am enthralled to see nature and humans working together for the common good. As you have heard, the pollinator bee population is in serious decline and as they go, so goes our food and well, just about everything. Give Bees a chance by making your yard and garden bee-friendly, starting your own hive (available to city dwellers!) or hanging a “bee condo” in your area.

Below is an early Spring update from our Arcadia queen of the bees, Elisabeth. It’s really interesting and I hope, inspiring. For information on home hives, visit bees-online.com. Tao

By Elisabeth Curtis, Carrboro, NC

When we opened the hives for the first time since last fall and looked inside on a sunny day last week, we found that two of the hives seem in pretty good shape, with active bees and plenty of honey stores left. Neither had evidence of brood laying, but it is still early for that. The north hive, however, was in a precarious condition, with no more than a couple hundred bees and evidence of the dreaded small hive beetle. We thought we might have seen the queen, but she was not all that much bigger than the bees, so we were not sure. If she is a virgin queen, not yet mated, she would not be big, but the queen we would expect to see in that hive is a mature queen of good size. If the one we saw is the queen, that means that for some reason the hive has replaced the original queen. I put in a quick call to Will Hicks, one of the NC state bee inspectors, and he advised us to reduce the size of the hive so that the bees would have less area to protect.

You may have noticed that the hives are now white, the traditional hive color. We painted them less for aesthetic reasons than to protect the wood and make it last longer. You may see them decorated at some point.

Today we opened the north hive, took the three frames that had bees on them and moved them to a nuclear hive (a nuke), which is a small hive holding only five frames. We saw capped brood (larvae metamorphosing to bees) and some recently-laid larvae and actually saw the queen (and she is indeed somewhat petite) backing up to a cell to lay an egg. Very cool! With so few frames to care for, the small amount of bees should be able to keep the small hive beetles under control. As the bee population grows, we will add more frames and soon should be able to transfer them to a regular size hive body. The extra frames from the hive bodies have gone back to Bubba’s house to be frozen for 24hours to kill small hive beetles and wax moth larvae. Then we’ll store them for later replacement on the hives.

The other two hives show a healthy amount of bees and activity. We did not look for evidence of egg laying, but assume it is happening there as well. We are now feeding all hives sugar syrup and pollen, which will make the queens think spring is here and they’d better get busy. We should be able to stop feeding pretty soon, as the red maples are already starting to blossom.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

I belong to a CSA where I get a weekly supply of unpasteurized cheese, butter, milk and eggs. Each of the members takes a turn picking up the group’s weekly supplies. I had my turn last week. After a quiet 40-minute drive on a two lane road, I arrived at “my” farm. There were 11 cows, including a 10-day-old baby who nibbled my fingers when I was petting her. There were lots of chickens roaming freely around the barn and small house, seemingly oblivious to the cats and a dog.

While the farmers, Brandon and Andrea, quietly and busily filled my coolers with orders, their two small children toddled around, playing with sticks and picking through pebbles. At one point I saw Chloe, a tiny blond girl of around 4, walk confidently up to a newly hunted deer hanging under the porch. It’s head was covered in burlap and hung close to the ground. I watched as she lovingly placed her arms around its neck and rubbed her hands through the fur, whispering something that I could not hear.

When I was loaded up, I found myself reluctant to drive away. Something drew me in to this scene on this cold, sunny day. I can only imagine it was life itself.

I know the farmer who raises and milks the animals who give me milk to drink and feeds the chickens whose eggs I eat. I now know the animals themselves. I know a whole lot more than I used to.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

I’m happy to be this week’s host of Tree Hugger’s Carnival of the Green, a kind of green-love link-fest where blogs collect stand-out posts from green cyber-space and give them a shout-out on their home page. Tree Hugger manages the carnival of bloggers who submit posts that they’d like to see included and they are mentioned and linked on different sites each Monday. The Evangelical Ecologist hosted last week and next week’s carnival will be at Made Eejits.

Lots of talk out there about the practice of Hypermiling - the art optimizing your car’s fuel efficiency. Brave New Leaf - an inspiring read from a “normal American guy” who recently “woke up” to the ways of green, introduces us to the techniques and to a hypermiling expert who can push a Prius up to 120 mpg. Mindful Momma, a going-green mom of 2 in Minneapolis (my hometown!) who hopes to inspire lively conversation while sharing her trials, tributes and “crazy ideas”, also sounds enthusiastic about the possibilities of the sport of hypermiling, though cautions over some of the extreme techniques. (All this explains why I consistently get an average mileage in the 50’s in my Pruis. With my dogs often riding in the back seat, I use my gas pedal and brakes sparingly and carefully, making me a budding hypermiler!)

Of course, Veggie Revolution folks are getting by and getting vibrantly fit on two wheels with a little mass transit on the side. And, since I’m working on taking my own bicycling commitment to something a step beyond fair weather, I was hanging onto every word in this rainy day commute story.

Woolovers takes a close look at the eco-mindedness of wool, comparing it with the sad state of most of our toxic cotton textiles industry. I love wool of all textures and I’m glad to know more about how it is produced. And thanks for giving me a new word, “hygroscopic” to describe one of its many benefits.

Beth at Fake Plastic Fish has been making plastic-free changes in CA since June 2007 and shares her list of 34 changes to date. I can bet you have not seen all of these yet. Here’s your chance to be audience to the dedicated research she has done to reveal the truth about a plastic called DW2, being manufactured with additives making it into a “chemo-degradable” product.

Plastic and kids have seemed to merge into a huge mess over the decades - almost every toy, diaper, diaper bag, sippy cup, pacifier and other kid things are filled with this petroleum-based toxic stuff. David at The Good Human, wants to encourage everyone to be a better human in environmental and other ways. Here he shares a parent-friendly list of the Top Ten Ways To Green Your Children.

I’ve always felt that making stuff was far more fun than playing with any toy I ever had. My Recycled Bags shares her own Valentine’s project for all ages using recycled denim. The instructions are specific and step by step, making it a nice partner project between parents and kids.

I’ve previously revealed my admiring fondness for No Impact Man and it looks like Healthy and Green by the Day is equally enamored with the idea of a family finding ways to reduce consumption and get back to the simple and fun parts about being together. Never mind hypermiling, this blogger reminds us that the greenest car in the world is no car.

Cars, airplanes, trains, bicycles…there’s so much to consider in the way we move about the place. My favorite bumper sticker goes way back and it says, “My other car is a pair of hiking boots.” I rarely take mine off, meaning that I’ve managed to wear out some of the most rugged, making this post from Green Deals Daily of special interest to me. Timberland’s Earthkeepers have hit all the eco-angles with these mountain-friendly hikers.

GP at Etched In Stone runs an Inn in Montana showing good horse sense - literally and of the green variety. Her submission has sound, detailed and motivating advice for de-cluttering your space for the new year as well as reminders about keeping perspective on what we really need to acquire in the first place.

Melanie at Bean Sprouts shares a very small ex-coucil house in the UK with 5 people, grows food, keeps chickens and bees - co-housing life at its finest. She is already planning a green and leafy garden for spring and gives some good insight on how best to do it.

Giving Hands is a great place to increase your awareness of matters pertaining to charity, environment and volunteerism. January of this year kicked off his “Save The Ocean Month” and you can go here to learn about our oceans at risk and explore the many ways to help turn the tide.

Oceans and fish are both in peril and it’s becoming more and more clear that fish farms are not an answer to helping either one. Why Travel France tells us about the increasingly popular - meaning cheap - farmed Pangas fish who is being injected with hormones, subjected to unnatural food and pesticides and showing up with high levels of toxins - mad fish disease anyone?

That wraps up this week’s Carnival. Thanks for joining us, for your thoughts and ideas and for being part of the Way of Change! Tao

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Carol Moseley Braun learned a thing or two from her political career - much of it in regards to the problems with with farm policy. As a former Senator, Ambassador and presidential candidate, Braun calls the current farm subsidies, “hideous” and advocated more practical assistance for farmers wanting to transition to organic growing and other programs that would put healthier foods in communities and schools. An advocate of the teachings of Rudolf Steiner and Adelle Davis, Braun is still walking the talk.

In a recent interview in Grist, Braun’s post-political endeavors supports biodynamic farming - “the most sustainable farming model in the world.” Biodynamics is more than “organic”. It uses methods which optimize the health value of food and the land it comes from. “Bios” means life and “dynamis” means energy - meaning biodynamic farming refers to working with the energies which create and maintain life.

In 2002, Braun founded Good Food Organics, a parent company to Ambassador Organics, a line of coffees, teas and spices now being carried in Whole Foods Markets and other health food stores. As the first company to market the benefits of biodynamic farming, she hopes it build a constituency and serve as a “point of reference” for people in choosing best quality for best health. Braun hopes to expand her product to “real food” and to make it more accessible to lower income communities.

For more on the methods and benefits of biodynamic farming, enjoy this contribution from friend and nutrition counselor, Greg, below:

by Greg Gillette, Asheville, NC

Biodynamic farming is the most comprehensive, holistic approach to working with the land. It encompasses the Earth, stars, planets, animals and humans working together to bring forth a truly self-sustaining living farm. It is far more than organic farming. Biodynamic agriculture is an ongoing, living path of knowledge rather than an assemblage of methods and techniques.

Many wonderful methods are utilized on a biodynamic farm, such as: integration of crops and livestock, crop rotations, comprehensive composting, planting and harvesting to the cycles of the moon, sun, planets, and stars, using livestock manure as fertilizer, feeding the livestock from the crops, careful observations of nature, and the use of special Biodynamic preparations, which consist of naturally occurring plant and animal materials that are combined in specific recipes in certain seasons of the year, and then placed in compost piles. These preparations bear concentrated forces within them and are used to organize the chaotic elements within the compost piles. When the process is complete, the resulting preparations are medicines for the Earth, which draw new life forces from the cosmos.

Biodynamic agriculture is a part of Anthroposophy, which was founded by Rudolf Steiner. Anthroposophy is a spiritual scientific approach to life, which integrates precise observation of natural phenomena, clear thinking, knowledge of the spirit, and our connectedness with each other, the Earth, the Cosmos, and the spiritual world.

Contact Greg Gillette at dancegreg@yahoo.com

Money or, more accurately, saving money, influences everything we buy or even think about buying, often with no relation to income level. More often, with little to no consideration for the cost to our lives, the lives of others and the environment.

Price (dollars and cents) vs Cost (quality). There’s a lot to consider. And nothing demonstrates this as readily as the process of greening our lives. In my experience, “saving money” is the most common objection to buying organic food or clothing, fair trade products or local goods from independent stores.

I was raised with the same misplaced values - get it on sale, make sure it’s a bargain was the house rule. My mother spent hours every Sunday clipping coupons. Consequently, as I grew up and left home, I moved into green thinking far before my budget did. I knew better but still resisted buying smart (instead of cheap) initially - doing the calculations and then rationalizing my way back into some cheaper, conventional purchase. And I noticed two things. First, I did save money - but just a little. Second, in the end, it didn’t feel so great to save that money, whether it was on food, furniture, clothes or hardware.

As Jerry always reminds me, “the truth shall aulde” (be revealed) and that’s what happened to me, I suppose. What I saved in dollars, I lost in quality, integrity and  satisfaction. Instead, I was sometimes left with a haunting feeling of selling out, of being “part of the problem”. It wasn’t exactly guilt, more like a feeling of baffling disappointment.

So, I sucked it up. I made new commitments in my shopping habits. Sometimes it meant a creative balancing act with my checkbook, but one that was simpler than I expected. I bought in bulk, stayed away from packaged food and cut back on soy lattes at the coffee house as well as video rentals. I’ve since found many other ways to cut out unnecessary spending - for instance, I now make my own toothpaste and cleaning supplies. The end result? I eat healthier, drink less caffeine and read more books. It feels good to shop consciously and I haven’t subjected myself to a mall in almost 10 years.

One friend accepted my challenge to make the switch to organic food. After doing the math, she was surprised to find out that she actually spent the same or less overall, attributing it to the fact that she didn’t as readily give in to junk food impulses or extra quantities that often were wasted.

Used or new? Big or small? Independent or Corporate? Name brand or generic? Sweatshop produced or Fair Trade? Organic or conventional? Choosing wisely makes what you save in dollars pale in comparison to what you save for:

1. Your/Our planet

2. Your/Our health

3. Your/Our happiness

3. Your/Our future

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

I’ve been raving about the eggs I’ve been getting from my CSA, my co-housing community and the Farmer’s Market. I know they are better because they look different - beautifully and variable colored shells, the yolks are a rich, dark gold - and they taste better. That part is somewhat indescribable. Words like - real, rich, smooth, fresh and more, come to mind. The dogs, who would not eat any conventional egg shells I tried to add to their food, enthusiastically gobble up the local version. I happily pay around $3.00/carton for these beauties. I’m getting more than my money’s worth.

The results are in. Mother Earth News Egg Testing Project announced that eggs from organically and naturally fed, free-range hens are nutritionally superior to industrialized chicken farms which deprive chickens of natural food, light or living conditions and administer hormones, antibiotics, and use pesticides. I’ll bet you didn’t know there have been at least 8 studies done of this nature since 1978, showing similar results. The FDA may have had something to do with that.

According to the study of 2007, “real free-range eggs contain as much as:

1/3 less cholesterol, 1/4 less saturated fat, 2/3 more vitamin A, 2 times more omega 3 essential fatty acids, 3 times more vitamin E and 7 times more beta carotene.

USDA labeling regarding the definition of “free-range” is yet unclear, allowing large, conventional producers to mislead consumers about the actual farming practices being used. And, if you think turkeys have it bad, it’s equal or worse for the masses of chickens raised and slaughtered in horrific conditions.

If you don’t have access to a Farmer’s Market, research your community’s CSA groups. Even metropolitan cities like Minneapolis have them. Talk to your grocer and ask about his egg suppliers.

Is the value of our food and planet in our hands as consumers? Eggs-actly.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Like everyone else over the past two days, I’ve been thinking (a lot) about the new year and our so-called “resolutions”. And in the process, I realized that resolutions are actually Re-solutions. This should be obvious. The history of the world involves confronting problems and finding solutions. But our solutions for comfortable ways to eat, work, live and get around have grown out of proportion and perspective - and with it, so have our lives. Becoming distracted by desires and indulgence, our modern-day solutions are now killing us and the planet (and making many of us unhappy). We need Re-solutions. Fortunately, there are smart people busily forming these new ideas. The only thing left is for all of us to see the truth and do the work.

So, it was one of my Re-solutions last year to create a socially and sustainably-minded blog that would share the logic and excitement of these new ideas for our world. I made a promise, last New Year’s Day, to reveal the unpopular truths, but to do so in a positive, Re-solution-oriented way - one filled with news, information and hopeful thoughts about the future. In the process, I have met many people on the same path and learned a lot.

I learned how to live with less A/C. I learned to improve the gas mileage in my car by filling the tires with nitrogen. I learned that hybrid cars are good, but driving less is better. I learned how to eat and drink almost entirely eco-friendly and local. I learned that a 26-second shower gets me just as clean as a 2-minute one. I learned how to make my own toothpaste. I learned that commuting by bicycle is smart and fun. I learned that what is good for the environment is good for the soul. I learned where to recycle more and waste less and then I learned how to recycle more and waste less all over again. I also learned that there are a lot of amazing people out there who share my hopes and are willing to embrace change.

My hope for everyone for 2008, is the openness and courage to listen, learn and share new ideas - everyday. To keep growing and manifesting our intentions for a more healthy, happy and sustainable future. To resolve to Re-solve.

Let’s ring in the New Year~

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

As promised, I’m continuing my search for joy and good cheer this week. I mulled some local raw cider from my CSA and did the same with my favorite local wine. I attended a celebratory bonfire for the Solstice and made a few new friends. I baked cookies and roasted chestnuts. I have been singing along to Bing Crosby’s White Christmas on a cd that I found at the used book store and last night, I rented the video of Irving Berlin’s, “Holiday Inn”, a musical with Fred Astaire and lots of dancing. It made me feel so gleeful that I found myself air-waltzing through my house during the final scene.

I’m ready to tone down and turn in - ward, that is. And, as if by some holiday magic, I was reading the December issue of Ode magazine and found a wonderful idea, shared by Jay Walljasper, to help me. As I settle in for a couple days of peace and quiet, I’m feeling a need for some sincere contemplation. Turning the twelve days of turtle doves and milking maids into twelve themes to explore and share with others feels equal parts comforting and challenging. I’m looking forward to setting aside some time each day to consider these questions and share them with friends as we move into the New Year. (This idea comes from Lynn Jericho, a counselor in New Jersey.)

December 25: Receptivity What gifts from the universe have you declined to accept or acknowledge?

December 26: Generosity. Think of three people and what you can give of yourself to them.

December 27: Humility. Think about how humility can become a great source of strength and power for you.

December 28: Nobility. Make a list of people from whose noble qualities you can learn.

December 29: Solidity. For 12 minutes, simply feel your soul’s solidity.

December 30: Fludity. Consider the importance of flow to your well-being and happiness.

December 31: Luminosity. Look back at your darkest moments of the last year and remember what qualities in yourself and others lit the way for you.

Jan. 1: Reflectivity. Let an image from the outer world settle in your mind and write down five thoughts you associate with it. reflect on it and how you might transform it.

Jan. 2: Equanimity. Pick a recent event and review it in light of various possible emotions like happiness, anger and fear.

Jan. 3: Fecundity. Celebrate the richness of your imagination. Hold this vision and then plan tomorrow’s activities.

Jan. 4: Sagacity. Think of yourself as an elder who has learned from the trials and triumphs of experience. What are some profound lessons?

Jan. 5: Unity. What ideas, yearnings, themes or insights have come together for you through the holidays?

Peace on Earth. Goodwill towards all. Merry Holidays. Tao