Bee Crisis

Bees buzz around collecting nectar for the hive and carry pollen from one plant to another. Their efforts affect corp yield in everything from soybeans, one of the world’s most crucial crops, to coffee, sunflowers and fruits and veggies on every continent.

Every bee keeper, including Matt Wollohan, our local bee man at Rainbow Honey, face brutal losses of bees this winter. He’s gone to leasing his bees from a man nearby who, after the bee season here, takes the traveling bees off to California to pollinate the almond crops which need over half of the nation’s pollination.

He says our nation’s bee keepers report a bigger than normal loss of up to 40 and 50 percent that is being called “colony collapse disorder.”

“With what used to be a normal winter loss of 5 to l5%, which in recent years jumped to 20 to 30 percent, a bee keeper could rebuild,” he explains, sounding ominous.

Deaths of bees began in the early l900 with the Varroa Mites from Southeast Asia Queen bees coming illegally. Next arrived the Acarine Mites from Great Britain. Those guys live inside the bees and can’t be seen. Add to these, there is evidence now of the pesticides in bees called Neonicitoids. It’s from the the pesticides sprayed on commercial fields. It means billions of bees are simply falling to the ground, dead, destroying local colonies all over the world.

The United Nations is alarmed about what’s happening to the world’s bees. The top l00 food crops provide 90% of the world’s food and bees are responsible for pollinating 70% of those crops. The U.N. is now urging a global effort to save the bees before a world crisis breaks out.

Add to the mites and pesticides, Matt points out that the drought in the Midwest has also put bees under stress.

Here in Stevens County in Washington State, he says we’re more fortunate as pesticides are used on a small scale.

Not only do bees pollinate. When you see yellow jackets or other flying bee-related types, they are doing their job, too, to help raise farm crops.

It’s not only honey that’s going to be more expensive this year, but possibly other food items.

Bees are the workhorses of agriculture. In the U.S., the Department of Agriculture says they are responsible for $15 billion in creased crop value every year.

Do give a warm welcome to any bee-related creature.

Side Sleepers Alert

If you sleep on one particular side, night after night, year after year, there is the possibility that muscles on that eye may fail.

This bit of information if fresh from an eye surgeon’s office in Spokane, WA. It’s important enough, and a good reason to share.

Said one thirty-year-old, “I’ve been wondering why my one eye is always puffy in the morning.  Now I know why and I’ll vary the side.”

For more than a year, husband, Bud, has been wiping the tears away which have been dripping from one eye. Two eye specialists told him it was caused by the lower eye lashes folding into the eye.

He’s a guy and naturally would rather suffer than do anything to correct the problem. When his physician said, “If you don’t do corrective surgery, you could lose the sight in that eye,” that got his attention.

The eye surgeon, a lanky, robust man, must have incredible fingers to accomplish such delicate work. Two days following the surgery and several ice-pack treatments, Bud’s eye is a little puffy and slightly discolored but not noticeable to anyone passing by on a fast horse.

“If you go now and continue to sleep on only one side,” said his surgeon, “You’ll be back to see me again. For two weeks, do no lifting or strenuous work, don’t touch the area, and use ice to stop the itching.”

Bud’s new night wear, is a sexy, perforated glass piece. It’s attached by a strap around the head. No elastic was available at home so I gave Rescue Tape a new use and it did the job.

If you are a side sleeper, vary positions often, and try sleeping on your back.

Foreign Companies Opening Plants in U.S.

In 2007 off-shoring of American manufacturing plants began in earnest. By 2009 the 14 million U.S. jobs that existed prior to the recession, 1,985,000 were lost, according to David Fessler, an investment analyst.

With every manufacturing job loss came at least eight downstream jobs or up to 15.9 million jobs which disappeared in just three years.

Not only are American companies coming back now but companies from the Far East are coming to take advantage of Middle America states for these primary reasons:

l) Plenty of well-trained Americans are looking for work.
2) Oil and natural gas in cheap supply made available now in
the U.S. by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking.
3) U.S. has one of the greatest transportation systems on the planet. (Thank you, Dwight Eisenhower for bringing the idea of the interstates after you saw how successful the autobaum was in Germany during WWII).

Some Asian companies are already here. Nissan has nine facilities, seven of which are located in the U.S. Three of Toyota’s six plants are here in Middle America states. Honda has been here since l979 with 32 plants in the U.S. making cars, ATV’s, power equipment and motorcycles.

One of China’s biggest electronic manufacturers, the Lenovo Group, has a fulfillment center in Whitsett, N.C. and plans to begin manufacturing operations there this year.

Autral Limited is an Australian-based shipbuilding company and is located in Mobile, Ala, with one of the most advanced shipyards in the world. Its U.S. business has grown so quickly that jobs have surged from 800 to 3,300 in the last two years.

It is one of the few offshore prime contractors for the U.S. Navy and has two Navy contracts totaling $5.1 billion.

If many Americans will soon have the possibility of good jobs, the federal, state and local tax revenues will gain and this will help solve American’s debt woes.

Cheer on!

Smarter Decisions When Drinking Soda

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine reports people who drink soda weekly or daily show increases in their body mass index and are more likely to gain weight.

In another study, researchers found that regularly drinking diet soda inhibits kidney function by as much as 30%. Diet soda doesn’t keep you skinny. Drinking diet soda puts you at 57% more risk of becoming obese than non-soda drinkers.

Four grams of sugar on a label equals one teaspoon in the can. The average 12-ounce can of cola has 39 grams of sugar which is almost l0 teaspoons.

Consequences of too much sugar include metabolic disorders, a higher risk of diabetes, and, of course, weight gain.

What about high-fructose corn syrup? Studies show that it is more likely to trigger weight gain and abnormal increases in abdominal body fat than table sugar – even when caloric consumption is equivalent. Also when you drink beverages with high fructose corn syrup you won’t feel full.

Watch soda labels for neotame, a new articial sweetnerr created in a test lab at Monsanto. It claims that is being used in over l,000 products worldwide. Manufacturers claim this highly potent chemical is safe but admit it hasn’t been tested much and that the main reason it’s being used is that it greatly reduces production costs.

A better choice is to drink water. That adds no toxins and flushes out toxins ingested through other foods or inhaled from dirty air.

Try fruit-infused water. Just add a cup or two of sliced fruit (citrus and pineapple are great tastes) to a pitcher of water and let it stand overnight. Then stain and enjoy.

Swap out artificial sweeteners with stevia powder, coconut sugar, liquid coconut nectar, and maple sugar powder which have lower calories than cane sugar.

Adding artificial sweeteners to coffee and foods to lose weight may actually do the opposite.

Canadians Keen on Rotary Cook-Off

The Colville Rotary’s International Chili Cook-off looks like it’s going to be a great party Saturday afternoon Sept. 21 at the Colville Fairgrounds. Canadians have an instinct for what makes a great fun party and that’s what they seem to think!

As support for this huge international event, the Cook-Off already has a Canadian Platinum sponsor: American Teck, but may have more.

Two chili heads visited British Columbia yesterday and were like the salesman in Music Man selling his instruments as they visited three Rotary Clubs in British Columbia Friday in Trail, Fruitvale, Salmo and Nelson rustling up chefs and bike riders for the Blazing Saddles bike ride that starts at the Colville Fairgrounds and ends at the Cook-off.

Response was fantastic and they heard Canadians say, “Fantastic, Exciting, Beautiful, Thanks for asking.

Among the interesting people met was Jill M. Prince who has a stress-management web site that is one of the top Google site with thousands upon thousands of hits per month. She is a young mother who is a Rotarian, a commissioner (like a city council member), has just completed her MBA in wellness and has a four and a ten-year-year-old. The district RCMP (that’s Royal Mounted Police) Rotarian asked the address of her website: http://www.strictly-management.com.

Lamiah Arnold who owns two restaurants, one called Eagles Nest at Champion Lakes Golf Course, and the other in Salmo called the Dragon Fly.  ”What an impressive young lady,” said one of the Chili Heads. She also makes 5,000 panili meat sandwiches for the week’s music event in August in Salmo.

Canadians are also take time to be of help without being asked. Bill Woikin and his wife were on their way to make arrangements for their son’s funeral the next day, but stopped to give directions as the chili heads were walking along a Nelson street. He has a country music Sunday late afternoon program and said, “Call me a week from Sunday and I’ll put on a record for you and let you spin your event.”

A Canadian suggested the Cook-Off have a Facebook Page, so
will start one there soon with photos.

Two sites now for the Chili Cook-off:
colvillerotarychilicook-off@webstarts.com
and the soon-to-be Facebook page: Colville Rotary International Cook-Off.

An exciting and hard-working time for the Colville Rotary whose members are also hosting a district conference in Colville June 6-7 ending with a pig roast and a barn dance for sixty Rotary Clubs in the U.S. and British Columbia.

Please know you’re welcome to attend the Cook-Off.
Or, be a chili maker. Request the rules and how-to at 509-732-8917.

Cookies and a Book Review

Author Pat Conroy presented the most intriguing cookie recipe in one of his novels. Here’s how he slipped the recipe onto page 57 in South of Broad, a story set in Charleston of friendship, values, beauty and ugliness:

“I opened the copy of Charleston Receipts that my father had bought on the day I was delivered at St. Francis Hospital, and I turned it to the benne seed wafer thins. . . My father and I had cooked almost every recipe and placed stars each time we prepared one of the recipes, and the benne wafers had earned a whole constellation. I began toasting the sesame seeds in a heavy skillet. I creamed two cups of brown sugar with a stick of unsalted butter. I added a cup of plain flour sifted with baking powder and a pinch of salt, and a freshly beaten egg that my father had purchased from a farm near Summerville.”

Without the actual recipe, I guessed the amount of baking powder, oven temperature, etc. They actually turned out pretty good even with too much baking powder . (I added slivers of shaved orange peel.) A nice taste touch. Baked at 350 at 12 minutes.

However, research today shows these more correct proportions: l 1/2 cups brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter, 1 egg, 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. vanilla.
(l cup lightly browned sesame seeds.)

In the Midwest or Northwest this is a little known cookie. They have great keeping power. But, my resident taste tester says, “They’d be even better with chocolate chips.”

For the next edition of my little cook book, I’ll give them a five-star rating.

Coco-Cola Views A Changing World

Coca-Cola Company’s annual report and the forward-looking statements are not pleasant reading. There are eight pages of volatile headings in their forward looking statements.

For example, in Venezuela, the company reports a $103 million dollar loss due to hyperinflation and the devaluation of their currency.

As the world’s largest beverage company, they own or license and market more than 500 nonalcoholic beverage brands in more than 200 countries.

Competition is heating up in their multiple geographic areas as more retailers are developing their own store or private label beverage brands.

Competitive products included nonalcoholic sparking beverages; various water products, including packaged flavored and enhanced waters, juices and nectars, fruit drinks and syrups and powdered drinks; coffees and teas; energy and sports and other performance-enhancing drinks; dairy-based drinks; etc.

PepsiCo, Inc. is a primary competitor, along with Nestle, DPS, Danone, Kraft Foods, Unilvever, and in certain areas the competition includes beer companies.

If that’s not enough for a corporation to worry over, the company recognizes that water is a main ingredient in substantially all their products and that this will be one of the key challenges facing the business due to water availability, quality and sustainability.

Government regulations are of concern, especially if there are any more like California’s Prop 65 which outlaws substances considered unsafe or should be subjected to warning labels.

Obesity and other health concerns may reduce demand or mean new taxes for some sugar-sweetened products due to increasing public concern.

Changing weather conditions affect price of agricultural commodities used in their products such as sugarcane, corn, beets, citrus, coffee and tea, due to their availability and affordability.

If interest rates rise, net income is negatively affected. In 2012, the company used 80 different currencies in addition to the U.S. dollar and the revenues all have to be translated in income and expense reports and can affect financial results.

The proposals to reform U.S. tax laws could significantly impact how U.S. multinational corporations are taxed on foreign earnings.

They worry about protecting their information systems against service interruptions, breaches of security. If these operations are disrupted, then their reputation may be damaged.

Unfavorable general economic conditions in the U.S. could negatively affect the affordability and consumer demand for their products or shift away to lower-priced products.

Unfavorable economic and political conditions in international markets could hurt the business due to disruptions in supplies and transportation.

Add to all these worrying events, there’s the renewal of collective bargaining agreements, or, if they or their bottling partners experience strikes, work stoppages or labor unrest, the business could suffer.

If all these, any the many more not listed, are keeping the corporate employees awake at night, the many proposed changes in the bottling regulations for nonrefillable containers is enough to make significant headaches.

Ah, so. Then, Coco-Cola could bring back those darling little green bottles some of us so fondly remember.

Dollar Store Shopping

The Dollar Tree Store can be your friend if you give her a try. There are many such stores but only one by this name.

The first time, as for any new adventure, you will go as a “scout.” Take your current grocery list so you can see if anything you need is on the list.

Look around. Stand at the front of the store and sight down the aisles. There will be canned and packaged foods, and some good values here. Candies and cookies, plastic containers, dishware, beauty, gift packages, kids toys, clothing. All for one dollar each.

Things like cleaning supplies, artificial florals, kitchen gadgets are generally found on the sides of the store and at the back.

Now you have the layout. Here’s how your adventure can begin. You’ll have fun and save money. Some items are standard but others come and go too quickly and might not be there the next time you come.

Current bargains at the Colville Dollar Tree are Campbells chicken or mushroom soup (but, sometimes Walmart can beats the $1.00 price and sell these for 75 cents), Bang, the Awesome spray, Jolly Rancher candy, packaged note cards, Forget-Me-Not greeting cards at 2 for $l.00.

A new item just out: metal wind chimes as butterflies, frogs, snails. Sprinners, too.

The comedian you just heard making jest of the Dollar Store can be on-target for ten percent of the items. If you want to venture further, try a dollar store in Canada. That’s whole other world to explore. Here there are items 2 for $1.00, for $1.25, $2 and $3. The more expensive would be the picture frames, the metal garden signs, the snap-on plastic food containers, the classical music CD’s.

A dollar store can be as friendly as a Costco. Be a savvy shopper. Don’t buy anything you don’t need, even those tempting cookies.

Cuba Did It, We Could, Too

Once our land is completely contaminated by large scale industrial farming, it can be reclaimed by relearning how to plow with oxen, how to fight insects naturally and how to enrich the soils poisoned by years of over-reliance on oil-based pesticides and gas-based fertilizers and degraded by mechanized cultivation.

Remember that little island off our coast by the name of Cuba? Folks are going there to study how that country reclaimed its land and brought it back to life.

We know the guy in San Miguel d’Allende, MX., who takes study groups there. He’s Dr. Cliff DuRand and once you hear him speak, you’ll understand why his wisdom and insights and those of his associates are making a difference in the world.

They present movies, lectures and reports on the many issues facing the world, including agriculture.

The public reports of eight people from San Miguel started last week when they returned from a study trip visiting farms, urban gardens and ecological reserved, talking with farmers and agronomists and officials and learning about coops.

They are explaining how Cubans have combined time-tested traditional methods of farming land with cutting-edge techniques developed by scientists.

Years ago Cuba was forced to abandon its large scale industrial farming when it lost access to fertilizers and pesticides, oil, machinery and other imported materials due to its collapse of trade with the former Soviet bloc.

It is now the largest conversion to organic farming ever attempted anywhere.

Cuba treads lightly upon the earth.

The little group from San Miguel, was sponsored by DuRand’s Center for Global Justice and and the Martin Luther King Memorial Center.

Sweetening Life

I write, therefore I read. At least two or three books a week plus magazines, newspapers and catalogs. When I read, I am somewhere else. (Catalog reading has to stand in the place of physical shopping when someone lives in the country.)

Right now, I’m on the Gold Coast of Long Island. The book is a DeMille’s sequel. It follows a posh lawyer who comes back from London to re-visit his past on the Gold Coast on Long Island.

The book is “The Gate House.” I laugh. Often as I’m reading, I laugh out loud. To me, he’s that funny. It’s the Swedish side. We Swedes may chuckle but we aren’t
programmed genetically to laugh heartily so this is a truly sweet experience.

I’d like to write just like Nelson. He’s a genius. He can go back to his first book called Gold Coast and recreate the past, so smoothly and effortlessly, a complex writing skill that’s admirable and hard to duplicate, that it’s delightful to witness and to acknowledge.

I could be writing the remaining chapters of “The Hired Hand” and not prolonging the agony of my characters who are confronted by a blazing wildland forest fire, but DeMille’s characters are too much fun and speak to me across the pages in ways that I’d never think of saying.

Reading is my addiction. Writing is even better. Circumstances, however, are siphoning off my time and dedication for writing. Not entirely. Yesterday, I did send Lebensborn off to be entered in the Paris Book Festival.

A friend has read a book so powerful that he has hand-written a two-page letter to tell us about it.

I blog. May The Gold Coast and The Gate House tickle your funny bone.