Food Co-op August 2010

Farmer's Market Share for $13.50 contained:

• 1 cantaloupe
• 1 eggplant
• 2 heads of garlic
• 2 green peppers
• 3 zucchini squash
• 2 yellow squash
• 3 cucumbers
• 6 ears of corn

Orders for September are due by Friday, September 10th. For more info visit www.foodco-op.net. The Farmer's Market Share is all local and grown to organic standards. (We didn't get the produce share this time but they received: pears, plums, nectarines, corn, green onions, beans, spinach, potatoes and mushrooms.)

Author 56: Non-Fiction Rules with Gail Gibbons!

If you're looking for great non-fiction children's picture books, then Gail Gibbons has some of the best in the business! Read more about Gail and her books at: http://www.gailgibbons.com/
With over a hundred books Gail covers topics ranging from Groundhog Day to Knights to Pirates to Weather Forecasting. We enjoyed Caves and Caverns, Tornadoes, Bats, Grizzly Bears and Horses.
-From Grizzly Bears: In Spring they eat 25-35 pounds of food a day but in Fall they eat 100 pounds a day to put on weight for the winter.
-From Horses: A horse's height is measured in "hands" and one hand equals four inches.
-From Bats: Some bats help to pollinate plants such as avocados, figs and bananas.
-From Caves and Caverns: Different examples of caves include sea caves, lava caves, ice caves and limestone caves.
-From Tornadoes: Tornadoes usually occur in the afternoon.

Bargain Buy #1: Camping Mug

Cute little aluminum camping mug-light green with trout along the top outer edge. Used but still in good shape. Price: $.49 at a local thrift store.
(Price of new camping mug at local big box: $2.88 and they were sold out.)

Author 55: Christoph Niemann teaches some Chinese

A cute book introducing some basic Chinese characters in a very understandable way as the characters are incorporated into the illustrations. It would have been nice to have a pronunciation guide either with the story or at the front or back of the book. Then the book would have been even better but it's still well worth reading even without knowing the Chinese pronunciation.

Read more about Christopher Niemann and see some inside pages from The Pet Dragon at his website: http://christophniemann.com/

Author 54: Loree Griffin Burns talks bees

This is the best book we have ever seen on bees!

Full color pictures-captivating text! Resources galore and lots of useful information!
Detailed pictures of bees including workers, a queen, a drone and even larva in their honeycomb cells. Honey extraction---slurpy, syrupy, sappy, sticky, yummy!

Do you like eating? This book is very insightful in helping the layman understand the role of bees and risks of losing said bees. It will definitely make you think twice before wanting to swat that bee buzzing around flowers in your yard.

Again, if you like eating, you should read The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe by Loree Griffin Burns.

Warning: The new generation of pesticides (neonicotinoids) seem to bode ill for bees. Another good reason to try to buy organic. (Our latest yummy organic find is the organic French vanilla yogurt made by Stonyfield Farm with multiple healthy bacteria. We have no affiliation nor have received any products, coupons or incentives from Stonyfield in any relation to this blog post. )

Author 53: Judith Byron Schachner - Irish cook for Emerson

Judith Byron Schachner is the great grand-daughter of Annie Burns Byron, an Irish immigrant who became the cook for Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family. Mrs. Emerson was impressed by the Irish lass who could cook imaginatively. Mr. Emerson's Cook is a cute book that invites the reader to enjoy more life through imagination-creating the ordinary into the extraordinary through soft pastel colors and gentle lines flowing through pages with examples of Mr. Emerson's prose.

Ms. Schachner's books include the Skippy Jon Jones books and others.
Read more about these books at her website: http://www.judithbyronschachner.com/
There's even a separate link for Skippy Jon Jones with games!