The Weekly Newsletter
Menus and Stories for May 26 - 30, 2008
Here they come!!!
My friends at Zingerman's say that the highest level of competency is teaching.  You have to REALLY know what you're talking about, they say, in order to teach something to someone else.  I had the great good fortune to have Susan's kids come for a honey lesson this past week.  Actually, much of the week was about honey, as it turned out.

And I am not even CLOSE to competent when it comes to bees and honey, but their visit helped me remember the truth of the Zing's words.  Try it.  Teach someone something.  It made me feel very good - even if my knowledge was somewhat lacking.

The frames
Here is one of my hive bodies, the bottom most box, the nursery as it were.  Each hive box holds ten frames that will eventually be filled with honeycomb and "brood" (baby bees!)

One of Susan's children is blind which makes the whole experience so much richer.  These kids really use way more than just their eyes, following Jordan's example.  The shop filled with little yelps of, "These smell so GOOD!"

In our bee suits
On Tuesday night a group of women beekeepers (I am now a beekeeper!) came to my home to share food and wine and talk and experiences.  One, a new person to me, offered to bring some of her strawberries to the next day's class.  This meant she got up early enough to pick berries and get them to my shop by 9.  I invited her to help with the class too.  Mostly she took pictures (all of these) but she also brought her homemade bee suit with its hand crocheted hat and custom-fitted tabs and snaps and Velcro. 

We sort of looked like aliens.  Everyone was very quiet during this portion of the class.

Dinners to go for this week
Dinners, as you know, come with a freshly-made green salad, salad dressing of the day, and made-right-here bread of the day. We take reservations until noon or so. Please order by phone (252-1500), by FAX (252-02002) or stop in to speak to one of us in person.

As a reminder, every time you order a dinner to go you are eligible to enter our drawing. Just drop a card in our drawing jar (a business card works or fill out one of the cards that we have right here) and, at the end of the month, we'll pull one card which will be good for two free dinners-to-go.

Maybe you'll win next month.

Order a lot? Enter a lot!
Good luck!!

Here is this week's menu:

Monday           May 26            Memorial Day – we’ll be closed

Tuesday           May 27            Trout Filets with Roasted Walnut Herb Topping 12.50

Wednesday      May 28            Pork Tenderloin with Rice Pilaf 11.25

Thursday          May 29            Meatloaf with Parmesan Potatoes 10.25

Friday              May 30            Crabcakes with Gorgonzola Slaw 11.50

Our website
Special casserole of the week
We make a special casserole each week, usually on Wednesday. Order before noon and we'll have yours ready to pick up between 4:30 and 6:00 that very afternoon. (Yes, you can order in advance too.) Order a full for 9 portions or, if your gang is smaller, opt for the half-sized one, which serves 4 or so.

Say, we'll happily make a salad and provide bread for you if you like, just let us know when you call and we'll get you all set up.

Wednesday, May 28

Chicken Pot Pie with Fried Green Tomato Crust

Full: 34.00

Half: 17.00



 

Is it a liquid?
Not only are these kids learning about different forms of matter, they have a beautifully diverse mix of personality and talent and history.  When I asked them to describe the honey (I had four different kinds) they gave each honey the name of the kid in the class whose skin color matched the honey color.  The sour wood honey was light and it became Amy.  The golden one became Melissa; the bronze, Maria and the darkest, Devon.  When we tasted the  honeys, the kids ignored the more boring "Sourwood" or "Chestnut" monikers and screamed their enthusiasm for either the "Amy" or the "Devon." 

I think the "Amy" won, but I can't really remember.

Honey talk
I shared as much as I could, bits of this and that.  Fortunately these kids knew much more than I did about how plants get pollinated and that bees are needed to keep things going out in the natural world.  Susan teaches that every third bite is a bite into something that would not exist if it were not for bees.  As the kids bit into the strawberries, periodic bursts  of "This is my third bite!" bounced off the walls.

One boy reported that the Latin name of Sourwood is "oxyDENdrum arBOReum!"  I'm not sure if that was part of Susan's class but they, and I, learned how to say this mouthful - in between tastes of honey, that is. 

Using more senses
Taste is smell.  No smell?  No taste.  Thanks to Jordan, these kids inhale regularly, taking deep breaths of things, exclaiming, reveling.  One little girl, when presented with the Italian Chestnut honey, a dark and rich elixir, closed her eyes, sank back into her chair, and seemed to disappear into the jar's contents. 

A Note From Laurey
Another stellar week, this one about bees more than biking, though last week’s trip is indelibly etched in my mind, my thoughts.  I tell you, it does one good to go away for a little bit, days filled with no more responsibility than getting from the beginning of the route to the end.  Some of you have picked up some sadness in my notes.  You are right.  I have been sad. After a long time of trying to figure things out, Chris and I are no longer traveling back and forth to see each other.  Long distance is a very hard thing.  Some people might be able to do it.  I thought we could.  But I guess we can’t.  Not in the way we have been.  The bike ride was good for me, for my spirit.  My heart has been very sad and this was an important step in healing. 

Actually, stepping out on a tiny little limb, I am going to make public my newest wild idea – riding my bike across the whole country. 

The group I rode with, Woman Tours, does these long trips once a year.  I have done things that I did not think I could do before, but not in some time.  This one, lasting two months and costing quite a lot of money, is in that “gosh, could I really do this?” category.  I’ve put down a deposit.  Whee!  (It’s not till next March so I have time to get ready and train and gather money and so on.)  But – um, WOW!

So, Bees:  I had all my bee gear here last Tuesday, had it all set up, had my brain sort of tuned in to the class I was about to teach.  I have taught these kids before but the class has always involved a lot of cooking.  This one was more talk and less action.  And I DO know how to cook but I don’t know a whole lot about bees at this point, though I figured I knew enough to keep them interested for one hour.  (I have friends who teach all the time and I really have NO idea how they do it.)

Right around time for the class I checked my calendar and found I’d written the class visit for both Tuesday and Wednesday.  Oops!  Turns out they were due on Wednesday so I had one more day to prepare. 

This space is so nice, so open, so light.  The kids marched in like they knew just what to do.  Some of them had been here before, since the class is kindergarten and first and second grades, all in one.  Their teacher had taken them on a series of trips all year long, some actual and some by flying on their magic carpets.  They had been learning about bees and insects and I sort of knew this and had my own magic carpet for my bee boxes. 

They crowded around, excited, interested, enthusiastic.  They seemed happy.  I, I’ll tell you, was VERY thrilled.  These kids filled my space with their energy.  They asked smart questions, listened to the answers, jumped in, jumped around (!) and took care of each other too.  I was pretty caught up in all of them, but did look up every once in a while and saw some of our folks peeking around the corners, listening, bouncing along.

Getting ready for the class I learned a bit more than I had known before too.  There are some big gaps in my bee knowledge, after all, and I had crammed a little bit ahead of time.  But bees are flexible and generous teachers to me, and so I was able to give myself a break too, telling myself that what I know is what I know and, for now, that is enough.  I’ll learn more as I learn more.  And that’ll be that.  All of it adds up in its own way, on its own schedule.  Life is like that, I guess.  I am just trying to hold on to my carpet which sometimes, through it all, does feel magical.

We’ll be off this Monday, but come see us after that. 

(I’m thinking of having a bee class and honey tasting here for you.  Might you like that? If so, I’ll do it.)

I’ll be in touch next week.

Cheers,
Laurey 

And then they danced!
As did I.

• • • •