Beet the System

Cool stuff over here at Black Sheep Heap, T-shirt-wise, logo-wise, and slogan-wise.

Food for Thought

A beekeeper friend made me aware of this new enterprise. Looks worthwhile.


While we're on the subject of food, food politics, and the hope of moving in a sane direction—I urge you to see this extraordinary film, which I saw two weeks ago and was blown away by:

Sustaining Dialogue on Sustainable Food Systems in NYC

The New York Times has been running a nice series this week wherein the Executive Director of Just Food has been answering readers' questions about all things food-, ag-, and sustainability-related.

I submitted two questions and today, one of my questions (about bees, of course) was answered. Here's the item. Also discussed: community-supported agriculture, food justice, and ferreting out locally grown legumes.

Here is the first set of questions and replies, in which urban chickens, community gardens, and locavore-itude in an urban context are discussed.

Bees at the White House and in NYC

Two exciting developments had us leaping out of bed and rushing to blog this morning.

The first is this fabulous item on the City Bees blog about the new beehives at the White House. The photos here are borrowed from the blog; you'll definitely want to rush right over to the City Bees page to see more cool pictures ASAP.

The second installment in this morning's Department of Thrills is this friendly article entitled NYC Buzzing With Bees, about the NYC Beekeepers Association, our friends Andrew and Kelly, and the burgeoning interest in urban beekeeping here in our fair city. Check it out.

And while you're at it, do sign up to join the mailing list of the NYC Beekeepers Association to be apprised of the group's upcoming activities.

Just Food in the New York Times

Spring is here on so many levels. And a welcomed groundswell of attention is being paid to sustainable farming, community-supported agriculture, urban food-growing, and all that good stuff.

We're pleased to see that the Executive Director of Just Food—a NYC-based organization that, among its many other good works, is seeking to get beekeeping legalized in our fair city—is being featured in one of the New York Times' Q&A columns.

So go ahead, Ask About Local Food in New York!

White House Gardens: A Brief History

The Garden of Eatin': A Short History of America's Garden from roger doiron on Vimeo.

Mood Swings

We've gone from bitterly upset about the new (and unsurprising) report that America's birds are in deep peril (thanks to our collective ecological mental health problem) to exceedingly thrilled by the news that the Obamas are going to plant a vegetable patch on the White House Lawn.
But it gets even better: "A White House carpenter who is a beekeeper will tend two hives for honey,"quoth the New York Times.
To read about one of the groups that advocated tirelessly for this exceedingly good idea, visit eattheview.org.

You can also say a proper thankee for this Good Thing by going hereabouts.

And you can learn some interesting fun facts about the White House, Victory Gardens of the past, ecological activities prior presidents (except for you-know-who) have undertaken, and all that sort of thing by heading over here.
Of course, this doesn't mean we're forgetting about the birds.

The Conspiracy Against Locally Grown Produce

A farmer's perspective on the bureaucratic and economic barriers to delivering fresh, wholesome, locally grown fruits and vegetables to your table.