Category: <span>Bees</span>

5 From The Hi5e: Summertime ‘Bee Inspired’ Gift Guide

June 1, 2017 By Jen Chase

We bees know what we like when it comes to the hive-and-honey stuff. And with end-of-year teacher-present time just weeks away (and plenty of reasons to pre-stock hostess or birthday gifts for the summer), we’re having a little summertime funnertime with a roundup of beeautiful honey-inspired stuff we love.

Whether it’s for your face, your belly, your bod, or your walls, there’s honey- and bee-inspo all around. And we luv that, since, yaknow, we think bees are the proverbial bees’ knees.

(And hey: Since we can’t possibly try everything out there, if you’ve some things you want us to shine a light on, reach out and touch us by contacting TJS’s Content Director Jen Chase at jen@juicestandard.com and we’ll consider your suggestions. After all…#ItTakesAHive!)

May Lindstrom’s Honey Mud

As creamy and dreamy as a TJS nut milk, this mud might be your new favorite way to get clean by getting dirty.

What? Daily wash and occasional enzymatic face mask for bees with temperamental skin.

Why? If your complexion requires orchid-like care, this magical mud is a gentle yet potent combo of raw honey with bee pollen and propolis; white halloycite clay; colloidal silver; and witch hazel, mixed with a variety of the most exotically concocted oils that smell like a cross between sweetly chocolated molé sauce and a rain forest. Made in small batches in Los Angeles by May Lindstrom (who created her treats to salve her own problem-child skin and now has a cultish following), when asked about the mud, the company’s wholeheartedly helpful Director of Care, Elena Alarie, wrote to specifically say that, “hormonally reactive skin will especially love the Honey Mud.” It’s divine.

Mike’s Hot Honey

This. This on everything. Use it. A lot.

What? Spicy honey made in Brooklyn, New York, by infusing the sweet stuff with chilies.

Why? “Sweet heat” at its finest, this crack-in-a-bottle truly is hella versatile. We like it for topping off avo-toast; dribbling it over nut-studded Greek yogurt; stirred into tea; and for drawing our initials on every blessed slice of our favorite well-done take-out veggie pizza.

Medicine Mama’s Sweet Bee Magic™

For when you want that one thing that does errything? Grab this.

What? An all-in-one balm designed to relieve skin irritations and is safe for the whole family.

Why? This one-‘n-done jar of goodness quiets the chatter of your noisy, over-stuffed medicine cabinet by replacing different lotions, potions and salves with one thing that’s safe for pretty much every skin issue. From being a regular old moisturizer to an ointment for burns, cuts, scrapes, buggy-bites, cold sores, and even sunburns, similar to May Lindstrom’s Honey Mud, Sweet Bee Magic™ also contains honey, bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly…all of which, when combined, are incredibly healing.

Hexagonal Shelves by Grace Sarris

Grace Sarris’ hexagonal shelf, hung solo.

What? A set of five hexagonal-shaped shelves that are as useful as they are beautiful…especially for the bee-lover in your life.

Hexagonal shelves, grouped.

Why? Whether hung singly, in groups or all together, these shelves made from reclaimed wood by artisan Grace Sarris can be used to create an eye-catching focal point or as a thematic link connecting different rooms in a

house. Plus, they’re all the better for being sold in Sarris’ Etsy store, since we here at TJS love to #supportlocal. (The Internets is considered local, right?)

Bee Pollen by Moon Juice

Chewy, citrusy and kinda floral, this is the tastiest straight-from-the-jar pollen we’ve tried.

What? A month’s supply of jarred bee pollen, sold by veritable adaptogen alchemist Amanda Chantal Bacon’s California-based company, Moon Juice.

Why? This stuff? So not your mother’s bee pollen (and if you were fed this stuff as a kid it’s not your bee pollen, either!). With a consistency unlike most of what’s out there, Moon Juice’s bee pollen is chewy and almost citrusy with a floral nose (and yeah, sounds like we’re talking wine). We’d normally stick to local bee pollen for its allergy-fighting properties, but this stuff is so bomb—and, so rich with protein and vitamin B-everythings—we don’t care that it’s not from our neighborhood…we crave it straight from the jar.

TJS Edit: Bees Finally Land Endangered Act Protection

March 30, 2017 By Jen Chase

General Mills is doing its darndest to put eyes on GM cereal boxes by hollering out a key ingredient that’s not in Honey Nut Cheerios any more:

Buzz. Buzz The Bee.

Where’d Buzz go?

In a campaign that’s almost as deft with its hashes as we are (#ArentWeSoBloodyHumbleAbout #ItTakesAHiveAndTheOtherFunnyHashtagsWeDrop), GM’s #BringBackTheBee hash accompanies a white cut-out of where Buzz’s cartoony bod used to flit on Cherrios boxes. It’s the conglomerate’s not-so-small attempt—and maybe a little silly?—to bring attention to the United States’ dwindling population of a healthy handful of bee species that pollinate a kajillion handfuls of food.

But the attempt might’ve worked.

In January 2017, it was widely reported that the 40-year-old Endangered Species Act (EDA)—signed to protect innocents from extinction in the animal, insect and plant world—might go bye-bye if our new administration had anything to do with it. (Full Fairness Disclosure: For at least the last 8 years, Republicans have tried to loosen the EDA’s grip on rules and regs that could make way for more logging, drilling and other digging activities that twitterpate the hearts of non-Democrats far and wide.)

If the EDA was going down the proverbial toilet, so would the fight to add the rusty patched bumble bee—a bee that in the last 20 years has seen a 95 percent existence drop despite once being prolific across 13 mid-Western states. But that didn’t happen. And on March 21, ol’ Rusty beecame the first bee protected by the EDA when it was added to the U.S. endangered species list. Finally, after being fought for by the Xerces Society and the Natural Resources Defense Council—two U.S. orgs that, much like the EDA, exist to protect bugs and stuff—Rusty’s chance of survival just got a solid.

If all of this is still a little Wha? to you—if Colony Collapse Disorder isn’t the CCD you’re used to, and you still wonder what the bee fuss is all about, here’s why this is a BFD:

Every third bite or sip you take today is thanks to a bee.

Let that sink in.

Aside from the water you drink to, yaknow, survive…bees are the next most important thing in the ecosystem—in your ecosystem—beecause you’d starve without them. Yet the plight of one of the most important cogs in the universe’s machine of life continues.

Pesticides vs. Parasites…who’s right?

Both sides of The Great Bee Argument include what we refer to as “The P. vs. P. Debate”: Is it pesticides or parasites that do the bee killing? Each contests it’s the other. And though everyone has an opinion they have a right to, it’s pure fact that more than three dozen bumble bees (and another few hives’ worth of honey bee species) are pollinators, which means many of them need help. Many.

Thankfully, people are paying attention. This front-section feature from a February Sunday New York Times by Stephanie Strom is nice storytelling that tells a newsy tale about farmer Bret Adee and his family in Bakersfield, Calif., doing their part with human-directed crop pollination to help these little fuzzy buggers live amid the changing landscape of farming.

(We think you should read it. Click here.)

Plus, as we wrote about in our Earth Day piece, places like the Honeybee Conservancy are also out there doing what it takes to inform all of us everyday folk what we can do to try to help our honey-loving friends.

So with this new endangered designation, we can go into April knowing that the administration and the entities that filed the attention-bringing suit in D.C. district court all helped give the bee a badly needed wing-up. It’s something we here at The Juice Standard think about with near cyclical, sacred-ical consistency…saving the bees. Beecause honestly, it’s this profound and really this simple: #SaveTheBeeSaveYourself.

(#TakeThatGM)

Who Are The Bees In Our Hive? Meet Annsley Naturals Southwest

September 30, 2015 By Jen Chase

In the last 5 years there’s been a huge uptick in people caring about where their food comes from. The more we learn, the more we realize that the fewer miles ingredients travel between where they were harvested and where they’re cooked, the more nutritious they are.

Coupled with a renewed effort to return to how food was harvested in the olden-golden days (read: without pesticides), people are also seeking out ingredients grown as organically as possible. So we’re rolling out a new feature format called “Who Are The Bees In Our Hive?” with tidbits and tales about the farmers and purveyors who help us do the good work that we do, like maintaining our No. 1 standard: Stay committed to sourcing organic. Period.

This month, we bring you an interview with our honey supplier, local honey distributor Annsley Naturals Southwest, and some insights shared by its affable, passionate and Renaissance woman-of-an-owner Dee Drenta.

Us (The Humble Bee): Many a honey convo turns to whether honey is organic or not…yet the U.S.D.A. doesn’t really have a protocol for designating honey as such (since those little bees can’t exactly be strapped with GPS’ to track there whereabouts). So putting aside the raw/organic issue, let’s turn to why it’s important to buy honey locally.

Them (Dee Drenta): In the case of honey, the term “local” means it comes from the same region in which one resides so as to reap the health benefits of the pollination process of the indigenous plants in that region.

In our case, we live in the Mojave Desert and Annsley Naturals Southwest honey, from our desert, offers a flavorful bouquet, texture and color as a result of the pollination of numerous wildflowers…[which] is also why many use it for airborne allergies.

I proudly support our local beekeepers by purchasing regular amounts of bulk honey and constantly boast about their ecological and sustainable practices. In regard to other consumer items, “local” may mean it comes from one’s own town or city, state, region of the country, or country itself. As a small business, I quickly learned the importance of others supporting my local products. I realized it was my responsibility first to provide consistency in my service and product line to prove to them they could rely on me. As a result, sales increased consistently since I became the company owner in 2008 for which I am most grateful, and I have been able to employ both of my grown sons, teaching them while also learning about entrepreneurship, customer service, and the importance of understanding one’s own products as well as packaging and marketing. This education is priceless!

So…buying local creates and maintains jobs!. My family’s individual and collective incomes allow us to circulate our money within our own community, further supporting other jobs, and so on. And, buying local as in the case of Annsley Naturals Southwest local Desert Honey, supports positive ecological philosophies, health and wellness, and financially benefits many local ancillary businesses, further circulating the prosperity and abundance.

US: Besides allergies, what else can local honey help alleviate?

THEM: There are a myriad of health benefits from using [local] honey….These benefits also include the facts that honey contains vitamins (all of the B-complex, A, C, D, E and K); minerals and trace elements (magnesium, sulfur, phosphorus, iron, calcium, potassium, iodine, sodium, copper and manganese); and proteins, amino acids, carbs, and organic acids. The live enzyme content of honey is one of the highest of all foods.

US: Since we are The Juice Standard, what’s been a guiding gold “standard” for Annsley?

THEM: I always make it a point to promote family-owned health food stores. Being a small, family-owned business, [and] with Annsley Naturals Southwest specializing in local honey, I understand and appreciate what the independently owned stores regularly provide their customers. They recognize the importance of outstanding customer service and repeat business by building a rapport with their customers based on trust, education and consistency. They take the time to learn about each and every product they carry so that their customers reap the benefits of that knowledge. (Let’s face it, they wouldn’t bring in products that won’t hold their own by selling well!)

I am also very pleased to share how supportive of local vendors some of the more corporate stores are: Whole Foods, Sprouts, Glazier’s and Smith’s. Most often, our products are not only in the honey section, but are also cross-marketed in actual LOCAL sections in these stores. I believe this is a most positive and supportive gesture on their part to strengthen our community in many ways.

US: Last one. What’s one way honey has personally improved your life?

Here’s a little secret: I keep a jar of my honey in the refrigerator to purposely crystallize it so I can use it as the most divine sugar scrub on my face and body!

Honey’s In Da House

September 9, 2015 By Jen Chase

Beeing National Honey Month and all, here’s to what’s right and true about an ingredient that should be your fave, too.

The Juice Standard’s honeybee love goes so much deeper than our branding and comb-shaped logos that we’ve included it in our philosophee. Bees are a pivotal part of the company’s reason for beeing. That’s why over on The Facebook we’ve been celebrating honey since September’s start as part of our 30 Days of Sweetness for National Honey Month. And beecuase we love it, we want you to, too.

Honey of the raw and local variety is a major super food. Anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial, it’s excellent for external uses like face scrubs and skin irritation salves, and internally, it’s a tasty, trusty addition to tea. But health-wise—as something that’s real and deep-in-your-bones good for your body—this nectar is especially helpful in one distinct area:

Allergy relief.

The idea is that honey-producing bees consume the same pollen that flies through the air during allergy season (which for some desert dwellers is May and, Oh, now). And when bees produce their honey, they do so by processing the very pollen we can be allergic to. A major contributor to the icky eyes and sneezes of Las Vegans are the dreaded Fruitless Mulberry and European Olive trees…but the theory is that the more we’re exposed to their allergy-causing pollen, the more we can build a tolerance to those nasty-bad irritants.

Got raw honey at home? Down it. Have access to local bee pollen? Many of us take a teaspoon a day for good measure. Whatever you do, see if you can incorporate this blessed stuff into your beeing. Course we think that drinking it is the cat’s meow, but your bod’ll be happy no matter how you enjoy it.

Since we think honey’s better than Benadryl, we’re here to help you up your daily dose. These TJS recipes contain the kind of sticky stuff we hope you’ll be stuck on.

BEE HAPPY is rich with raw-cacao goodness and at least once a week is called “adult chocolate milk” by someone who thinks they invented the compliment. (Nut milk made with filtered water, coconut water, raw cashew, raw brazil nut, raw walnut, raw local honey, raw cacao, vanilla bean, and pink Himalayan salt.)

BEE TRUE TO YOU is, simply put, an allergen alleviator of the highest order. (Cold-pressed juice with cucumber, lemon, ginger, turmeric, honey, cayenne.)

BEE LEGENDARY brims with exotically warm spices, and is on its way to being known as TJS’ perfect fall flavor you’re lucky enough to by year ‘round. (Nut milk made with filtered water, raw cashew, raw brazil nut, raw walnut, turmeric, ginger, vanilla bean, cardamom, nutmeg, clove, raw local honey, pink Himalayan salt, and cracked black pepper.)

BEE I’M POSSIBLE is creamily, dreamily kissed with love, light, lemon, and lavender, of all things…and BOY does it work! (Nut milk made with raw cashew, vanilla bean, lemon, lavender, raw local honey, and alkaline water.)