Amy Middleton Loves New York

I’m happy to announce that I’m going to be heading up the JustFood subcommittee for Online/Social Media to promote Pollinator Week and of course the legalization of beekeeping in NYC. Appointment to this position was the result of a rigorous process including:

• being one of ten people who showed up to a meeting last Thursday
• being one of two people who volunteered to serve on the committee
• being the only person who volunteered to head up a group

Now, the meeting was weird, and I felt completely out of my element. I was surrounded by people (nine of them, in fact) who were passionate about the global implications of dying bees, monocrops, and politics. I had come without personal agenda other than an interest in getting involved beyond petition signing. And here we are.

My role in this process is:

developing marketing materials and messages, working with Just Food’s Communications Committee to finalize outreach materials, conduct outreach through online social media and networks to disburse campaign materials and messages and broadly as possible!

Awesome, right?

One thing I noticed during all the buzz and brainstorming Thursday was the lack of any real campaign focus. Honey tasting events and petition signing are great, but if that’s where the story ends, we can’t expect any momentum. At the core I think there needs to be a unified and branded message that evokes a response more passionate than “I feel favorable about honey.” I’m totally open to ideas here- whether you want to join the committee or just forward on a slogan you could imagine as a sticker.

Vermiculture
For two months I’d been looking forward to a vermiculture class taught at the Lower East Side Ecology Center:

Learn how to set up and maintain a worm bin in your apartment. Worm condos and worms will be available for purchase for a discounted price.

I’ve been saving my scraps in anticipation. I had arranged to receive a worm condo as a Christmas present, and I was looking forward to attending the class and blogging about my new worm composting knowledge.

Sadly, I was in Belize the day of the workshop. I’m now left with the option of signing up for a new class, or waiting to see if I’ll be moving soon enough to make purchasing a plastic worm container a poor choice. In the mean time, here are many vermiculture articles written by a woman who is clearly knowledgeable in the ways of raising worms.

Today’s addition to the sustainable living dream: one hive of bees. Pros: honey. Cons: bee stings. Hmm. On the subject of honey, I realize I never posted my pic of my 12 lb jar. Behold its majesty:

Post 2 of September’s Bee Fiasco. My family is funny:

They emailed this video to Julia (on her mission in Italy) for her birthday. For the sake of avoiding unnecessary confusion, it is a *joke* and they did not actually order bees, as you will remember from House of Bees.

This from my dad today. Bees on the house isn’t one of those crazy “Middleton” things. It’s right curious: 

So, Angie says that bees have rights, according to the insect people who came to see them.  No lie, the bees get to stay on our house for up to 48 hours before they can be removed, because they are “just resting”.  If they try to get in the house, then it is a different matter, but they get 48 hours to “rest” rent-free.  I am thinking of getting a little bee outfit and fastening myself to the walls of different resorts for a couple of days at a time.  These bees really know what they are doing.