What do butterflies and turtle tears have in common?
Funny question, I know, but it’s more than mere nonsense.
It turns out that butterflies sip turtle tears to satisfy their need for salt.
Photo courtesy of Lufonz via Flickr, CC BY-ND 3.0
Who even knew that turtles cry, right?
Apparently, it’s not out of sorrow, though—simply an eye-moistening matter.
Even so, there’s something rather fairytale-esque about seeing a butterfly drying a turtle’s tears.
But bees?
Are you a museum lover?
Art, history, science … there’s so much fun stuff to explore within the hallowed halls of our nation’s museums.
Photo by Ingfbruno, CC-BY-SA-3.0, vvia Wikimedia Commons
And, it just so happens that September 28 is National Museum Day. This tidbit of trivia also comes with a sweet deal: free admission.
Photo by Paul Duke , CC-BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commonsvia Wikimedia Commons
It’s true!
The Smithsonian Institution is sponsoring Museum Day Live, in which participating museums across the country invite visitors to download tickets (one is good for two people) and explore their exhibits for free.
Tickets and a full list of participating museums are available on the Museum Day Live website.
Will you be including a museum in your plans this coming weekend?
In memory of Mrs. Imperial who died recently at the ripe old age of 11 years+. May you rest in peace.
Sandra Bullock riding a bicycle with a chicken on her handlebars.
I mean, hey, who hasn’t done that? (Confession: I haven’t, but I want to now.)
Most of us chicken lovers can’t claim super-celebrity status (outside of our own households, anyway).
Photo by Angela George, CC-BY-SA-3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
But fame hasn’t stopped Sandra from sticking to her farmgirl roots.
She tells it like it is.
And, according to a recent article in Vogue, chickens are IT.
“Back in California, she keeps chickens named for comediennes: Carol Burnett, Wanda Sykes, and a Phyllis Diller, until she was revealed to be a rooster and rechristened Phil Diller,” reveals interviewer Jason Gay.
Rest assured, her California chickens are not a flight of fancy. Sandra has a history with hens, a longstanding rapport with roosters …
“When I was like 12, I had a chicken named Colonel Sanders and he was not a chicken chicken,” she told Dennis Hensley a few years ago. “He liked people. He would stand on the top of your handlebars while you were riding your bike through the neighborhood.”
Can’t you just see it now?
Something a bit like this:
Photo courtesy of Nana & Baba
Chicks n’ Chaps, a rodeo event to fundraise for the fight against breast cancer, was held a week ago in Lewiston, Idaho, and oh boy (like oh BOYS in pink shirts!) was it a fabulous event.
I had a previous engagement, so I sent my food photographer, Ace, and graphic designer, Saralou, and they came back with lots to show and tell …
There was posing with the cowboy voluntees. Many of whom were riding, roping, and bulldogging in the night’s events.
Lots of great swag was given out. I sent along my MaryJanesFarm water bottles (with pink writing!) to be added to the list of great goodies.
When I first saw this, I scratched my head and wondered … why?
Well, what I’m about to show you may not be at the top of your Christmas list,
but it has a certain novelty all the same.
Take a look:
Photo courtesy of Maya Weinstein via Co.EXIST
Your eyes do not deceive you.
This lovely wooden case indeed contains an undeniably artisan make-your-own high fructose corn syrup kit.
Photo courtesy of Maya Weinstein via Co.EXIST
It includes hard-to-find ingredients such as Yellow Dent #2, glucose isomerase, and sulfuric acid.
Nope, you won’t find those in the baking aisle, girls.
This kit is more “chem lab” than “kitchen.”
You’re wondering, too, aren’t you?
Why on earth would I want to make this sordid sweetener?
As you may have guessed, this is more of a tongue-in-cheek affair, but it doesn’t come without a dose of seriousness.
“The Kit provides the user with a way to directly interact with an ingredient that is typically only produced in large-scale factories behind closed doors,” explains designer Maya Weinstein. “The kit allows everyone to be a citizen food scientist and take control of the mysteries behind industrial food production.”
See what I mean?
Weinstein says that her kits could be used to educate both kids and adults about how processed foods are fabricated, while simultaneously satisfying the mad scientist in us all. “It’s really meant to show you something that you don’t already know—what industrial products are made of.”
It might make a crafty Christmas gift after all!
Weinstein is also contemplating a cookbook with recipes for other industrialized ingredients like food dyes and MSG. Watch her unconventional cooking show below. Do you think it has a chance on the Food Network?
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
