Bee pollen tea, the BEST cherries ever, and picnic at Cal Anderson Park

So I've seen it a few times at local farmers markets at the stand where they sell local honey,beeswax, and all that great stuff. However, I've never seen actual bee pollen before.

This past week, when I went to Madison Market Co-op (our local market cooperative), I noticed that they had organic Pacific Northwestern bee pollen in a jar. I scooped a little into a bag for myself and decided to put it in with my Japanese green tea to see how it is:

Before I get to my point (haha), my allergy doctor in Phoenix (where I found out I was allergic to every weed, grass, and tree in every season in AZ) told me that it takes about a year for your body to become acclimated if you move somewhere. For example, I moved to Hawaii and for the year that I was there, had no allergy/asthma problems. Similarly, 3 weeks here so far have proved to be okay. But after a year, that can change and your body can become sensitive to local plants. Here's the basic idea: pollen comes from plants, and plants (among other things) often cause peoples' allergies. If you ingest local pollen little by little, you are naturally inoculating yourself and can desensitize yourself gradually. Think of it as a natural version of an allergy shot. In other words, I'm using this year period before my body becomes used to the environment here to naturally prevent having severe allergies (and therefore, asthma). Honey works similarly too since honey is the product the bees make from the flowers they find. The important key, however, is that you must do this with pollen/honey that is local to you - it doesn't help to make your California allergies worse if you slowly desensitize yourself to just any pollen, say, from Idaho's flowers. Another useful example about thinking locally. By the way, the tea turned out wonderfully and the pollen was really light and delicate in the tea. I also added some local wildflower honey to sweeten a little bit (I was writing a big paper for class and needed a sugar boost!)

Ian and I also had a picnic at Cal Anderson park right next to our apartment. What a beautiful park and it was so great to see so many people using public spaces:

The beautiful volcano fountain and wading pool

Top and working clockwise: BBQ pork Banh Mi with poutine (french canadian style fries with cheese, gravy, and herbs), blackberry strawberry oats crunch, and finally a pesto pasta salad

There was also this guy parked on the side of the road next to the park selling cherries for the cheapest I've seen around here. A quick taste made me realize that these weren't your everyday cherries! For starters, they're SO incredibly deep red, really soft (instead of slightly crunchy like regular cherries), and rich that they ended up slightly staining my teeth red for a little bit ... much like how red wine drinkers end up with a black colored mouth. They're smaller (probably because they're organic and not pumped with chemicals), and the guy that was selling them says he drives out to Eastern Washington to pick a couple boxes every day and sells them here at the park. Easily the best cherry I've tasted. His secret? Let nature do the work, and leave them on the tree as long as possible. Most people don't know that fruit does not "ripen" once removed from the plant. Incredibly deep color inside the cherry, and the interesting almost white colored stem:

Of course, a quick garden update. As I wished for, we got some beautiful afternoon sun following yesterday's steady drizzle of gentle rain:

Salad greens are sprouting much more. Looks like we have some red greens (haha) in the mix! Yum!

The golden tomato is flowering quite nicely now

 Oregano - I mentioned this in the last post, but didn't show a picture. You can see where I clipped the herbs last time (the brown stem tip). Now, you can see the small new leaves growing below where I clipped last time. Herbs such as oregano, basil, etc. will grow bushier and thicker when you cut them, so don't be afraid! Cut one stem and you'll have two growing back in the same spot.

Summer school class #1 finally done! Class #2 starts on Monday, but I still have another day and a half to relax ;-)

Eating these cherries and watching the ferries sail by ... not a bad day

À bientôt!