Bee-autiful Turnout

"Vanishing of the Bees" saw amazing attendance plus great publicity by The Journal back in August when we screened at the St. Andrews Mountain Community Center. Many members of the Eastern Panhandle Beekeepers Association attended to hear fellow beekeeper Eldon Winston share his knowledge. I'm always thrilled to be in the presence of like-minded individuals, and the Locavore Project ne'er fails to unite us. But it's a simpler task to draw a crowd who already has an interest in the topics we cover from season to season.

How do we reach the folks who have no idea grocery store honey, for instance could be contributing to the bees' demise? Or that factory farming practices are demolishing our ecosystem? Better yet, how do we make them care? We can't. But we can keep putting it in their faces. We can inundate communities with organic/humane farmers markets, government petitions and free events featuring experts, growers and farmers who share the same passion for a sustainable food system. More importantly, we can continue making sound choices in our grocery stores, at our markets and in our kitchens.

After all, setting the example, Albert Einstein says, is not the most important but the ONLY means of influencing each other.