More random knowledge gleaned during the last couple weeks of classes:

Beekeeping - First week we covered the anatomy of bees and the social structure of the hive. In the process, we learned approximately 65 million interesting things, but I'll keep it to just a couple of my favorite facts. You can gather way more from Tim at Borough Bees, his blog.

*In the summer, workers (the sterile females who, as you can probably imagine, do all the work) only live for a month or so, until they essentially work themselves to death. 

*Hives need around 90 lbs. of honey to survive the winter, but they'll often make 100 lbs. more than that, meaning you get lots and lots of honey for all your hard work. 

Southern Food, aka "The South in Your Mouth" - Peanuts are LEGUMES! I think somewhere, way deep in the back of my brain, I knew this, but I had never before made the connection that since they're like beans, if you cook them like beans, they taste really delicious. Here's a recipe for boiled peanuts, if you're so inclined to try them out yourself and have eight hours to spare. Just make sure you start with raw peanuts, since roasted ones won't exactly boil. 

Fermentation Fixation - So everyone likes sourdough bread, but did you know that once you have your sourdough starter you can make pancakes out of it? I'd never heard of such a thing, but word is they're super light and fluffy. And if you're having trouble getting your wild-yeast starter to grow in the first place, try using pineapple juice in place of some of the water; the acidity seems to help it grow. 

Tea - It's fair to say I knew nothing, nothing about tea before last Tuesday. Literally nothing. As in, I didn't know that all tea came from a plant known as Camellia sinensis, and I certainly didn't know that white tea was just the buds and very tiny leaves of said plant, or that green tea was made from the slightly larger leaves. Cannot wait for this week, when my mind will similarly be blown by learning about black and oolong teas. 

Lamp Making - Since this wasn't a fact-y class, instead here's an album of the ridiculously cool finished products. Special thanks to Lana, Tayef, and Kristen from Ground Up Designers for leading such a fun workshop!