Hi Tony, I'm in Innisfil Ontario north of Toronto near Barrie. Just around the corner is Dickey Bee Honey and another beekeeper is just south of here on the way to Bradford. Even our mayor is a beekeeper! I had a friend who had a couple hives as a hobby - and I've been to a bed and breakfast near Peterborough that is a honey farm - Hunter Farm. I watched Ruth centrifuge the honey. But what do you do with it all?? You'd have to sell it, and I don't want to compete business-wise with my neighbours. Although I do own and operate a grocery delivery business and have been asked for the unpasteurized honey, recommended for health. When my friend tried to turn his unpasteurized honey hobby into a business (we were in a government sponsored business start-up program), he ran into all sorts of problems - apparently he could sell the honey off his driveway or at a stall he himself operated, but ran into trouble trying to sell through a second party - other retailers. Have you any information on why this may be the case? And besides honey, can you make other products if you're a beekeeper - can one make honey 'sugar' for example? How can one differentiate honey from others? Is it worth keeping just a handful of hives or is that not cost-effective? Regarding what kind of wasps/hornets my 'bees' were - they had longer wings but not long narrow bodies. I assumed wasps all have dangly bits hanging off them and hornets are long and pointy and yellowjackets are tiny. Thats about all I thought I knew ;) Thanks for your replies! Lisa

Having a Jack Nicholson moment from A Few Good Men, "Well don't I feel f--- stupid." ...all this time, all the discussions and web pages I've read... I never got the memo about "leave it there." Why is that always left out of the instructions? NOW it finally makes sense why this would work. Josh, awesome!! I have a small sense of how the guys felt who dug up King Tut or realized the Sphinx has feet. This is quite a discovery.

parfait, The original name for Nikita's Gift is Nikitiskaya Bordovaya(NB), or which loosely translated, means burgundy of Nikita Gardens. It is a daughter of Rosseyanka(D.virginianaXkaki, aka Russian Beauty) back crossed to kaki - so, it is 3/4 D.kaki. Both are owned by the Nikita Botanical Gardens at Yalta on the Black Sea, with rights leased to the folks at Raintree. I've grafted Nikita's Gift a couple of times, but it hasn't survived here - should be OK here in southern KY, and for you in a z6/7 setting, but I think my scionwood was damaged; it sustains significant winter damage at Terre Haute, IN. NB's parent, Rosseyanka, in my orchard, is very late maturing, and mostly seedless(despite native males and at least one kaki that produces some staminate flowers) - but can be peeled, sliced and dried while still firm - and loses its astringency in the process; or, you can leave them on the tree until fully ripe. Fruits are more reminiscent of an astringent-til-ripe kaki than the typical virginiana - thicker skin that contains the soft, gelatinous pulp. Holds well on the tree - I have to pull or cut the fruit from the branches. Personally, I think most of my virginiana cultivars taste better. Jerry Lehman, at Terre Haute, says that Nikita's Gift is larger fruiting than Rosseyanka, has nice red color, earlier ripening - and is delicious. I would anticipate it's likely mostly seedless, as well. Meader - if there are any native males around, will likely be fully seeded, and not remarkably better/different than most native D.virginianas. It's a good persimmon, not a great persimmon - just one that's widely propagated and distributed by a number of nurseries. If you can find Early Golden, Yates(Juhl), or Prok, they're a better choice. Planting both Meader & Nikita's Gift(NB) won't influence fruiting on either tree - they're both females.

Meat can be made into meatloaf or pate, or cooked as a braise or stew, which require little chewing. Salads require a lot of chewing. Try soups, terrines, hummus, smoothies, etc. Remember that you need to chew some to stimulate the saliva interaction that's an important part of digestion. Just use the softer stuff when you're really in pain. Quinoa needs to be "fluffy" to be nice to eat. The Kitchn has instructions which emphasize the fluffy. I haven't cooked through this one, but it looks right. The rubbing and rinsing step is important. What are you doing for the TMJ? If it hurts that much to chew, you might try an anti-inflammatory, and since you're talking about changing your diet, you could go towards an anti-inflammatory diet as well. Do you have a "wet" heating pad? (Not literally wet, but draws moisture from the air as it heats.) It's excellent for loosening up the muscles. Do you get any kind of physical therapy? Your insurance should pay for it. Besides traditional PT, chiropractors and Feldenkreis therapists have strategies for helping TMJ. If you're feeling tight, this really helps: Sit up or stand. Holding your head still, look up by moving your eyes to look up. Look down the same way while slowly dropping your jaw. Look up again while slowly raising your jaw closed. Repeat a few times. Now look up while slowly lowering your jaw, and look down while raising it. Repeat a few times. Now do the same side to side: Look to the right while moving your jaw to the right, then look left while moving your jaw to the left. Repeat several times. Reverse: Look to the right while moving your jaw to the left, then look left while moving your jaw to the right. Repeat. This sends the muscles into WTF mode and they get confused about how to overtighten and give up for awhile. Take care of yourself. Work the problem, not the symptoms.