There is a great debate on which is more planet friendly, buying organic or buying local. Are the pesticides being used worse for the soil than all the carbon burned to bring food to where you are? Its a close call, but usually the consensus is: Buy Local. That's why Farmers' Markets are so great! Family farms bring their stuff to you, its great food by local farmers and families. So instead of supporting great big giant mass produced fruits and veggies where the big concern is size, shape, and color, you are supporting a wonderful small farm, concerned with taste, quality, and love for the food. Around Kansas City you can go to farmers markets at Rivermarket, Brookside, Parkville, Briarcliff, and many other locations. Go to Local Harvest to find a Farmers' Market near you.

Bananas: A miracle food

I don't know how many people know this but, bananas are the saints of the fruit family. Bananas are full of tons of important vitamins like A, B complex, Riboflavin, Niacin, and of course Potassium. Its also full of protein and good carbs. Surprisingly, Bananas will help cure many ailments from Anemia to Hangovers to Morning Sickness to Ulcers. Have heartburn? eat a banana! Have PMS? eat a banana! you can even rub the inside of the banana skin on a mosquito bite and it will reduce the swelling and irritation. This wonder-fruit is inexpensive, delicious, and good in any kind of smoothy. If you want to learn more about bananas and their benefits or recipes that include them, visit bananas.com ! Here's to bananas!

For the Fair Skinned

I burn, then I peel, then I'm back to being white again. I was lucky enough to be on a boat twice in two weeks after not setting foot on one in about two years. Unfortunately, both times I didn't slather enough sunscreen on and have been recovering from pretty brutal burns for the last week or so. So now I'm obsessed not only with sunscreen (bought some Aveeno SPF 70 the other day) but with finding a great floppy hat to wear as well. I like all four of these, and I'll probably just end up with a plain one like the one on top I found on the J. Crew website but I'm also digging this stripped one from American Eagle . I like the simple detail as well, but this last one is just drop dead gorgeous and if I had $165 to drop on a hat, I'd spend it in a heartbeat on this bottom one, also from J. Crew. It might look great to have a tan but, for me its next to impossible plus the whole lines, wrinkles, and skin cancer thing really makes having a tan a lot less glam. These hats are definitely more alluring.

Bees are feminists too

Honey bees fascinate me. Aside from being a librarian, I would really like to have my own hive someday. These creatures are absolutely imperative on the survival of human beings. The tasty honey we love to add to our tea is not the only way humans can benefit from bees, they pollinate every crop of fruit and vegetable that we eat, that our pets eat, that the animals we eat eat. They fascinate me because of their significance for human existence, but I also find them so interesting because their colonies are almost completely female.  The Queen is obviously the most important bee in the hive, but every worker bee is also female. They do have drones, but their one job is to fertilize the eggs of the queen, they live only about eight months and are then driven out of the hive. I find honey bees to be quite mysterious because of this phenomenon and I cannot wait to have my own hive so I can get to know them better. Honey has a lot of beneficial qualities, cosmetic, holistic, and medicinal. You can use honey mixed with yogurt or avocado and banana and make a wonderful mask for the hair or skin. A drop in some hot water with some lemon provides and instant soothing remedy for a sore throat, and if you have allergies, buy local honey, as the pollen in the honey is the same as the pollen you're having a reaction to and will help build up a natural immunity to it. We must all hold the honey bee sacred, as our survival as a species depends upon them. Einstein has been quoted as saying that, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left". We better watch out.