Country Rubes' Farm

April 2, 2012 Program Details
Janet Brisson, Contributor
Our exciting April Program will feature Rhi Winders and Karin Meadows, producers of the new documentary, ‘The Quest for Local Honey’ which will be shown after the refreshment break.

An upbeat film on where our food comes from, keeping it local and what you can do to help pollinators. Out of 400 entries to the 2012 Yuba River Wild & Scenic Film Festival, this film was 1 of the 100 that made it and it received rave reviews. It was premiered in Nevada City a few weeks ago and we got tickets because our house and I were in it.

Going to this premiere was a little nerve racking. I hadn’t seen the movie yet, although I mailed a copy to my mom down south. She kept telling me it was great, but I know things had gone awry. That’s when I discovered I couldn’t act my way out of a paper bag.

A little background, one of the producers, Rhi Winders used to live with us back in 2004/2005, right before we start selling our screened bottom boards. She and her then boyfriend Michael came out to Grass Valley from upstate New York so Michael could attend the College of Arvada. We knew her as Jen. Jen was so allergic to bee venom that she had to take injections of bee parts as a child to help boost her immunity to them. Her first time in a fully encased bee suit, she had to sit down, she was so dizzy with fear. She loved working in the garden and canning food and we had a great time together. She took the name Rhi, but we and everyone in New York still calls her Jen.
After finishing her stint with us, Jen and Michael went their separate ways. Jen ended up in Nevada City doing social work for our county. She met the love of her life, musician Jay Tausig and they were joined in one of the most unique ceremonies that we have ever attended. They had a Weirding instead of a Wedding, exchanged Wings instead of Rings and we all had to be in costume that had wings or feathers involved. During the Weirding, they had their ring fingers tattooed with a design that circled the finger (the Ring). Baby Violet joined the family last October.

Somewhere along the way, she was asked to act in a music video and caught the producing bug. So 5 years later, we get a call, Jen wants to produce a documentary about bees and could she come over and film us. And the adventure began, ‘The Quest for Local Honey’.
So the acting? Well, Jen and her producing partner Karin Meadows, came over for days and days, filming me talking and beekeeping. They even sent me up in a plane. But all that film that they took, something was wrong with the sound, so they needed me to repeat some of the things that I spoke about. This is about 2 or 3 years after the initial filming. She had some things scripted, and I just couldn’t do it. I kept forgetting what I was supposed to say and sounded about as wooden as statue. Finally I asked her to ask me questions to answer and that did the trick. If I can just talk, that works.
The film was great, Kim Flottum, the editor of ‘Bee Culture” was at the premier along with Randy & Stephanie and a few other members. It’s a very local film, you will recognize a lot of us. And best of all, in the film, there is a bee crawling on an ungloved hand with a ring tattooed on the finger. I guess I did my job of encouraging beekeeping.

Jen and Karin will be selling copies of the documentary in DVD form for $15.00.
Please join us for and the producers before the meeting at the No-host dinner at Lin-Q buffet in Grass Valley 5:30 PM.