Cocoa Nuts?

Oh girl do I like my chocolate!   I dare say it's a staple of my daily diet.  Sadly, I've a daughter who is following in my chocolate footsteps.

But recently, though it is not new news (I'm just a little behind the times), I've heard that large corporation-made chocolate (Hershey's, Dove, etc) uses slave labor; that enslaved children are even used to grow and harvest my staple.

Nooooooooooo!  

So I did some research and found that it's mostly true that, according to one group, up to 40% of cocoa is slave-grown.  Whew.  That means at least 60% is not!  

Ever the conscientious consumer, I set out to find some "fair trade" chocolate.  We have a store here in Montgomery, Alabama called Earth Fare (think Whole Foods if you're familiar with that).  There I found a small supply of fair trade or ethically traded chocolates.  

For about $4 a bar!  Oh, it's so expensive to be ethical these days.  

I figured it was for the greater good.  I'm going to taste it and share my experience.  So, here is your free ethically traded chocolate review:

It was good.  Apparently, this kind of chocolate has a much higher percentage of cocoa in it than the cheaper, less-ethical brands, so it tastes a lot stronger.  The brand I chose was "endangered species chocolate."  Would I buy it again?  Well, at $3.69 a bar, I don't think so.  That's enough to make me give up chocolate.  I think.

What will I do?  I think I will continue to savor my Dove chocolates for now and pray for those who labored for it.  Don't judge me.  I hate slavery.  I hate child abuse - a LOT!  And I love God.  If He moves me to turn my back on chocolate, I will listen.  For now, I'm praying and hoping my Doves came from the 60% of non-slave labor chocolate. 

Bird Watch Gone Twiggy

 Earlier this month, E and I ventured out on a nature walk a la Handbook of Nature Study.  I had two Outdoor Hour Challenges ready to go:  Chickadees and Twigs.  Before heading out, E and I read up on Chickadees, listened to a sample of their song, and grabbed our binoculars. 

 Know what we found?  A few Robins.  Not a chickadee to be seen or heard.  In fact, hardly a bird at all.  Huh.
Well, on to topic number 2.  Let's find 3 different types of twigs.  That wasn't hard.  

 Here they are.  See that?  We even found an extra.

What did we do with them?  We observed their buds for alternate or opposite arrangement.  We placed them in water to see if anything would develop over time.  Nothing did.  

And E sketched them for her nature journal.  Hey!  We're getting the hang of this. 

In the following weeks, we still didn't find any chickadees.  I'm thinking since they are winter birds, they are simply confused by the un-wintery weather we have had.  

Come to think of it, so am I!