Check It Out: Bees and CBD, Pickled Veggies and Tea, and Blue Q Bags

by 
Karen Plourde, Editor, Weavers Way Shuttle

All Wellness and Good

Beekeepers Naturals products can give a lift on busy days. And cannabis-free CBD remedies show up Next Door.

Trying to shake off summertime fog? Skip the caffeine and opt for bee-fueled aids from Beekeepers Naturals. Their B.Lxr Brain Fuel ($16.49) uses royal jelly, ginkgo biloba and bacopa monnieri to nourish the brain and give the user a mental boost. Their B-Powered superfood honey ($16.49) blends royal jelly, bee pollen, propolis and raw honey to energize your body and activate your mind. And their Propolis Throat Spray ($13.99) fights germs and combats free radical damage during periods of stress.

For those who are curious about CBD remedies, but don’t want to risk cannabis showing up on a drug test, Next Door now offers a line of dietary supplements from Emerald Health Bioceuticals ($30.99-$39.99). Their vegan softgel formulas are made up of a blend of non-cannabis herbs and botanicals, along with added ingredients like Echinacea, saffron, curcumin, and magnolia bark. Five Endo formulas — targeting mood, brain function, inflammation relief, lessened anxiety, and improved sleep — are available in the Hill.

Finds at the Farm Market

Clean up prettily with Stone Cottage Industries soaps.

Tucked away in a cabinet in the right front corner of the market are Stone Cottage Industries soaps, made in Mt. Airy. The bars ($5.99/ea.) are made by the old school cold process method in small batches with herbs and essential oils and packaged minimally with labels and art paper. They’re available in fun scents like lemon poppy seed, chai infusion and mint chocolate chip, with new blends coming out regularly. They also be found Next Door and at Across the Way.

Going On in Grocery

Fermented nibbles from Fishtown. And a tea-powered energy drink from Venice Beach.

The refrigerated sauerkraut/kimchi/pickled veggie section in Ambler now includes selections from Fishtown Ferments. Owners Tim Kirkland, Eric Iacone, and Mike Landers met while working at Martha in Kensington, where Mike is still fermentation director. The stock on Butler Avenue includes kraut, Napa and white kimchi, and beets. Prices range from $7.49-$9.49 for a 15 ounce jar.

Wash down your pickled snacks (or whatever else you choose), and get a healthy boost from Tea Riot tea energy drinks ($3.49), recently added to the beverage cases in Ambler and Chestnut Hill. They rely on natural tea caffeine and botanicals and contain no added sugar.

Merch, Actually

Extra fun recycled bags from Blue Q in Ambler.

Saving the Earth is admirable, but to do it in style? All the better. Blue Q bags — coin purses, pencil cases, zipper pouches and shopping bags in two sizes — are now available in the front of the store’s general merchandise section in Ambler. They’re made of 95% post-consumer material and feature retro, brightly-colored designs with snarky sayings that will make many of us look cooler than we are. The company also donates 1% of the profits from sales of the bags to environmental causes around the world. Prices range from $4.99-$11.99.