A trip to Southwest Strawberry Farm! You would not believe how fresh, sweet and perfect these strawberries tasted.
Here, Julian shows us where the yummiest berries are. Noah introduced himself and his brother. Julian said, "Well, Eli is a fine southern name!" Noah loved his accent and also got to check out Julian's tractor. Later, Donna told me that Julian and the Farm were featured in
The Secret Life of Bees. I haven't seen the movie yet, but it was the program book for UB back a few summers ago. Great book. Here, from the production notes of the film:
Since bees are summer-oriented insects and the film was a summer movie shot in the middle of winter, prop master John Sanders arranged for 12 beehives to be imported from Florida – some with as many as 40,000–60,000 bees in them. The hives were kept in a warm greenhouse in Burgaw, North Carolina, where the actors worked with them.
Queen Latifah had to be particularly at ease with the bees because her character does most of the harvesting for her family’s business. Bee master Julian Wooten, a man with 50 years’ experience (and also a retired strawberry farmer), instructed the actors on bee biology, on how to extract honey from the combs, on how to separate honey from bits of wax and on general bee etiquette. “I was stressing slow, gentle movements and trying to get them over their fear,” he explains, knowing the actors were all anxious about getting stung. Affectionately referring to him as “the bee whisperer,” Latifah says she was impressed by his understanding of bees and reassured by his guidance. “Going in there, I was always trying to calm down and come to the bees with love,” she says, though she admits that handling the honeycombs, covered with live bees, while using her bare hands, was nerve-wracking. “I just kept my hands closed, because naturally you want to swat at them, but you can’t. So you remember that they don’t want to harm you. They actually lose their life to sting you.”
