Pasadena weekend: December 5-7

Participate in a cottage foods workshop, learn how to make soap, ride your bike, get involved in the movement against climate change. Plus: ongoing and recurring events and this week's random read.

Cottage foods and the law. On Saturday, the Armory is hosting a workshop titled California Food Law: Locally Grown, Made and Shared. Ideal for foodies, cottage enterprisers, neighborhood harvesters and garden groupers.

Toy ride. Ride your bike with the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition on Friday night to collect toys for local families, explore some of Pasadena's existing great neighborhood streets by night and enjoy some festive, hot, seasonal beverages and goodies.

Feeder ride. Join Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition and Caltech Bike Lab on a feeder ride to the CicLAvia on Sunday. Ride will be at a pace that accommodates most cycling levels.

Other rides. On Sunday morning Pasadena Cyclery will hold Gwen's Group Ride and the Sunday Morning Neighborhood Stroll. For details see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA.

Climate change. Interested in climate change? The Citizen’s Climate Lobby will meet on Saturday morning.

Gardening. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden (usually) meets on Sunday morning.

The Arroyo Food Co-op is holding a soap making class on Saturday afternoon. The store is open on Saturdays and Sundays (as well as on Tuesdays) for shopping and pick-ups. Orders placed online by Sunday midnight will be available for pick-up starting next Tuesday. By the way: The Co-op needs volunteers to help keep the store open through the holiday season, especially on December 21, 23, 28 and 30 as well as on January 3 and 4. A special volunteer orientation has been scheduled for Sunday, December 14, 2 p.m. Sign up for orientation and your volunteering slot here.

Survey. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. To participate go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PWP_Energy_Future2014. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

Got kids? On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Exhibition. The Armory presents Karin Apollonia Müller's World’s Edge, a photographic exploration of the intersection between the natural landscape and complex urbanization. Ends next summer.

Random read. Research suggests that honeybees and other insects feel pain and emotions, and even turn moody much like humans do. For one entomologist trying to understand colony collapse disorder, Sainath Suryanarayanan, the pain he had to inflict on the bees in lab experiments eventually became too much. He experienced nightmares and would often wake up gagging — until he found a non-torturous way of studying bees. Suryanarayanan ditched the lab and the poison-laced food that scientists use to slowly kill the insects while they study them. Instead, he launched a project to understand bees by observing them in the various landscapes in which they live. Entomologists, ecologists, beekeepers, growers, government representatives and humanitarians will work together on this "transdisciplinary inquiry" to figure out how different levels of environmental toxicity affect bees in different ways. For, as Heather Swan writes in a fascinating story titled The Sorrow of Bees in Aeon Magazine, "the life of the honeybee cannot be divorced from the humans who work with them, count on them, love them."

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.