First the honeybees, now the beloved Bumble Bee

This can't be good. When I was a kid in the UP of Michigan I'd see vast numbers of them on Dutch White Clover in lawns. John

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre7023p7-us-bees-decline/

A Remarkably Creative, Evocative and Enigmatic Music Video

Great dance song too. This is THE most movingly creative video I have experienced since 'Drive' by The Cars. I am so thankful to an Australian guy in a cars forum I've belonged to for years,  http://www.gminsidenews.com/ ,  who gathered from my postings that I am frequently enhanced by cannabis, and am enamored by creative music videos, and thus in private sent me the link to this breathtaking piece I savor several times each time I get altered. To me it is "Beatle-esque" due to the exquisite enigmas presented, like the floating quivering angels in that trippy forest. I'd never heard of the group nor heard this song so I am very grateful for this very moving gift and work of art. Enjoy, John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvoEJqo5yjg

Great Source of Bulk Wildflower and Cultivated Flower Seeds

Check them out, I've ordered often over the years. Bee flowers, ornamental plus edible and herbal varieties. Awesome by-the-pound prices plus small seed packets.  Great catalog.  Wildseed Farms in Texas.  www.agrp-dec.com/wsf

John

Evergreen Seeds fills orders fast

The online order I placed to http://www.evergreenseeds.com/ on December 31 arrived today! Fast as always. I got 1 packet each of:  San-Ho Giant Mustard, Bab-Fong Mustard Green, Hybrid India Long Gourd (I am SURE it is Lagenaria sciceraria like the Cucuzzi/Cucusa "squash") plus a 7 OUNCE packet of 'Red Giant' faceblaster mustard. Total: $12.30 plus $4 shipping. Their selection of brassicas is wonderful. John

Excellent Mail Order Source of Asian Veggie and Herbs Seeds

Last week I placed yet another order with the folks at  http://www.evergreenseeds.com/ , mainly because I am all out of all of the wasabi-like (when raw) mustards that friends and I refer to collectively as "face blasters". I got a whole OUNCE of seeds of 'Giant Red Mustard' for $7! VAST selection.....browsing through their many listings can constitute a crash course in Asian food crops and herbs. Reasonable shipping costs too.  John

                                          'Osaka Purple'  very similar to 'Giant Red'

My Dad sent me this link about a very promising breakthrough in bio-hydrogen generation

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101227100824.htm

Waste Not, Want Not.....shower water

My showers normally use 1 gallon of water in an Arizona Green Tea jug painted black,  heated by one of two virtually free solar reflectors made from dumpster dived components in my back yard where I shower. But Tampa is having a very chilly DRY La Nina winter, and after 15 freakin' frigid years in icy Colorado, the last thing I wish to experience at 57 back home here in Florida is a cold shower that leaves my gonads nestled up against my tonsils! So guess who has been showering indoors the last few weeks? I keep in the bath tub a 3 gallon plastic jug that used to contain snack crackers, and use it to catch the water from the spigot until the water (and pipes) warm up. I was amazed to see that I fill it up every two showers! Think of all the potable water wasted across the country by people also wanting a cozy shower waiting for the water to get warm. This captured water goes straight to veggies growing in my Water Wise Container Gardens, plus roses growing in same. I confess I waste the water coming out of the ultra low flow shower head as the pipe heats up, plus I let the water go down the drain because if I stand in a catchment tub there like I do outdoors, it scratches the wonderfully trippy sponging of marine stain I applied to the tub some years ago to hide the ancient gnarly looking porcelain. ( see pics ). I will look for a smaller jug I can put over the shower head to catch that water as the pipe heats up.....I just hate getting into a COLD shower.   John