Best plants for bees

What are the Best Plants for Bees? What plants do bees love and why should we care? I tell all in my article 10 Best Plants for Bees, where you will find some pictures of the bees and plants in my garden.

Worldwide honeybee stocks have been reducing since 2004 because of a mystifying illness scientists call Colony Collapse Disorder. This causes adult bees to inexplicably abandon their hives and their broods. However, bees also appear to be suffering from other ailments.

We can help all bees by adding the plants that they love to our gardens. Find out more at the 10 Best Plants for Bees.

Mrs Meyers Clean Day

In fact Correen believes so much in these green cleaning products that she wrote a Squidoo lens about them, which recently she has given to me to add to my Going Green Ideas niche.

What I also like about Mrs Meyers products is that not only are they eco-friendly green cleaning but they are not tested on animals either.

In fact, Mrs Meyers products come so highly recommended that I am wishing we could get them here in the UK!!

Find out more about Mrs Meyers cleaning products.

The laundry room at my apartment building holds more than washing machines. One table — and the area around it — is devoted to give away items, ranging from half empty bottles of shampoo to wood dinette sets. In fact, the first thing the maintenance person did when I moved in was show me where I could get some ’starter items’ of furniture; he had whisked some away into the work room adjacent to the laundry for just such a purpose.

The reason those items were there? People in the University District of Seattle, like in many other communities, lead transient lives. They can’t afford to take their housewares and their furniture with them.

I think there is more reuse in my building than there is many communities in my country. It can be harder for people who live spread out, who don’t have 100 people stacked above and below them, to give away items that they don’t need when they move, or to find them when they set up housekeeping again. Many of us wonder, though, how long we as a world community can afford to keep buying so much that’s new or discarding so much that’s still serviceable. Our wallets shrink, even as our landfills grow.

Thankfully there’s the internet, and a variety of creative platforms from eBay to Craiglist to the lesser known BookMooch book trading site. Squidoo lensmaster Tipi has an idea which she describes on Bartering Goods and Local Services. She has links to a number of bartering sites on the lens, as well some thought provoking questions: What about featuring items for barter on Squidoo lenses? What about starting a bartering group? Many of us have large networks. How about using our internet connections to trade objects and services, too?

Karentbten has published a page about reused and recycled Easter Baskets

In those days, I was very ignorant about the nasty toxic chemicals, including organo-phosphates, that were used to zap the little blighters and I shudder to think how many times my son and eldest daughter were exposed to them. I never thought to look for a natural head lice remedy.

The last time I was confronted with head lice was about a year ago, when I found that Lizzie’s beautiful long hair was the home to some unwanted visitors. Fortunately, our local pharmacy had some chemical free natural head lice treatment, which, when combined with a couple of hours of intense combing through (while we watched a video) did the trick.

However, thanks to a comment left on a previous post, I have now discovered a website that supplies an array of natural remedies, including Heal Head Lice, a , natural treatment for head lice. Heal Head Lice is 100% natural and organic, which is guaranteed free from pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers.

Given it is generally young children who are more vulnerable to head lice, it is useful to know that it can be used on children aged 4 and upwards.

The suppliers, Amo Oils, give a guarantee that their natural formulas always work when the instructions are followed. If you are unhappy for any reason, you can simply return the bottle within 60 days of purchase for a full product refund.

I came across some great bamboo kitchen tools as well as some very colorful recycled plastic mixing bowls, and in the process I learned that:

• Over 100 million tonnes of plastic is discarded each year
• Bamboo is one of the most sustainable crops, that not only regenerates itself quickly when harvested, but it also benefits the environment, absorbing more CO2 than an equivalent stand of trees

For more information about green and natural products, visit my collection of  Going Green Ideas pages.

Try making this Natural Bath recipe: herb “soup”

The thyme outside my back door by AJ

Gather a handful of fresh herbs and add to a pan

Cover with water

Add 1-2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Cover with a lid

Simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes

Strain off the liquid and discard the herbs – not forgetting to add them to your composter

You can either add the herb soup to your bath or use a sponge to cover your body after you have showered.

The cider vinegar extracts more properties from the herbs than water would on its own and it also creates the proper acid balance for your skin.

Photo: © aj2008 and featured at 10 Best Plants for Bees

BP oil spill Mississippi Delta

No one who cares about the Environment can fail to be upset and angry over the devastation to the wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico that has been caused by the leak from the BP operated oil rig.

I am also upset about the “politicizing” of this huge environmental disaster, where the facts have become muddied, in order that various politicians can make themselves appear in a better light at the expense of those they oppose and other innocent parties. Which is why I was so pleased to see a Squidoo lens, published by Daybreak that sticks to the facts and steers clear of politics.

BP Deepwater Horizon Louisiana Oil Spill , outlines what happened on 20 April 2010, when the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana blew up, with the loss of 20 lives and goes on to outline how those in need of help can get it.

While not belittling the impact of the disaster, Daybreak sets out to give links to help and further information in a factual and dispassionate way. There’s also links for people looking to volunteer to help.

The Nasa photograph shows the oil slick off the Mississippi Delta on May 24, 2010, together with a location map (photo in the Public Domain).

Squidoo lensmaster Photosiamirabel was confronted with a leech infestation in her beautiful garden pond, which was so bad that they were killing her fish. But what to do?

All the solutions she researched involved using chemicals that could actually kill the smaller fish. Not only that, she also wanted to find an environmentally friendly solution.

And she did just that. It involved some thinking “outside the box” – or should I say can?

Photosiamirabel came up with an easily constructed device plus some easy to obtain bait. The resulting contraption was cheap AND environmentally friendly.

To discover what she did, visit her Squidoo lens How to remove leeches from your pond without chemicals. Not only will you find out how to get rid of the leeches in your pond in an environmentally friendly way, but there’s some beautiful photos, not just of leeches, but her beautiful pond as well.

Photo credit: Photosiamirabel and used with permission

Do you have a Green blog? Green lenses on Squidoo? Do you write Green articles on Hubpages, Associated Content, Qondio….anywhere?

I am looking for some writers who share a genuine interest for Going Green and Natural, either to submit occasional Guest posts or if you want to contribute on a regular basis, I can set you up as a Blog Author. Links to your content definitely allowed

Just leave a note in the Guestbook, together with some links to your writing and I will be in touch.

Stop the Dolphin slaughter

Last October I blogged about the annual slaughter of 20,000 dolphins and porpoises in Japan. Today I found out about a petition that has been organised to ask President Obama, Vice President Biden and Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki to intervene. So far 207,500 signatures have been obtained, with a target of 250,000.

The petition is being organised by SaveJapanDolphins.org and is supported by Ric O’Barry who made the documentary The Cove, which first exposed the horrific practise of slaughtering so many dolphins and porpoises every year at Taji,  a small Japanese fishing town.

Ric O’Barry (who was one of the original Dolphin trainers on Flipper) says:

I hope you’ll join me in this campaign to stop the killing of dolphins in Japan. Most people in Japan don’t have any idea that the dolphin slaughter is even happening. If we can spread the word around the world – and especially in Japan – we can expose the secret of Taiji and force the Japanese government to stop it. We can win this issue – but we need your help!

The following trailer of the video has been marked as suitable viewing for people aged 13 and over. It is harrowing, not because of what you actually see, but becuase you know what is going to happen to those poor, defenceless, beautiful creatures.

However, the trailer is also testimony to the bravery of the men and women who were determined to publicise the babarity of what goes on every single year. One film reviewer described The Cove as a cross between Flipper and The Bourne Identity.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Currently Ric O’Barry is in Japan, where there is fierce opposition from Nationalists and Fishermen’s Unions to the planned screening of his Documentary The Cove, which is due to open in 20 Theatres across the country later this month.

It is widely believed that by that screening The Cove in Japan it will encourage widespread opposition from the general population.

You can add your name to the petition at the Care2 website.