A Touch of Nature

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A TOUCH OF NATURE
November 15, 2003 Issue
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DONNA'S COMMENTS
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In Virginia, it's been a bit chilly ... and much too quickly in my opinion. The sunny afternoons are still enjoyable but the bare trees are such a reminder that it's possibly time to take that long winter's nap along with the bulbs in my garden. Having lived in Alabama for 18 years before moving here, I haven't yet adjusted to the long winters even though I'm headed for my fourth one. I do love the brilliance of Autumn and the brightness of Spring that can only be had with a cold winter.

Thanksgiving is coming and I hope each of you have a special time planned with somebody you are thankful for. If not, give it some thought now and make plans to be with those you are grateful to have. Thanksgiving urges my mind to make long lists of blessings in my life. It changes my perspective on current troubles and circumstances and brings sunshine into my life even though winter is outside my windows and doors.

Before you consider a real or artificial Christmas tree, check out the segment below. You may have to reconsider your previous decisions on this topic with current information.

A warm hug to each of you!
Donna

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CRITTER FACTS
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MYSTERY WORM-EATING CRITTER FOUND IN CUBA
September 25, 2003
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer

HAVANA - With its long snout and tiny body covered with spiky, long brown hair, the worm-munching creature known as Solenodon Cubanus long has been a mystery to zoologists, who believed it to be extinct. But a farmer in eastern Cuba recently found the first live specimen of the ancient and enigmatic creature seen in four years, local media said.

The find proved conclusively that Solenodon Cubanus still survives, and raised hopes that the curious animal dubbed "Alejandrito" may have other relatives roaming the island. "Only a few have been seen since the 1980s," Douglas Long of the California Academy of Sciences' Department of Ornithology and Mammalogy said Wednesday from San Francisco. To capture a live one is very interesting. Very little is known about them so any information obtained from studying it can be very helpful. All we can hope is that there are more and that they could have babies," he said.

The discovery of the animal, known locally as an almiqui (pronounced ahl-mee-KEE) was reported this week by Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency. Named "Alejandrito" by the farmer that found it in the eastern province of Holguin, the male almiqui weighs 1 pound, 8 ounces and veterinarians declared the animal in perfect health.

The creature looks like a brownish woolly badger with a long, pink-tipped snout and can measure up to nearly 20 inches. A stuffed version of the animal is on display at the Natural History Museum in Havana. The nocturnal animal burrows underground during the daytime, explaining why it is rarely seen. After the sun goes down, it emerges to root out worms, larvae and insects.

Prensa Latina said the last reported sightings of the creatures were in 1972 in Cuba's eastern province of Guantanamo and in 1999 in the eastern province of Holguin. Long said he believed several of the animals also were found dead in the 1980s, usually killed by dogs. "They are extremely uncommon, and they are extremely shy," he said.

After holding "Alejandrito" for two days of study and medical tests, Cuban scientists declared the almiqui to be in excellent health and marked it before release in the general area where was found. "Even the study of this one animal will increase our understanding of the species as a whole," Long said. "I've never seen a live one, just stuffed ones in museums and the Solenodon skull we here at the academy."

Long said several Solenodon species once lived in the Caribbean islands, but were slowly wiped out by deforestation as land was cleared for lumber and to grow sugar cane. The introduction over the centuries of large carnivores, especially dogs, to the islands helped kill off most other Solenodon varieties, he said. The Solenodon Cubanus lived only in Cuba. The Solenodon Paradoxus that lives on the neighboring island of Hispaniola is the only surviving relative species, he said.

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THOSE AMAZING BIRDS!
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WHAT IS SHADE-GROWN COFFEE? HOW DOES IT AFFECT BIRDS?

Shade-grown coffee is a general term used to describe certain aspects that are common to the traditional coffee farms in the Americas and other parts of the globe. The older varieties of Arabica coffee (and some Robusta coffee in Africa) continue to be grown under the shade of trees.

Ornithologists have documented the importance of shade coffee habitat in the increasingly deforested landscape of the Neotropics. The move to "technify" or "modernize" the coffee sector, begun in the 1970s and continuing today, involves replacing the traditional coffee varieties with newer hybrids that have been developed for sun tolerance and compact growth, therefore yielding more coffee per hectare.

The flip-side is that more chemical inputs - fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides - are needed than in traditional cultivation, and, of course, the land is denuded of trees.

This affects birds greatly! This is not only tropical birds that live only in the tropics. Birds that migrate to these areas are greatly affected also by loss of habitat and food sources and nesting areas.

If you are a bird lover you need to know more about this to educate yourself. If you're a coffee lover and bird lover, you really need to find a source of shade-grown coffee so you can drink and love birds too! :-)

DEAD LINK REMOVED --- Shade vs. Sun-The Facts

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GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE- Restoring the Balance
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CHOOSING YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE

If you don't cut down your Christmas tree from your own land, you may be thinking about this decision for the upcoming Holiday Season: Real or artificial? Once again it's time to ponder that age-old question. Choosing a Christmas tree involves more than aesthetic and economic concerns. There's an ethical dimension, too: Which type of tree is best from an environmental standpoint?

Artificial trees were a good choice when they first came on the scene. Reusable and clean, these trees offered a decent alternative to real trees harvested from a forest. Artificial trees are expensive, but they're reusable, too. The main problem with them is that they're made from petroleum-based products that eventually end up in our landfills. Also, the harvesting of real trees has changed considerably in the last few decades.

Read more.

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NATURE'S BOUNTY FOR US
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PLANT OILS - FRAGRANT FLOORS

Nature offers essential oils with potent properties that can be used in many areas around the home. For health, bath, beauty, and household cleaning supplies. Here's our featured recipe for this issue:

Would you like for people to enter your home and say, "What smells so good?"

People with pets would surely enjoy this! :-) You can have your home always smelling good with essential oils. These are natural scents from nature, not chemical fragrances that are now being reported as toxic to your home, children and pets. You can make your own carpet deodorizer and when you mop those vinyl floors, be sure to add an essential oil to the water for anti-bacterial purposes and a lovely aroma.

Add 10-20 drops in your wash bucket. Lemon is a favorite. It's antimicrobial and lifts the spirits. You might want to wash your floors more often with Lemon Essential Oil in the bucket. It has a lot of beneficial uses besides this.

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" GREEN" INFO- Making It a Way of Life!
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TEN R'S FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Recycle - Recycling saves money and resources. Virgin materials must be mined, forested, drilled, processed or manufactured.

Reuse - By reusing products, such as plastic containers and utensils, not only do we conserve landfill space, we also conserve resources by not having to create new items.

Revise - Revise your daily activities and become less wasteful. Save water by using less to wash the car, the dishes or yourself. Change your purchasing habits... when purchasing take-out items, bring your own bags and containers.

Reduce - Reduce the amount of pollution in your home. Toxic products and processes are used daily by the uninformed. Drain cleaners, oven cleaners, pesticides, ect.

Resist - Resist the easy way out by not purchasing convenience items... microwavable meals, disposable diapers, razors, pens, cameras, ect. All disposables generate toxics, use up precious fossil fuels, are not generally recyclable and end up in our landfills.

Refuse - Refuse to buy items that are not biodegradable, not recyclable, are thrown away after one use, or contain dangerous substances. By producing fewer waster, we send a message to manufacturers that we want environmentally-safe products.

React - React by writing manufacturers and retailers. Urge them to supply recyclable products without unnecessary packaging. Write legislators to support mandatory recycling and other stringent programs that reduce toxics and waste. As a consumer and a voter, you have the power to implement change.

Remind - Remind other of their responsibility to the environment... family, friends, employees and others. Stop someone you see littering, or otherwise harming the environment intentionally or not, and educate them.

Research - Research the issues by getting involved with environmental groups that spark your interest. They can provide you with information, alternative products and what you can do to stay involved.

Remember - EVERYTHING you do affects the environment - whether positively or adversely. Consider this: if it goes down a drain, down a sewer, into a gutter, on a lawn, in the air or leaks from a landfill, it eventually ends up in the ultimate "sink"... our oceans.

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MUSINGS: POETRY & PROSE
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" I like trees because
they seem more resigned to the way
they have to live than other things do."

-- Willa Cather

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GOOD NEWS ABOUT OUR PLANET
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FIVE RESCUED WHALES SWIM TO FREEDOM
by Patricia Collier

Five pilot whales that had beached themselves in shallow water off the Florida Keys four months ago are swimming in wild waters once again. The five whales were part of a group of 28 that had stranded themselves about 12 miles from shore. Experts said they still don't know the reason for the beachings, but some of the whales were showing signs of age. Of the original group, eight died, six had to be euthanized and nine others were able to swim away on their own.

The four remaining adult whales and one yearling were nursed back to health by 1,000 volunteers. After being hand-fed fish and given medical attention for several months, the whales were judged fit for release, and were taken back to the sea on August 10.

Each whale was coaxed into a sling and lowered by crane onto a boat. The animals were then taken to the continental shelf, an area where pilot whales frequently swim, and placed head first into the water.

" The youngest, a yearling male, started squealing as it was tipped down toward the water," said Rick Trout, director of animal care at the Marine Mammal Conservancy.

" You could just tell, this was not a distress call, this was exciting," Trout said. "This was a little kid getting excited."

Since then, scientists have been tracking the group via radio and satellite monitoring devices attached to their dorsal fins.

The location of four of the whales is still known, but the fifth whale's signal was lost on the second day and has not been retrieved since. Experts speculated that she might be swimming along with the calf, or with a couple of the other whales.

The baby was recently reported to be close to the shore off Vero Beach, while two of the other whales are moving along at an even rate and the fourth whale is picking up some speed, heading away from Cuba. Officials are hoping all five will eventually join a nearby pod of pilot whales spotted 27 miles off shore.

Laura Engleby, a marine biologist for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, said two vessels, the 150-foot Newfoundland Express and a shrimping boat from the Florida Panhandle, will follow the mammals for two weeks.

At present, neither vessel has reported seeing the fifth, missing whale. " They [the boats] are equipped to capture a whale if it has problems and take it to shore," Engelby said.

When asked how the crew had felt upon the whales' release, Denise Jackson, stranding coordinator for the Florida Keys Marine Mammal Rescue Team said, " We all cried."

" You feel relieved they all made it out there," she said. "It's successful, it's great. But it's a very mixed emotion." The whales' progress can be tracked online at www.marinemammalconsv.org/whalemaps.htm.

Sources

Greenwich Time
www.greenwichtime.com/sns-othernews-whales, 0,2995117.story?coll=green-main-utility
Five stranded whales freed in Florida

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The content, suggestions, and web links in this newsletter are for informational purposes only and not necessarily endorsed by our sponsor "The Herbs Place.com" This is a personal publication by Donna Watkins. The ideas and information expressed in it have not been approved or authorized by anyone either explicitly or impliedly. In no event shall Donna Watkins or " The Herbs Place.com" be liable for any damages whatsoever resulting from any action arising in connection with the use of this information or its publication, including any action for infringement of copyright or defamation.