A Touch of Nature

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WILD FRUITS - EXCITING HEALTH RESULTS! MANGOSTEEN / THAI-GO

Thai-Go is it! It far outshines Xango, Mango-Xan and Tahitian Noni!
Nature's Sunshine's new product is filled with healthful bioflavonoids and
powerful antioxidants. Thai-Go has an ORAC value of over 100,000. This
assures you the antioxidant amounts are tremendous. See the test results
compared to other products and the immuno-stimulatory response:

Thai-Go Mangosteen Juice

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A TOUCH OF NATURE
Donna L. Watkins, Editor
June 15, 2004 Issue

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DONNA'S COMMENTS
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Time is passing by so quickly and hot weather is coming. I've been
passionately working on our acre to make it a wildlife refuge since it backs
up to a large wooded area. I'm having such fun because the deer aren't
eating everything up this year as they usually do. Guess they are touring
another area right now.

We've always loved designating our yard as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat
through the National Wildlife Federation. You get a certificate so we name
our place to make it even more special. We call this home "Bluebird Cove"
since we saw a lot of bluebirds when we moved in and we're on a cul-de-sac
(cove). If you're not familiar with the NWF program, they even offer an online course.

Backyard Wildlife Habitat Designation and Online Course

I also came across some information for those who would like to make a
career in wildlife and forests. WOW! Do I wish I'd found this passion
while I was a lot younger.

WILDLIFE AND FORESTRY CONSERVATION CAREER

Learn the skills you need to begin a career in Wildlife/Forestry
Conservation - at home, at your own pace. Turn your love of "the great
outdoors" into a rewarding career with the Education Direct
Wildlife/Forestry Conservation Program. Train quickly and conveniently with
our proven distance learning method. Earn your Career Diploma in
Wildlife/Forestry Conservation in as little as six months!

Get more information

I found another bird nest yesterday with babies only a couple days old.
Their heads were just about all big round closed eyes. So precious. Not
sure of what it is. The nest looks like the chipping sparrow one that I
found at the other end of the house in the same type bush (arborvitae), so
we shall see when I catch them feeding.

Get out there and enjoy it!
Donna

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CRITTER FACTS
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CHIMPS: THE SMARTEST ANIMALS ON THE PLANET

Beyond her beloved chimps, Jane Goodall finds amazing intelligence in the
animal world. Although her focus has been on chimpanzees, she has studied
other animals as well. She found that Egyptian vultures use tools. They
drop just the right-sized stones on ostrich eggs to crack them open. Before
Goodall's discovery, tool use was considered the gold standard to define
intelligence, something, it was thought, only humans could do.

Read Jane Goodall's list of the five smartest animals on the planet which
was given exclusively for USA WEEKEND Magazine.

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THOSE AMAZING BIRDS!
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We love the entertainment of the squirrels, but sometimes they sure do get
to me! We've been able to keep them off the feeders with baffles and
placement, but they are now interested in digging holes all around the yard
like they are looking for last year's nuts. It would be okay if they
covered them back up, but they just leave the mulch pushed aside and the
hole waiting for us. Maybe they think they're helping us to plant. They
dig the hole, we insert plant. They're going to have to dig a bit deeper
for that. If you're still having problems with them at your feeders, here's
some great information:

CONTROLLING SQUIRRELS AT YOUR FEEDERS

Not all your birds' enemies kill. Some steal and the thief that turns up on
Squirrels are members of the rodent family, a family which also includes
animals like rats and beavers.

A characteristic common to the family is front teeth that continually grow
and need to be constantly filed down by chewing. Squirrels have the ability
to chew through tough shells, wood feeders and even metal.

Most importantly, though, is the fact that squirrels like to eat many of the
same things that birds do, particularly those luscious black oil and striped
sunflower seeds and various other types of wild birdseeds.

Squirrels are intelligent, agile and determined, and the price of protecting
your precious supply of birdseed will be constant vigilance or expensive
feeding devices.

Get some tips.

RAIN FORESTS AND MIGRATORY BIRDS

Our rain forests are so important!

Click here to help rainforests with a free click. Register for email reminders.

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NATURE'S BOUNTY FOR US
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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:

BATH SALTS

Bath salts are invigorating when used as a body scrub or added to the tub.
They open pores, allowing the skin to absorb healing trace minerals and
vitamins. Rosemary essential oil stimulates circulation and clears the mind.
Place following ingredients in a plastic bag and knead together till well blended.

1/2 cup sea salt
1/2 cup baking powder
1 teaspoon sunflower oil
6 drops Rosemary essential oil

Add 1 to 2 tablespoons to running bath water or use as a body scrub.

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GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE - Restoring the Balance
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AMERICAN FORESTS HISTORIC TREES

This place sells trees that have been dedicated to a famous person or
historic event. Each year, seed collectors are dispatched to sites where
presidents lived, spoke or are buried. Civil War battlefields, homes of
authors and poets, African and Native American sites are visited and seeds
harvested.

Historic trees are carefully nurtured in state-of-the-art greenhouses. When
they are large enough for outdoor planting, they are shipped to homes and
schools across the nation.

These make ideal gifts for homeowners, newlyweds, to honor loved ones or as
unique gifts.

- DEAD LINK REMOVED - Find out more here

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" GREEN" INFO- Making It a Way of Life!
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TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER AT NIGHT

Many people have a notion that frequent turning on and off of computers will
wear out the hardware, but this is a myth. According to the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, modern hard disks are not affected by frequent
start-ups and shut-downs. Plus, you will help the environment by saving
energy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Every computer that is left on for 24 hours adds 1,500 pounds of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere per year, contributing to climate change,
according to the Tufts University Climate Initiative.

Just by shutting your computer down for eight hours at night, you can save
1.4 pounds of CO2 - over the course of a year, turning off your computer
every night will save over 500 pounds of CO2!

SUNSHINE CONCENTRATE - Detoxify Your Cleaning!

This environmentally-friendly cleaning and washing concentrate is nothing
less than wonderful!! We've used this for 15 years and love it for laundry,
hand soap, pet baths, soaking produce, dishwasher, cleaning, and a multitude
of other uses. This product has saved us hundreds of dollars over the
years. Makes life much simpler and takes away the "itch" of chemical soaps.

Sunshine Concentrate for Non-Toxic Cleaning

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MUSINGS: POETRY & PROSE
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FROM THE CHERNOBYL NOTEBOOKS
What the animals knew that we didn't
By Svetlana Alexievitch

An old beekeeper's testimony:

" That morning . . . I went out into the garden, it was already in bloom.
All in white. But I felt there was something missing, some old familiar
sounds. Then I realized, it came to me - I couldn't hear the bees.

The hives . . . dozens of hives were standing right there, under the apple
trees. What is it? What's wrong? I put on my mask and began checking -
the bees were sitting in the hives, not making a sound. Not even buzzing.
And the next day they still didn't leave the hive. And the day after that.

. . . I just thought: They're sick . . . got poisoned with something in the
fields. . . .

It was two weeks later, that they told us there'd been an accident at the
atomic power station. And it's only 30 kilometers from our village. No
distance at all. But we didn't know about it for a long time. The bees
knew, but we didn't."

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GOOD NEWS ABOUT OUR PLANET
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WOMBAT SURVIVES CRASH IN MOTHER'S POUCH

June 8, 2004 ? Bald, pink and bright eyed, Cherry the baby wombat is
enjoying a second chance at life outside her more usual environment ? her
mother's pouch.

She owes her continued existence to a motorist who spotted Cherry's mother
dead on the road ? a victim of a passing car ? and stuck his hand in her
pouch to discover the then three-month-old, 220-gram (half-pound) orphan
still very much alive.

The little wombat was taken to Sydney's Taronga Zoo where she has acquired a
foster mother ? zookeeper Lana Langdale, who will care for Cherry until she
is old enough to be reintroduced into the wild in about six months' time.
" She was probably still attached to the teat when she was found," said
Langdale. "But she has doubled in size since she arrived here a month ago."
Wombats are pig-like marsupials that keep their young in a pouch, weigh up
to 40 kilograms (88 pounds) and have a tendency to inhabit Australia's
alpine regions, which makes them vulnerable to cars traveling from Sydney to
the ski fields of the Snowy Mountains.

" Wombats are pretty territorial and they will stand up to cars, while the
drought has brought more to the side of the road looking for food," Langdale
said.

Caring motorists are being advised to check the pouches of recently killed
wombats for suckling infants ? and to seek professional care as soon as
possible.

- DEAD LINK REMOVED - See photos, more info on wombats, and the story

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DISCLAIMER:

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.