Have you ever seen broccoli grown before?  Don’t be embarrassed, most of us urbanites have no idea about what our everyday foods look like growing.  We only know what they look like:

On the shelf, in the store

After being transported by truck thousands of miles

After sitting in a distribution warehouse

After being picked from the fields

With minimal effort, you could be eating fresh young broccoli right from the backyard.  YUM!  I picked a dozen small heads for dinner tonight.  I’ve also got a rare brocolli growing called Romanesco.  It grows in a cone shape and is a brocolli/cauliflower cross that is supposed to have a nutty flavor.  I’ll post pictures of the Romanesco soon.

If you are a teacher, have friends that are teachers, or know a teacher…have them watch for a special upcoming blog.   I’ve got a VERY cool,  simple,  ultra low cost project that I will be blogging about shortly.  PERFECT for schools as your students will LOVE this project.

Just click on this link:  http://www.thewormdude.com/category/worm-blog/

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If you think Worms are cool, chances are good you also enjoy gardening. Gardening offers the opportunity to connect to nature, and even better, it offers the opportunity to eat GREAT TASTING fruits and vegetables.

Have you ever thought about the roles Bees play in your garden? Let me fill you in on a special type of bee that you probably have in your neighborhood already, and I GUARANTEE you that you’ll wish you had MORE!

Mason Bees are different than the traditional honey bee, in that they are very docile unless provoked. Their whole purpose in life is pollination!

Mason bees are solitary bees, and therefore, do not swarm or live in a hive. Given the opportunity…they could live in your own cute little Bee Box.

Here are some quick details about Mason Bees:

Mason bees are native to almost the entire continental USA and Southern Canada. Very efficient pollinators, Mason bees work directly upon the reproductive structures of the blossoms, collecting nectar and pollen simultaneously. It takes about 75 flower visits to gather a full load, and an average of 25 loads for an average pollen wad. The female Mason bee visits about 1875 blossoms a DAY!!!!

Orchard Mason Bees do not make wax or honey. Instead, they spend their active life reproducing; gathering pollen, and laying eggs.

Why are bees so important? Bees are the earth’s number one pollinator! Bees pollinate over 1/3 of the food crops we eat, as well as numerous other plants that play a vital role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem.

We tend to imagine insects that produce honey, live in hives, and have a nasty sting.  But, only the honey bee fits this description. There are actually 20,000 to 30,000 different kinds of bees in the world.  Bees can be divided into two groups…social bees and solitary bees.  Honey bees and bumble bees are considered social bees because they live in colonies that are called hives.  Each hive consists of a queen bee, a few male drones, and several female worker bees.  However,  Mason bees are actually solitary, which means they tend to live and nest alone.  Unlike the honey bee, solitary bees are non aggressive insects who only sting when being squeezed or attacked.  Even then, this sting feels more like a mosquito bite than a wasp sting.

Now that you know the types of bees that you want to attract, WWW.TheWormDude.Com is proud to offer custom Mason Bee Boxes.  These Bee boxes not only look great, but they are fully functional.  If you can hammer a nail, you can mount a home for these incredibly valuable hard working bees.  These make the best gift in the world for a serious gardener!  The bee boxes are made by a talented High School Student.  Order early, as supplies are limited.

Visit http://www.thewormdude.com/shop-categories/ for details.