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  • Polluted water from a mine pours into a holding pond in Colorado.
    WS-0001 Discharge Pipe.jpg
  • Cowboys coming back from branding gather around a stock tank to water their horses in the Sandhills of Nebraska.
    Stock Tank Break(P).jpg
  • Windmills on the Watson Ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska. A clever rancher put up seven windmills to pump shallow groundwater into a water tank so he could water his cattle.
    MM7004_0066 II.jpg
  • The All-American Canal takes water from the Colorado River though desert dunes in Southern California.
    ColoradoRiverScan-121030-0011 copy.jpg
  • Ranch hands gather at the stock tank after a day of branding in the Sandhills of Nebraska.
    Stock Tank Break.jpg
  • Graves washing into the Mississippi, Louisiana.
    WS-0003 Graves.jpg
  • Workers repair one of Grand Coulee dam's huge turbines.
    NationalGeographic_673578.jpg
  • Sheko cattle being kept, protected and studied at the ILRI farm in the Ghibe Valley of southern Ethiopia. The Sheko are endangered with only about 2,500 known to be alive. Their are valuable for their adaptation to climates where they are resistant to diseases carried by the tsetse fly. ILRI is studing and breeding the herd.<br />
<br />
Sheko and Abigar and 31 of the Gurage were purchased from their natural habitats and introduced in to medium to high tsetse–trypanosomosis challenge area of the Ghibe valley<br />
<br />
Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus Trypanosoma. Approximately 500,000 men, women and children in 36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa suffer from human African trypanosomiasis which is caused by either Trypanosoma brucei gambiense or Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. The other human form of trypanosomiasis, called Chagas disease, causes 21,000 deaths per year [1] mainly in Latin America.
    MM7753_20101026_37523.jpg
  • Cemetery near a petroleum plant on the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
    MS-0001.jpg
  • Native Americans fishing for Salmon in Pacific Northwest.
    Man Spear Fishing on Peer.jpg
  • Columbia Gorge and the Columbia River at sunrise.
    Columbia Gorge-8 Bit, Good.jpg
  • Native American fishing for salmon on the Columbia River.
    Bobby Begay Fishing.jpg
  • Stac Pollaidh, Assynt in the far northwest of Scotland, a vast land of will moors and towering mountains. <br />
Sgorr Tuath is 589m (1933ft) and a rough climb but is still the 2,944th highest mountain in Scotland. Views here are across to Stac Pollaidh (Stack Polly) which is a popular hiking destination.
    MM8321_20161009_30297-Pano.jpg
  • Forsinard Flows near the hamlet of Forsinard in Sutherland, Scotland. The Flow Country is a vast area of peat bog, a fragile environment valued as wildlife habitat as well as for storing vast quantities of carbon.
    MM8321_20160416_26921-Pano.jpg
  • Polperro in Cornwall is an ancient fishing village, rich in the history of smuggling. Willy the Seagull sits outside our window, begging.
    Cornwall_20080426_0160.jpg
  • The Big Well in Greensburg, Kansas. A diver is searching for objects people have thrown into the well over the years. The well was hand dug and reaches down to the Ogallala Aquifer.
    BigWell I.jpg
  • Mississippi River in Minnesota seen from the air at sunset.
    MR-0001 Mississippi Sunset.jpg
  • Marie's Parade in Venice, a Grand Historical Pageant departure from S. Pietro di Castello church for St. Mark's  marking the beginning of Carnivale.
    Venice 20070209 5130.jpg
  • Forsinard Flows near the hamlet of Forsinard in Sutherland, Scotland. The Flow Country is a vast area of peat bog, a fragile environment valued as wildlife habitat as well as for storing vast quantities of carbon.  This is now an RSPB Reserve and there is a newly built observation tower overlooking the bogs.
    MM8321_20160417_27354.jpg
  • Polperro in Cornwall is an ancient fishing village, rich in the history of smuggling.
    Cornwall_20080426_0112.jpg
  • Multnomah Falls, Oregon
    Multnomah Falls.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Trapa natans (Lythraceae) - water caltrop, water chestnut, horn nut; native to Eurasia & Africa<br />
Trapa natans (water caltrop, horn nut), has been cultivated in China for more than three thousand years but the crunchy water chestnuts commonly used in Chinese cooking are the fleshy corms (not seeds) of the totally unrelated spike rush (Eleocharis dulcis, Cyperaceae).<br />
weblinks:<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_caltrop<br />
http://www.invasive.org/species/subject.cfm?sub=3499
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11897.jpg
  • A Nebraska farmer drives through irrigation water that was running across a road near his farm. Such runoff is waste of precisious aquifer water.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220098.jpg
  • Water witcher Ralph Fraser, Belleville, Kansas
    Water Witcher.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Trapa natans (Lythraceae) - water caltrop, water chestnut, horn nut; native to Eurasia & Africa<br />
Trapa natans (water caltrop, horn nut), has been cultivated in China for more than three thousand years but the crunchy water chestnuts commonly used in Chinese cooking are the fleshy corms (not seeds) of the totally unrelated spike rush (Eleocharis dulcis, Cyperaceae).<br />
weblinks:<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_caltrop<br />
http://www.invasive.org/species/subject.cfm?sub=3499
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11897.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Trapa bicornis (Lythraceae) - devil's pod, also known as bat nut, goat head, null nut, and buffalo nut - this species is sometimes even combined with Trapa natans (i.e. the two are treated as a single variable species) and much of the description above also applies to T. bicornis. --- Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_caltrop]: The water caltrop, water chestnut or Singhara or Paniphal is either of two species of the genus Trapa: Trapa natans and Trapa bicornis. Both species are floating annual aquatic plants, growing in slow-moving water up to 5 meters deep, native to warm temperate parts of Eurasia and Africa. They bear ornately shaped fruits, which in the case of T. bicornis resemble the head of a bull, each fruit containing a single very large starchy seed. It has been cultivated in China and India for at least 3,000 years for these seeds, which are boiled and sold as an occasional street side snack in the south of that country<br />
<br />
[http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Trapa+bicornis]: Seed edible after cooking. A crunchy texture with a bland flavour. Rich in starch, the raw seed contains a deleterious principle that is destroyed by cooking. The cooked seed can be dried and ground into a powder. The flowers are astringent in fluxes. The fruit is used in the treatment of fever and sunstroke. The plant is anticancer, antipyretic and tonic.
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11912.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Trapa bicornis (Lythraceae) - devil's pod, also known as bat nut, goat head, null nut, and buffalo nut - this species is sometimes even combined with Trapa natans (i.e. the two are treated as a single variable species) and much of the description above also applies to T. bicornis. --- Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_caltrop]: The water caltrop, water chestnut or Singhara or Paniphal is either of two species of the genus Trapa: Trapa natans and Trapa bicornis. Both species are floating annual aquatic plants, growing in slow-moving water up to 5 meters deep, native to warm temperate parts of Eurasia and Africa. They bear ornately shaped fruits, which in the case of T. bicornis resemble the head of a bull, each fruit containing a single very large starchy seed. It has been cultivated in China and India for at least 3,000 years for these seeds, which are boiled and sold as an occasional street side snack in the south of that country<br />
<br />
[http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Trapa+bicornis]: Seed edible after cooking. A crunchy texture with a bland flavour. Rich in starch, the raw seed contains a deleterious principle that is destroyed by cooking. The cooked seed can be dried and ground into a powder. The flowers are astringent in fluxes. The fruit is used in the treatment of fever and sunstroke. The plant is anticancer, antipyretic and tonic.
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11912.jpg
  • Ogallala Aquifer water underlying a wet meadow on the Haythorn Ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska produces a lush crop of hay.   These meadows, where the Haythorns annually put up 1700 stacks of hay using their horses, are said to be "sub-irrigated" by the water table near the surface.  Springs form wherever any little dip reaches the water table. These draft horses are pulliing the hay up the inclined stacker to the top of the haystack.
    Studio Session-010.jpg
  • Low energy precision irrigation (LEPA) nozzles watering a field in Kansas. Such nozzles save water by applying wth water close to the ground, rather than spraying it into the air which can cause great losses due to evaporation of precious Ogallala Aquifer water.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220110.jpg
  • Ogallala Aquifer water springs forth from a wet meadow on the Haythorn Ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska.   These meadows, where the Haythorns annually put up 1700 stacks of hay using their horses, are said to be "sub-irrigated" by the water table near the surface.  Springs form wherever any little dip reaches the water table.
    Ogallala_20220114_0030.jpg
  • Students at the Stomness Academy, Orkney, scotland take a nautical class which is best described as "Drivers Education" on the water. Almost all students take the class which strives to give them a modicum of knowledge and familiarity with water saftey on an Island where water is one of the few constants.  This was a fairly new class, just trying to learn to row together.  Some of the kids had a bit more experience than others.
    Orkney-20200512-0398-Edit.jpg
  • Obsolete center pivot irrigation systems piled up on a junkyard, remnants of older irrigation technology. New systems save water rendering the old systems uneconomical. The energy cost of pumping water from declining well levels makes it imperative to use the most water-efficient technology.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220099.jpg
  • Ogallala Aquifer water underlying a wet meadow on the Haythorn Ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska produces a lush crop of hay.   These meadows, where the Haythorns annually put up 1700 stacks of hay using their horses, are said to be "sub-irrigated" by the water table near the surface.  Springs form wherever any little dip reaches the water table. These draft horses are pulliing the hay up the inclined stacker to the top of the haystack.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220208.jpg
  • Aly Ouedraogo has led efforts to restore farmland in Gourcy, about 40 kilometers south of Ouahigouya in Burkina Faso.  Work included using low rows of stones called bunds, to control water flow and let water permeate into the soil.  The picture show the landscape in March 1986 when work began, and illustrates how barren the land was at the time.
    MM6977_071208_31716.jpg
  • Aly Ouedraogo has led efforts to restore farmland in Gourcy, about 40 kilometers south of Ouahigouya in Burkina Faso.  Work included using low rows of stones called bunds, to control water flow and let water permeate into the soil.  The picture show the landscape in March 1986 when work began, and illustrates how barren the land was at the time.
    MM6977_071208_31716.jpg
  • Aly Ouedraogo has led efforts to restore farmland in Gourcy, about 40 kilometers south of Ouahigouya in Burkina Faso.  Work included using low rows of stones called bunds, to control water flow and let water permeate into the soil.  The picture show the landscape in March 1986 when work began, and illustrates how barren the land was at the time.
    MM6977_071208_31662.jpg
  • Children at a special educational summer camp in Lincoln, Nebraska watch a demonstration using an aquifer model. As water is pumped around and "pollution" (colored water) is injected into wells or leaks from lakes they can see how groundwater pollution occurs and spreads.
    Ogallala-20200421-0010.jpg
  • Soil comparison of organically farmed soil and conventionally farmed soil at the Rodale Institute near Kutztown, Pennsylvania.  The soil on the left is from a test plot that has been farmed organically for 30 years.  Soil at right is conventionally farmed soil from a same test field.  Organically farmed soil has good structure and holds water and its shape.  Conventionally farmed soil has almost no structure and falls apart in water.
    MM6977_070712_09006.jpg
  • An approaching thunderstorm in the Sandhills of Nebraska brings rain and lightning bolts to the vast grasslands. Such storms dump water onto the porous sandhills, which store vast quantities of the High Plains Aquifer water.
    JAMES C RICHARDSON_05891_476182.jpg
  • Windmills on the Watson Ranch north of Scottsbluff in the Sandhills of Nebraska are testaments to the precious nature of water on the Great Plains. This rancher erected seven windmills to pump water for his cattle in this Sandhills ranch.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220194.jpg
  • Center pivot irrigation system in Kansas designed to save water from the Ogallala Aquifer. A "L.E.P.A." (Low Energy Precision Application) nozzle sends out streams of water close to the ground, thereby reducing evaporation by up to 50 percent or more.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220060.jpg
  • Aly Ouedraogo has led efforts to restore farmland in Gourcy, about 40 kilometers south of Ouahigouya in Burkina Faso.  Work included using low rows of stones called bunds, to control water flow and let water permeate into the soil.  The picture show the landscape in March 1986 when work began, and illustrates how barren the land was at the time.
    MM6977_071208_31662.jpg
  • Soil comparison of organically farmed soil and conventionally farmed soil at the Rodale Institute near Kutztown, Pennsylvania.  The soil on the left is from a test plot that has been farmed organically for 30 years.  Soil at right is conventionally farmed soil from a same test field.  Organically farmed soil has good structure and holds water and its shape.  Conventionally farmed soil has almost no structure and falls apart in water.<br />
<br />
Contact:  Paul Reed Hepperly,  The Rodale Institute,  611 Siegfriedale Road,  Kutztown,  PA,  19530  Phone:  610-683-1461 Or:  Or:  Email: paul.hepperly@rodaleinst.org
    MM6977_070712_09006.jpg
  • Center pivot irrigation system in Kansas designed to save water from the Ogallala Aquifer. A "L.E.P.A." (Low Energy Precision Application) nozzle sends out streams of water close to the ground, thereby reducing evaporation by up to 50 percent or more.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220061.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Alnus glutinosa (Betulaceae) - black alder, common alder, European alder; native to Europe (and SW Asia);<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnus_glutinosa: Alnus glutinosa is important as coppice-wood on marshy ground. The wood is soft, white when first cut and turning to pale red; the knots are beautifully mottled. Under water the wood is very durable, and it is therefore used for piles. The supports of the Rialto at Venice, and many buildings at Amsterdam, are of Alder wood. It is also the traditional wood burnt to produce smoked fish and other smoked foods, though in some areas other woods are more often used now. Furniture is sometimes made from the wood, as were clogs, and it supplies excellent charcoal for gunpowder. The bark is astringent; it is used for tanning and dyeing. Alnus glutinosa is also cultivated and locally naturalised in eastern North America.<br />
<br />
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Alnus+glutinosa: medicinal and other uses:<br />
The bark is alterative, astringent, cathartic, febrifuge and tonic[4, 7, 14, 46, 269]. The fresh bark will cause vomiting, so use dried bark for all but emetic purposes[21]. A decoction of the dried bark is used to bathe swellings and inflammations, especially of the mouth and throat[4, 9, 21, 254]. The powdered bark and the leaves have been used as an internal astringent and tonic, whilst the bark has also been used as an internal and external haemostatic against haemorrhage[21]. The dried bark of young twigs are used, or the inner bark of branches 2 - 3 years old[9]. It is harvested in the spring and dried for later use[9]. Boiling the inner bark in vinegar produces a useful wash to treat lice and a range of skin problems such as scabies and scabs[21]. The liquid can also be used as a toothwash[21]. The leaves are astringent, galactogogue and vermifuge[7]. They are used to help reduce breast engorgement in nursing mothers[254].
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11929.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Alnus glutinosa (Betulaceae) - black alder, common alder, European alder; native to Europe (and SW Asia);<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnus_glutinosa: Alnus glutinosa is important as coppice-wood on marshy ground. The wood is soft, white when first cut and turning to pale red; the knots are beautifully mottled. Under water the wood is very durable, and it is therefore used for piles. The supports of the Rialto at Venice, and many buildings at Amsterdam, are of Alder wood. It is also the traditional wood burnt to produce smoked fish and other smoked foods, though in some areas other woods are more often used now. Furniture is sometimes made from the wood, as were clogs, and it supplies excellent charcoal for gunpowder. The bark is astringent; it is used for tanning and dyeing. Alnus glutinosa is also cultivated and locally naturalised in eastern North America.<br />
<br />
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Alnus+glutinosa: medicinal and other uses:<br />
The bark is alterative, astringent, cathartic, febrifuge and tonic[4, 7, 14, 46, 269]. The fresh bark will cause vomiting, so use dried bark for all but emetic purposes[21]. A decoction of the dried bark is used to bathe swellings and inflammations, especially of the mouth and throat[4, 9, 21, 254]. The powdered bark and the leaves have been used as an internal astringent and tonic, whilst the bark has also been used as an internal and external haemostatic against haemorrhage[21]. The dried bark of young twigs are used, or the inner bark of branches 2 - 3 years old[9]. It is harvested in the spring and dried for later use[9]. Boiling the inner bark in vinegar produces a useful wash to treat lice and a range of skin problems such as scabies and scabs[21].
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11929.jpg
  • A center pivot irrigation system creeps across a field of corn in the Platte River valley of Nebraska. Corn is one of the biggest users of Ogallala (and High Plains) Aquifer water, most which either goes to produce ethanol or is used as lifestock feed in cattle feedlots.
    Ogallala_20220115_0010.jpg
  • Texeido is a Celtic sacred site, the place where the souls of the dead Celts went as they wandered Galicia.  The rule was that if you didn't come to Texeido while alive you were condemned to come three times when you were dead.  Today it is a pilgirmage site still, and thousands come to drink the water of the holy well for its curative properties.
    MM7189 20050722 39960.jpg
  • Sandhill Cranes gather on the Platte River and in surrounding fields and set meadows during their annual migration north.   The habitat essential for the cranes survival is a mutual product of the Platte River and the High Plains Aquifer.  Some half a million cranes come to this 40 mile stretch of the Platte creating a magnificent spectacle.  The Platte is intimately tied to the High Plains Aquifer, feeding it in some places, drawing water from it in other places.  Additionally the aquifer creates the wet meadows that are essential to the cranes because they feed on invertibrates there.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220178...jpg
  • A center pivot irrigation system creeps across a field of corn in the Platte River valley of Nebraska. Corn is one of the biggest users of Ogallala (and High Plains) Aquifer water, most which either goes to produce ethanol or is used as lifestock feed in cattle feedlots.
    Ogallala_20220114_0040.jpg
  • Soils in Syria. Villages in the Khanasser Valley where the soil is poor and there is little water.
    MM6977_071006_18476.jpg
  • Soil making in progress as sphagnum moss decomposes in a sample of Arctic Tundra from Alaska. <br />
Bits of the soil were set in water, letting the decomposing leaves float free.  Also a rich environment of all of the bacteria and microbes that do the work of the soil.
    MM6977_070705_06743-Pano.jpg
  • Madron Holy Well and Baptistry sits on the outskirts of Madron, north of Penzance. The faithful dip rags in the water and hang them on the trees around the spring. In side the old Celtic church is Karen Ehrenfeldt, a druid from San Jose, California.
    MM7189 6-25-04 2323.jpg
  • Soil making in progress as sphagnum moss decomposes in a sample of Arctic Tundra from Alaska. <br />
Bits of the soil were set in water, letting the decomposing leaves float free.  Also a rich environment of all of the bacteria and microbes that do the work of the soil.
    MM6977_070705_06743-Pano-Edit-2.jpg
  • Tayitis Mohammed mixes injera out of teff flower and water in her house in Fontanina near Kombulcha in the Wollo region of the Ethiopian highlands. Injera is the staple bread of Ethiopia, which makes teff a valuable grain. Smoke from the kitchen fire made the rays of the setting sun show up brightly in the dark cookng area to the side of the main room of the stick and clay built house. The walls of the house are caulked with teff straw as well.<br />
<br />
The injera batter, a bit runny like pancake batter, is then transfer to the bucket last used to "ferment" the injera for a couple of days, picking up the residual yeasts in the bucket and providing leavening to the bread.<br />
<br />
Contact: Genene Gezu<br />
Program Coordinator<br />
Ethio-Organic Seed Action (EOSA)<br />
Tel: +251 11 550 22 88<br />
Mobile: +251 91 1 79 56 22<br />
genenegezu@yahoo.com<br />
shigenene@gmail.com<br />
PO Box 5512<br />
Addis Aababa, Ethiopia
    MM7753_20101102_46771.jpg
  • Tayitis Mohammed mixes injera out of teff flower and water in her house in Fontanina near Kombulcha in the Wollo region of the Ethiopian highlands. Injera is the staple bread of Ethiopia, which makes teff a valuable grain. Smoke from the kitchen fire made the rays of the setting sun show up brightly in the dark cookng area to the side of the main room of the stick and clay built house. The walls of the house are caulked with teff straw as well.<br />
<br />
The injera batter, a bit runny like pancake batter, is then transfer to the bucket last used to "ferment" the injera for a couple of days, picking up the residual yeasts in the bucket and providing leavening to the bread.
    MM7753_20101102_46771.jpg
  • Soil salinization in the Grand Valley near Grand Junction, Colorado.  Salt within in the soil leaches to the surface, or is pushed up by groundwater. With only eight inches of rainfall per year the region is arid.  Farmers use irrigation water, which also forces the salt down into the subsoil, but also adds salinity to the nearby Colorado River.<br />
<br />
Contact:  Lloyd "Butch" Reed,  NCRS,  ,  Grand Junction,  CO,    Phone:  970 242-4511  x113 Or:  Or:  Email:
    MM6977_070623_01147.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Nelumbo nucifera (Nelumbonaceae) – sacred lotus; native from Asia to Australia – fruit consisting of the enlarged floral axis with numerous chambers each containing a single-seeded nutlet. As the long flexible fruit stalks sway in the wind, the nutlets are flung out and thrown into the water where they immediately sink to the bottom. Enclosed in the extremely hard pericarp of the nutlet, lotus seeds can retain their viability for more than 1,000 years.  With its waterlily-like flowers and aquatic lifestyle the sacred lotus superficially resembles waterlilies (Nymphaeaceae) although its closest living relatives have been shown to be the plane trees (Platanaceae) and members of the Proteaceae family. The sacred lotus has a deep religious meaning for Hindus and Bhuddists in India, Tibet and China where it has been cultivated since the 12th century BC. 
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11795.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Ceiba pentrandra (Malvaceae) - kapok, Java cotton, Java kapok, silk cotton; native to tropical America; Inside the large capsules, the smooth, globular seeds are embedded in a mass of white silky hair produced by the carpel walls. These hairs have some valuable properties. Due to the wide air-filled lumina they are extremely light and provide a good insulation material and stuffing for mattresses. Moreover, the hairs possess a waterproof outer layer (cuticle) which renders them almost unwettable. Able to support thirty times its own weight in water, kapok is therefore also used as a stuffing for life vests. Kapok has also been used e.g. for arrow-proof jackets by Matico Indians.<br />
Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapok<br />
http://www.tropilab.com/ceiba-pen.html
    MM7753_2010-07-22_11698.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Cerbera manghas (Apocynaceae) – pink-eyed cerbera, sea mango; native from the Seychelles to the Pacific – drift fruit; commonly found as flotsam on beaches in the Indian and Pacific Ocean. After the outer skin of the fruit has rotten away, the cage of woody vascular bundles enclosing a massive corky mesocarp with large intercellular air-spaces that affords the fruit excellent and long-lasting buoyancy in sea water; length of fruit: 9cm. <br />
Wikipedia: The leaves and the fruits contain the potent cardiac glycoside cerberin, which is extremely poisonous if ingested. People in olden times used the sap of the tree as a poison for animal hunting. The fruit was reportedly eaten to commit suicide in the Marquesas Islands. Because of its deadly poisonous seeds, the genus name is coming from Cerberus, the hell dog from the Greek mythology, hence indicating the toxicity of the seeds. In Madagascar, the seeds were used in sentence rituals to poison kings and queens  
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11767.jpg
  • Cattle feedlots in Kansas bring the cattle closer to the grain that is grown using water from the Ogallala Aquifer. Such Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) can hold over 100,000 amilmals and the ares of southwest Kansas will have several million cattle in feedlots at any one time.
    Cattle Feedlot.jpg
  • Two farmers were digging out this center pivot irrigation system just east of Portales, NM that has been burried in the sand for seven years.  In this area of sand hills combined with high spring winds (and no ground cover on fields) sand dunes can form very quickly.  This area still has good water.
    Ogallala_20220118_0001.jpg
  • Jean Mitchell holds her quilt of a windmill in the pasture near Kingman, Kansas where the real windmill still stands.  Mitchell, a nationally know Quilter from Lawrence, Kansas, remember the windmill and its surroundings from her youth when her father rented th pasture.  Her quilt is a tribute to the rural upbringing and the importance of water on the plains.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220266...jpg
  • Alfalfa hay in curving windrows is being baled on an irrigatted field in Kansas. Such irrigation of hay to feed cattle is a big user of Ogallala Aquifer water.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220150.jpg
  • Soil salinization in the Grand Valley near Grand Junction, Colorado.  Salt within in the soil leaches to the surface, or is pushed up by groundwater. With only eight inches of rainfall per year the region is arid.  Farmers use irrigation water, which also forces the salt down into the subsoil, but also adds salinity to the nearby Colorado River.
    MM6977_070623_01147.jpg
  • Tayitis Mohammed mixes injera out of teff flower and water in her house in Fontanina near Kombulcha in the Wollo region of the Ethiopian highlands. Injera is the staple bread of Ethiopia, which makes teff a valuable grain. Smoke from the kitchen fire made the rays of the setting sun show up brightly in the dark cookng area to the side of the main room of the stick and clay built house. The walls of the house are caulked with teff straw as well.<br />
<br />
The injera batter, a bit runny like pancake batter, is then transfer to the bucket last used to "ferment" the injera for a couple of days, picking up the residual yeasts in the bucket and providing leavening to the bread.
    MM7753_20101102_46771.jpg
  • Rice terraces near Mengpin in Yuanyang county of Yunnan Province, China.  Farmers harvest the rice, the clean up the terraces, scraping the grass and weed from the terraces and repairing the raised banks that hold the water in, preparing the fields for the next crop.
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  • Soils in Syria. Villages in the Khanasser Valley where the soil is poor and there is little water.
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  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
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Cerbera manghas (Apocynaceae) – pink-eyed cerbera, sea mango; native from the Seychelles to the Pacific – drift fruit; commonly found as flotsam on beaches in the Indian and Pacific Ocean. After the outer skin of the fruit has rotten away, the cage of woody vascular bundles enclosing a massive corky mesocarp with large intercellular air-spaces that affords the fruit excellent and long-lasting buoyancy in sea water; length of fruit: 9cm. <br />
Wikipedia: The leaves and the fruits contain the potent cardiac glycoside cerberin, which is extremely poisonous if ingested. People in olden times used the sap of the tree as a poison for animal hunting. The fruit was reportedly eaten to commit suicide in the Marquesas Islands. Because of its deadly poisonous seeds, the genus name is coming from Cerberus, the hell dog from the Greek mythology, hence indicating the toxicity of the seeds. In Madagascar, the seeds were used in sentence rituals to poison kings and queens  
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  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
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Nelumbo nucifera (Nelumbonaceae) – sacred lotus; native from Asia to Australia – fruit consisting of the enlarged floral axis with numerous chambers each containing a single-seeded nutlet. As the long flexible fruit stalks sway in the wind, the nutlets are flung out and thrown into the water where they immediately sink to the bottom. Enclosed in the extremely hard pericarp of the nutlet, lotus seeds can retain their viability for more than 1,000 years.  With its waterlily-like flowers and aquatic lifestyle the sacred lotus superficially resembles waterlilies (Nymphaeaceae) although its closest living relatives have been shown to be the plane trees (Platanaceae) and members of the Proteaceae family. The sacred lotus has a deep religious meaning for Hindus and Bhuddists in India, Tibet and China where it has been cultivated since the 12th century BC. 
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11795.jpg
  • Tayitis Mohammed mixes injera out of teff flower and water in her house in Fontanina near Kombulcha in the Wollo region of the Ethiopian highlands. Injera is the staple bread of Ethiopia, which makes teff a valuable grain. Smoke from the kitchen fire made the rays of the setting sun show up brightly in the dark cookng area to the side of the main room of the stick and clay built house. The walls of the house are caulked with teff straw as well.<br />
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The injera batter, a bit runny like pancake batter, is then transfer to the bucket last used to "ferment" the injera for a couple of days, picking up the residual yeasts in the bucket and providing leavening to the bread.
    MM7753_20101102_46771.jpg
  • A center pivot irrigation system creeps across a field of corn in the Platte River valley of Nebraska. Corn is one of the biggest users of Ogallala (and High Plains) Aquifer water, most which either goes to produce ethanol or is used as lifestock feed in cattle feedlots.
    Ogallala_20220114_0042.jpg
  • Soil making in progress as sphagnum moss decomposes in a sample of Arctic Tundra from Alaska. <br />
Bits of the soil were set in water, letting the decomposing leaves float free.  Also a rich environment of all of the bacteria and microbes that do the work of the soil.
    MM6977_070705_06743-Pano-Edit.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
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Ceiba pentrandra (Malvaceae) - kapok, Java cotton, Java kapok, silk cotton; native to tropical America; Inside the large capsules, the smooth, globular seeds are embedded in a mass of white silky hair produced by the carpel walls. These hairs have some valuable properties. Due to the wide air-filled lumina they are extremely light and provide a good insulation material and stuffing for mattresses. Moreover, the hairs possess a waterproof outer layer (cuticle) which renders them almost unwettable. Able to support thirty times its own weight in water, kapok is therefore also used as a stuffing for life vests. Kapok has also been used e.g. for arrow-proof jackets by Matico Indians.<br />
Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapok<br />
http://www.tropilab.com/ceiba-pen.html
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  • Malted barley being prepared to dry at Highland Park distillery in Scotland. The grain has been soaked in water and allowed to sit until the seeds are just ready to sprout, then transferred to this tower where heat will be used to dry it out.
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  • Watering crops in greenhouse in Africa
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  • Cattle working contest for teams of "Feedlot Cowboys" and "Feedlot Cowgirls" from area feedlots at Beef Empire Days, Garden City, Kansas.  They have to "Doctor" three steers in shortest possible time. Beef Empire Days is the major celebration in Garden City, which owes its wealth to the beef industry which was made possible by the waters of the Ogallala Aquifer.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220131.jpg
  • Center pivot irrigation system watering corn in Nebraska.
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