Bushtits are small birds common in shrubby and woodland habitats. They are a year round resident of the western United States, and do not seem to mind residential areas. Its high pitch twittering contact call is first heard followed by the appearance of a flock ranging up to fifty birds. Members of the group constantly make contact calls to each other that can be described as a short “tsit”.

They typically swoop into an area en mass, bustle around noisily while eating and socializing, and then depart for more insect rich patches of greenery. They glean the vegetation for insects often hanging upside down in their search, gradually moving through the area.

Bushtits build elaborate pendulous nests made up of soft plant material, cobwebs, and man made items like threads and string. They are one of the first birds described to have helpers at the nest, a term used in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles and sexually mature adolescents, of either one or both sexes, remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent broods or litters.

The birds successfully petitioned for a change-of name when it was brought to their attention that the word “common” had unsavory connotations, a circumstance made particularly agregious by the fact they already had a reputation as noisy little tits. Despite its name, the Bushtit is not a well-endowed member of a prominent American political family.

The kiwifruit is the edible berry of a woody vine distantly related to other fruits such as blueberry and flowering plants such as rhododendron. It was originally known by its Chinese name, Macaque peach. Also known as the Chinese gooseberry, the fruit was renamed for export marketing reasons in the 1950s. It was briefly known as the melonette, and then called the kiwifruit, named after the brown flightless bird that serves as New Zealand’s national symbol.

New Zealand exported the fruit to the United States in the 1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s, Frieda Caplan, founder of Los Angeles-based Frieda’s Specialty Produce, played a key role in popularizing kiwifruit in the United States, convincing supermarket produce managers to carry the odd-looking fruit.

Gold Kiwifruit have a smooth, bronze skin, a pointed cap at one end and distinctive golden yellow flesh with a less tart and more tropical flavour than green kiwifruit. It has a higher market price than green kiwifruit. It is less hairy than the green cultivars, so can be eaten whole after rubbing off the thin, fluffy coat. While the skin of kiwifruit is often removed before serving, it is completely edible.

It is a rich source of vitamin C, with a potassium content slightly less than that of a banana. The skin is a good source of antioxidants. It is often reported to have mild laxative effects, due to the high level of dietary fiber. Raw kiwifruit is also rich in the protein-dissolving enzyme actinidin, which is commercially useful as a meat tenderizer but can be an allergen for some individuals. Specifically, people allergic to latex, papayas or pineapples are likely to be allergic to kiwifruit.

Kiwifruit also serves as a natural blood thinner. A recent study performed at the University of Oslo in Norway reveals that, similar to popular mainstream aspirin therapy, consuming two to three kiwifruit daily for 28 days significantly thins the blood, reducing the risk of clots, and lowers fat in the blood that can cause blockages.

Ginger is a tuber that is consumed whole as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. Cultivation of ginger originated in Asia and has since spread to West Africa and the Caribbean. It is cooked as an ingredient in many dishes and can also be steeped in boiling water to make ginger tea, to which honey, sliced orange or lemon fruit is often added.

It is often used as a spice in Indian recipes and is one of the main spices used for making curries and other vegetable preparations. In China, sliced or whole ginger root is often paired with savory dishes such as fish, and in some parts of the Middle East ginger powder is used as a spice for coffee. In Japan, ginger is pickled to make gari, which is often served and eaten after sushi. It also acts as a food preservative and has been proven to kill the harmful bacteria salmonella.

Ginger is a stimulant to the digestive tract which aids in digestion. It may also decrease pain from arthritis and have blood thinning and cholesterol lowering properties that may make it useful for treating heart disease. Ginger compounds are active against a form of diarrhea which is the leading cause of infant death in developing countries, and has been found effective in multiple studies for treating nausea caused by seasickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy. When taken into the nostrils ginger causes severe sneezing.

Ginger beer was first produced as an alcoholic beverage in the 1700s and became very popular in Britain and North America. In Kenya and Tanzania, ginger beer is a very popular drink called tangawizi, which is the Swahili word for ginger. Stoney Tangawizi is a product of the Coca-Cola Company.

The Meyer lemon is a citrus fruit native to China, thought to be a cross between a true lemon and a mandarin orange or sweet orange. The Meyer lemon was introduced to the United States in 1908 by the agricultural explorer Frank Nicholas Meyer, an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture who collected a sample of the plant on a trip to China. It is commonly grown in China potted as an ornamental plant.

The fruit is yellow and rounder than a true lemon with a slight orange tint when ripe. It has a sweeter, less acidic flavor than the more common grocery store varieties of lemon and has a fragrant edible skin. All lemons are widely known as powerful digestive aids. The combination of high acidity and fiber are effective in cleansing digestion organs.

The white coating or inner rind of a lemon contains the highest vitamin content per volume of most any food. Some studies show that the white coating of a single lemon can contain ten times the amount of Vitamin C as an entire bottle of Vitamin C supplements.

A lemon battery is a device used in experiments proposed in many science textbooks around the world. It is made by inserting two different metallic objects, for example a galvanized nail and a copper coin, into a lemon. The copper coin serves as the positive electrode or cathode and the galvanized nail as the electron-producing negative electrode or anode. These two objects work as electrodes, causing an electrochemical reaction which generates a small potential difference.

In practice, a single lemon battery is incapable of lighting a light bulb. One would need about 500 lemons wired in parallel to light a standard flashlight bulb.

Parsley is a bright green biennial herb, often used as spice. It is common in Middle Eastern, European, and American cooking. It is used for its leaf in much the same way as coriander, although parsley has a milder flavor.

A type of parsley is grown as a root vegetable in Central and Eastern European. It produces much thicker roots than those cultivated for their leaves. Although little known in Britain and the United States it can be used in soups and stews. Parsnips are among the closest relatives of parsley, although root parsley tastes quite different.

Parsley is widely used as a companion plant in gardens. It attracts predatory insects including wasps and predatory flies to gardens, which then tend to protect plants nearby. For example, they are especially useful for protecting tomato plants as the wasps that kill tomato hornworms also eat nectar from parsley. While parsley is biennial, not blooming until its second year, even in its first year it is reputed to help cover up the strong scent of the tomato plant, reducing pest attraction.

Chinese and German herbologists recommend parsley tea to help control high blood pressure, and the Cherokees used it as a tonic to strengthen the bladder. When crushed and rubbed on the skin, parsley can reduce the itching of mosquito bites. When chewed, parsley can freshen bad breath.

Parsley should not be consumed as a drug or supplement by pregnant women. Parsley is high in oxalic acid, a compound involved in the formation of kidney stones. Parsley oil contains furanocoumarins and psoralens which can lead to extreme photosensitivity if used orally.

The Madrone is one of the Pacific north coast’s most beautiful trees. Although the Madrone is an evergreen tree it reflects the four seasons with true character, and it easily melds the seasons together in its smooth transition from one phase to another.

It forms large bunches of blossoms in the spring, like bunches of white grapes. Each blossom looks like a tiny white Chinese lantern. Later the new leaves start to bud and form, then the new bark grows a green layer under last years cinnamon-orange colored bark.

In summer, the older leaves turn a creamy yellow. Through the dry summer, they flutter to the ground during the infrequent warm gusts, leaving the tree with the bright evergreen color of new leaves. The bark curls that are shed in the summer are sometimes collected and used as tea.

In the fall of the year the Madrone berries ripen and become a favorite food of the Western Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Band-tailed Pigeon and Quail. Mule Deer also eat the young shoots when the trees are regenerating after fire.

The wood is sought for its heating capabilities during the winter, since it burns long and hot in fireplaces. It has become popular in the Pacific Northwest as a flooring material due to the durability of the wood and the warm color after finishing, and is also used in the construction of furniture.

The Quince is a small deciduous tree native to warm-temperate southwest Asia. It is related to apples and pears, and has a fruit which is bright golden yellow when mature. The fruit can be eaten cooked or raw and is an excellent source of vitamin C.

Cultivation of quince preceded apple culture. Among the ancient Greeks, the quince was a ritual offering at weddings, for it had come from the Levant with Aphrodite and remained sacred to her. Plutarch reports that a Greek bride would nibble a quince to perfume her kiss before entering the bridal chamber.

Quince was later introduced to the New World, but has become rare in North America due to its susceptibility to fireblight disease caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora. Almost all of the quinces in North American specialty markets come from Argentina. In Latin America the gel-like, somewhat adhesive substance surrounding the seeds was used to shape and style hair.

In South America, the membrillo, as the quince is called in Spanish, is cooked into a reddish jello-like block or firm reddish paste known as dulce de membrillo. It is then eaten in sandwiches and with cheese, traditionally manchego cheese, or accompanying fresh curds. The sweet and floral notes of quince contrast nicely with the tanginess of the cheese.

In the Canary Islands and some places in South America a quince is used to play an informal beach toss-and-swim game, usually among young teens. When mixed with salt water a mature quince will turn its sour taste to sweet. The game is played by throwing a quince into the sea. All players race to catch the quince and whoever catches it takes one bite and tosses the quince again, then the whole process gets repeated until the quince is fully eaten.

Shallots probably originated in Asia, traveling from there to India and the eastern Mediterranean. The name “shallot” comes from Ashkelon, presently a city in Israel, where people in classical Greek times believed shallots originated. It is a relative of the onion, and tastes a bit like an onion, but has a sweeter, milder flavor. Finely sliced deep-fried shallots are used as a condiment in Asian cuisine.

Like garlic, shallots are formed in clusters of offsets with a head composed of multiple cloves. Their skin color can vary from golden brown to gray to rose red, and their off-white flesh is usually tinged with green or magenta. Shallots are much favored by chefs because of their firm texture and sweet, aromatic yet pungent flavor.

Shallots are propagated by offsets, which, in the Northern Hemisphere, are often planted in September or October, but the principal crop should not be planted earlier than February or the beginning of March. In planting, the tops of the bulbs should be kept a little above ground, and it is a commendable plan to draw away the soil surrounding the bulbs when their roots have taken hold. They come to maturity about July or August, although in cooler climates they can be harvested later.

The shallot in Iran is often crushed into yogurt. Iranians enjoy yogurt in this way, especially in restaurants and Kebab-Saras where kebabs are served. Most shallots are grown wild, harvested, sliced, dried, and sold at markets. Buyers will often soak the shallots for a number of days then boil them to get a milder flavor. Crispy shallot chips are also used in Southern Chinese cuisine. In Indonesia, sometimes it is made into pickle which is usually added in variable kinds of traditional food. Its sourness increases one’s appetite.