All the Dirt on Gardening

Jim Conrad reported in today's edition of his Backyard Nature Naturalist Newsletter, that he saw a paper wasp nest attacked by red-headed soldier ants. Then, he provided a link to the Yucatan Times with a story, recipe and photos - how to prepare and eat paper wasp nests. Interested? Curious? Here are the links Yucatan Times article with paper wasp nest recipe   http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2011/07/eek-a-traditional-mayan-paper-wasp-recipe/ The recipe comes with a warning that the wasps will sting you several times! Backyard Nature http://www.backyardnature.net/ Jim Conrad's newsletters are at http://www.backyardnature.net/n/ and they are each fascinating.

What do you do in the winter, Dear Gardeners? I putter in the shed for an hour on most days, transplanting seedlings that have outgrown their pots, chasing aphids, cleaning, pruning......but it isn't gardening. Well, it's too wet and cold to garden outside though I have some perennials and lots of bulbs to put in the ground as soon as the sun shines again. The next batch of seed starting will have to wait until after all the holiday travel is over and there is time to baby the seeds every day. I do believe this is the time of year that we can get ourselves over committed , at least in our imagination. Seed catalogs are arriving and this year everyone is having some kind of a special deal to help us out. Are you ordering? What are you reading? I subscribe to Jim Conrad's Naturalist Newsletter which is "Issued from Hacienda Chichén beside the Maya ruin of Chichén Itzá in the central Yucatán , Mexico". In this week's issue Conrad talks about fruit bats, oriol...