"A good day is when no one shows up and you don't have to go anywhere." - says Burt Shavitz, the Burt behind Burt's Bees. You know his picture, the guy with the long beard on the top of the beeswax lip balm tins. Well, he's real. And quite a character. Back when he was just Burt (now 79), he was a celebrated news photographer. Then life took an unexpected turn when he quit his job and moved to the backwoods of Maine. During this time, he discovered his passion for beekeeping and met an ingenious hitchhiker named Roxanne Quimby...

I love to pour through garden magazines, always looking for new inspiration for my yard. You'll understand why I must share my latest find with you, a honeycomb trellis. What a great idea to bring this shape found in nature into the yard. Create your own design by selecting and combining different available structures. Not only your plant ascends the wall, but the honeycomb trellis also appears to be climbing upwards. Even in Winter when the plants have lost their leaves and color, you'll enjoy looking at this as a piece of artwork.   Comb-ination by designer Arik Levy. Available in...

What do soccer and bees have to do with one another? I've been watching a lot of soccer lately (along with the rest of the world) and asked myself why the goal nets at the World Cup are hexagon shaped? Have you ever noticed that most nets at your local soccer field are made up of squares and not hexagons? This hexagon-shaped netting was first used at the 2002 World Cup. In the past, the goal nets had a square-shaped mesh. But bees know best. Bees always choose the hexagon shape when building their honey comb. But why? "It is...

Elephants and agriculture don't mix. Thanks to an international ban on ivory trade, elephant numbers are on the rise. But the migratory routes of these elephants often cross new housing developments and farmland. Elephants are herbivores and are much more interested in eating those crops than they are a man. They often crop-raid during the dark hours, leaving the farmer with no choice but to throw stones, shoot bullets and try to scare the elephants away from his valuable produce. The elephants feel threatened and sometimes charged, leading to both human and elephant deaths. Electrical fences as a means to...

William Morris (1834 - 1896) was an English textile designer, writer, artist and was involved in the English Arts & Crafts Movement. I love this quote and how fitting at the start of flea market season. Make this your spring cleaning mantra when walking through your home. An uncluttered house lifts your spirit, gives you joy and room to breathe. Yes, it can be overwhelming to tackle years of material accumulation. But I find taking it one room at a time lets you focus on one area and at the same time motivates you to stay on track when you...