Do You Know Ghost Orchids? - Part 2 – Nature 14

A ghost orchid print, sold by Walmart

Previous posting (Part 1):

- Do You Know Ghost Orchids? - Part 1 – Nature 14

It is believed that ghost orchids are decreasing day by day due to many causes include:

- over collection by human
- but the most responsible is human development in state of Florida.

The development leads to destruction and changes of habitat and hydro-logical conditions.

From several sources that no nursery and garden centers sell the ghost orchids, but we can buy the seeds in some nursery centers in the Florida.

I tried to search in Walmart and Home Depot nurseries at my town, Louisiana, but nothing.

I just found the print without frame for US$ 11.99 and with frame for US$ 29.99 each piece.

Quite beautiful to hang on the wall.

One of ghost orchid pollinators, fig sphinx (credit to iNaturalist NZ).

Like other flowers, ghost orchids have pollinators as well. Four or five moths species visit orchid for pollination frequently.

Three of them are well known:

- fig sphinx (Pachylia ficus)
- pawpaw sphinx moths (Dolba hyloeus)
- giant sphinx moth (Cocytius anteus)

The giant sphinx moth has long proboscises to feed on orchid’s nectar, then pollinates the flowers.

Did you hear about ghost orchids?

Have You Seen them in Nature or somewhere else?

# Previous postings:

- Alligator in the Nearby Neighborhood - Nature 7
- Wild Animals and Birds in my Backyard – Nature 8a
- Flash Flood at my Neighborhood - Nature 8b
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- Family Saga and Meaning to be a Good Person – Part 1 - Reading 1

Organic Vs Natural Foods – Part 4 – Food 9

Nice dip, just for illustration

Previous postings (Part 1, 2 and 3):

- Organic Vs Natural Foods – Part 1 – Food 9
- Organic Vs Natural Foods – Part 2 – Food 9
- Organic Vs Natural Foods – Part 3 – Food 9

In respect to price, organic foods cost 20 percent to 100 percent more than conventionally produced foods (Valliant, 2014).

Some of the reasons are:

- more labors
- demand higher than supply
- higher cost fertilizer
- crop rotation to keep soil healthy and prevent weed growth
- grows more slowly
- post-harvest handling cost
- and organic certification costs

White onions, illustration only

The certification is provided by USDA (United States Department of Agricultures).

In term of shelf life, organic foods last longer than natural foods, since natural foods less proceed and contain higher water.

Water caused natural foods to be spoiled easily. But, since organic foods is handled and sold by big supermarket (Merz, 2016) or specific retails such as Whole Foods Market, thus, organic food is often fresher.

Then, fresh food tastes better.

# To be continued to Part 5

## Previous postings:

- Can Six Dolar Drug Kill Covid 19 Virus? - Healthy Life 3
- Hot Summer in the USA – Temperature above 40 Celsius degree – Nature 6
- Which One Has Vitamin C more - Red Bell Pepper or Orange? - Healthy Life 4

Do You Know Ghost Orchids? - Part 1 – Nature 14

One of ghost orchids (credit to The news-Press)

I just read from medias and make me curious about “ghost orchid” (Dendrophylax lindenii).

It is because:

1. Ghost orchid is a rare species, found only in Cuba and Florida
2. Two thousand orchids only live in the Florida
3. Several percentages, about two hundred orchids blooming in summer.
4. Orchids have no leaves
5. Roots cling to the bark of trees.

Uniquely, ghost orchid blooming once a year only from June to August in nature. The blooming could last for several weeks.

As suggested by Russell McLendon (2019: 12 Enchanting Quirks of the Rare Ghost Orchid) that other specific characters of ghost orchid:

- orchid may germinate after infection by certain fungus
- smell likes apples

Another ghost orchid (credit to Florida Native Orchid)

What species of trees which ghost orchids to attach to?

Four important tree species are:

- maple
- cypress
- pond apple
- palm tree

How about with ghost orchid population in nature?

Are they decreasing in number?

# To be continued to Part 2

## Previous postings:

- White Azaleas in the City Garden – Nature 5
- The Amphibians Near Extinct due to Fungus Disease – Science 5
- What is Coronasomnia? - Healthy Life 2

A Traditional Product of Louisiana – King Cake – Part 2

Inside King Cake

Previous posting (Part 1):

- A Traditional Product of Louisiana – King Cake – Part 1

Vietnamese variety cake is quite lighter and flakier.

I like this variation, since less sugar, easy to eat and tasteful. We could find in the store called Dong Phuong Bakery, locates at eastern city of New Orleans.

The bakery made 30 thousand cake during Mardi Gras festival in 2017. Very much compared to other bakery on that occasion.

The bakery sells many kinds of King cake, some of them are:

- cream cheese
- pecan
- and classic cinnamon.

The price is quite higher during festival, depend very much on size and filing:

- Small size about US$16
- Large cake cost US$ 29
- Extra large price US$ 39

Colorful of King Cake

I never made the cake by myself. Just to give you an idea of King cake ingredient is following:

- Dry yeast
- sugar
- butter and milk
- egg yolk and salt
- grated lemon zest and nutmeg
- flour, cinnamon
- and colorful sugar.

Be careful, caloric content is high. One slice of cake could contain 321 calories.

# Previous postings:

- How Many Animals Are Expected to Extinct by 2050? - Nature 4
- Rediscovering of Rare Blue Bee in Florida in 2020 – Science 3
- Can Scientists Create Glowing Plants? - Science 4

Organic Vs Natural Foods – Part 3 – Food 9

The facts of organic and natural foods (Organic Food, 2016)

You may read previous postings:

- Organic Vs Natural Foods – Part 1 – Food 9
- Organic Vs Natural Foods – Part 2 – Food 9

The question: Is organic foods more advantages in terms of more nutritious content and safer?

The answer of this question might be seen at above Table (The facts of organic and natural foods).

We can examine the fact of organic and natural foods from the Table. 

There is no doubt that demand for organic foods is growing faster over the last decade.

As reported by Faber (2016) that organic food is growing in terms of sales (soaring from $3 billion in 1997 to more than $10 billion in 2003); and the industry's share of the U.S. food market (grow from about 2 percent to roughly 3.5 percent by the end of the decade).

Autumn season, just illustration

It is logic that since natural foods have no excessive processing of food items; thus the foods might not disturb the health benefits.

However, as described by Lange (2016) that it is difficult to single out the organic foods only to increase people health benefit, since people also:

- drink healthy water
- take exercise
- and do other good relate healthy things.

# To be continued to Part 4

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- Russian Covid 19 Vaccine Advantages – Science 2
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- Snowy Owl Re-Appearing after Hiding for 130 years – Nature 3
- Paris in the Eyes of Vincent Van Gogh - Art 1

A Traditional Product of Louisiana – King Cake – Part 1

King cake of Louisiana

One of specific products of New Orleans, Louisiana is King Cake. The colorful and very sweet style pastries.

The cake is made, eaten and associates with Mardi Gras celebration. It was tradition from French since 300 years ago.

The cake is commonly sugar (colorful sugar) on the top, but there are many variations of filling of inside the cake.

What inside the King Cake is depend on the countries tradition outside French.

In Louisiana, it is commonly bean inside. Moreover, many cakes are filling with combines of several these items:

- chocolate
- pear
- apple
- cheese
- banana
- and almond.

A kind of food, illustration only.

There are a lot of migrants from many countries settled in New Orleans. One of them is Vietnamese.

The Vietnamese communities in New Orleans, Louisiana have their own varieties of King Cake.

What different between local and Vietnamese varieties?

# To be continued to Part 2

## Previous postings, in case you are interesting:

- Wild Flowers in the Backyards – Nature 1
- Wreaths for Mardi Gras in Louisiana
- A Tropical Plant Called Pineapple – Food 1
- A chocolate as a Gift for Valentine’s Day

The Disease that Kills 28.4 million People – Part 3 - Cardiovascular 2

Fruit in the commercial market, illustration only.

Previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2):

- The Disease that Kills 28.4 million People – Part 1- Cardiovascular 2
- The Disease that Kills 28.4 million People – Part 2- Cardiovascular 2

As from Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC, 2021), USA that there are five major symptoms of heart attack.

They include following symptoms:

- chest pain
- pains in the neck, back and jaw.
- feeling very weak
- arms and shoulders are pain
- breaths are shortness.

These five (5) major symptoms of heart attack should be recognized.

if somebody notice these symptoms or might be she/he saw someone else has these symptoms, call 911 immediately.

Ice cream for illustration only.

There are many other symptoms such as:

- dizziness or headaches
- nausea or vomiting
- cold sweats
- heart burn
- fatigue
- exhaustion

# Previous postings:

- Nobody Can Replace a Mama's Love – Cardiovascular - Part 2
- Important of Microorganisms in Food Industry – Healthy Life 1