My friend Carol, sent me the history of the paper plate. The surprising fact she found was that they were invented in 1904 by Martin Keyes. He saw workers eating their lunches at a veneer plant in New York on thin waste pieces of maple veneer.
Wikipedia gives the date even earlier - German bookbinder Hermann Henschel, in Luckenwalde in 1867.
The paper cup was invented as a health cup in 1908 - it was a crusade to ban publicly shared utensils in public places. The motivation was seeing a tuberculosis patient drinking from a common dipper in a train car. Hugh Moore's invention later became the dixie cup.
Popularization of disposable food packaging/serving items came about in the 1930s when they were used to feed remote workers and defense factory workers. It seems that an explosion of variations developed after the war.
McDonald's who made a revolutionary decision in 1948 to only serve meals in 'take-away' containers. They caused a tectonic shift (or is it a Titanic shift?) in the restaurant business.
Fast forward to our current time and we find ourselves in the global Ocean Plastic Crisis. Today our view of single service packaging has changed from healthy to harmful, and is presented as a world epidemic for human and other creatures' health. Consider my generation's experience of the transformation of this product: we can recall an innocent time when a paper plate meant a picnic in the park by the lake.
Our pictures show the Paulownia (Empress Splendour Tree) blooming at Longwood Gardens. This is an invasive species in North America - it is considered the fastest-growing tree int he world. Here in Niagara, it is a difficult tree to get to bloom - I know of three trees in the area. There's a large one at Vineland Research, next to the Foreign Affair Winery and it is blooming now.
There are two tiny trees in my garden. I didn't mean to have two, I moved the tree, and this spring a second one has popped up in the original location. They are known to survive wildfire because the roots can regenerate new, very fast-growing stems. My version is said to have white blossoms rather than the soft purple-lilac.
A Paulownia's leaves and flowers are edible and used to feed livestock. Its wood is desirable and used for jewellery boxes in Japan. There are many positive attributes where it is native, but alas a persistent, exotic invasive in North America.
There is a new lawn mower - the Husqvarna automower. It has no handle. There isn't one in the picture as it is a little robot. It works safely around pets and children, it remains discreet and silent, it mows both day and night and even in nasty weather. It 'clips' rather than cuts, and mows based on grass growth rate. Given you can monitor it from you smart phone, wouldn't it qualify as part of the Internet of Things? Other selling features include being able to find its charging station by following a boundary wire.
Here is Reader's digest's advise on how to 'treat your lawn to a healthy tonic':
Many homeowners have had great success with homemade lawn “tonics” made from simple products that might already be on your pantry shelves. The recipes vary, but most share these common ingredients:
1 can non-light beer
1 can non-diet soda pop
1 cup ammonia
1 cup liquid dish soap
1 cup molasses or corn syrup
1/2 cup mouthwash
There's an explanation for this recipe of ingredients and their benefits. (really!)
We're looking at the newly renovated Longwood Fountain Garden. Over $90 million was spent to re-landscape the area and to introduce the latest technology in fountain displays.
