Follow a bumble bee! :D

Saturday Field Trip for Ecology class ;) What a fun assignment: to follow insects around in the angelic Garden in the Woods!
Here is a beautiful hard-working bumble bee landing on Black Cohosh (Actaea Racemosa).

In this precious wildflower garden, Garden in the Woods, there are more than 1,000 native plants including rare and endangered species. This field trip was about pollination syndrome. I really enjoyed your class, the wonderful professor Mark Leighton and the awesome TA Jen Palacio! The best class happens outside, under the sun ;)

Nature makes amazingly gorgeous patterns...

Found a super natural green roof ;D

This could be a dazzling chandelier design, don't you think?!

Wow! Lucky me! "Tombo" (Dragonfly) landed on my assignment sheets!

Sweet frog baby!! This Japanese Tree Frog (Hyla Japonica), we call "Ama Gaeru = 雨蛙," in Japanese, which means Rain Frog :D
I used to play with these wet & smooth sweet frog babies in Japan ;)))

I looove Nature; Nature makes me happy! ;D

Eco Presentation @ Warren Prescott Elementary School ;)

The dynamite team Alisyn Johnson, founder of Quench, and Wayne Sentman, Oceanic Society Biologist & Naturalist, asked me to present something green and artistic to Warren Prescott Elementary School Green Team :D Since their teacher, Tina Champagne, is a science teacher, I decided to present something science related: a fun way to start growing vegetables at home (or classroom) ;D
(I have been thinking to upload this news and time just flew awayyy!!)

This is what I brought (all biodegradable):
- Organic Yellow Bell Pepper (You can take seeds out from a fresh one or use the dried ones you already took out; either one works!)
- Paper Pot Maker and 8.5 x 11 recycled paper (cut in half before using)
- Paper Egg Carton from Organic Eggs (You can either plant seeds in an egg carton or paper pots)
- Coir Pellets* or Soil
*coconuts husk fiber: excellent water retention, free from bacteria and fungus, saving the environment since they are usually are waste products!
- Hot/Warm Water

The fun part:
- You can enjoy watching your vegetable babies grow! Your appreciation for food goes up ;D
- When you have a fully grown plant, you don't have to buy vegetables from a supermarket = "super" local & organic produce at home (or in classroom)!
- This could be a fantastic gift with a personal message around the paper pot! (which I do sometimes ;D)

All the students had fun playing with coir pellets and watching them expand super fast in hot/warm water ;D They wrote their names and whatever they want to draw on the surface of the paper pots :) Some brought the paper pots home and some left them in the classroom :D
When those babies grow, the kids will smile ;D


Several days later, Alisyn, Wayne, Tina and the Green Team visited Harvard Community Garden ;D Brendan from Office for Sustainability and Tyler from Harvard Community Garden showed us around.

They have all the vegetables you can think of, even watermelon babies!! :D Watermelon plants need more care. They put plastic bottles to protect them from cold nights.
Below are super happy swiss chard and zucchini plants in the back. First time for me to see zucchini plants! They look very similar to cucumber plants but much bigger than cucumber plants!

Gorgeous Mesclun Lettuce Mix!! Bon Appetit~!! ;D

Thank YOU so much for this fun inspiring opportunity, Alisyn, Wayne and Tina! I really had fabulous time with you guys!! It was such a beautiful sunny day!!! :D

(from left to right: Chris, Wayne and Nolan)

About two weeks later, the organic yellow pepper babies stick their beautiful heads out!! ;D

Canoe Trip to Never-Never-Land!

Used my tiny biceps and triceps at the Harvard Extension Environmental Club Eight Mile Canoe Trip, hosted by "The" Mike Mahoney! Here is the video (3 mins 26 sec) for you :D

You will see the fun crowd and wild tarzans: Warren Anderson and Brandon Welti doing a rope-swing! Next time I will bring my swimsuits and bigger arm muscles! 

The President of the Club, Super Fun Mahoney!

Mike gave everyone Native Indian names for the canoe trip; mine was "Hononegah", which means "Dear Little One." Here is the pioneer woman!

And here is me :D Since I didn't have feather to look more like a Native Indian, I put a Hawaiian flower on my head, which my friend Hon-Yin gave me :)
Yes, breeeathe deeply, smell the water and grass, hear birds singing, watch fish swimming, feel the sun energy.... Nature is the best playground! ;D

Super Hydroponic!!

Earth Day, Everyday! ;D I would like to share one of the ultimate ways to reduce our carbon footprints for both human and planetary health: create an organic hydroponic garden in your urban apartment ;D If you live in a house with a yard or greenhouse, it's even better!
This basil plant is happily growing in filtered water and nutrients! This is the first time for me to see basil flowers and I am speechless in their beauty...!

Here are our baby seedlings in "coir": fiber from coconuts husk:

Happy cucumber babies:

Beautiful sunflower baby is coming out:

Our tiny yet super-local organic garden ;D 

If you live in Massachusetts and want to set up a hydroponic garden, you should definitely visit Greenlife Garden Supply in Billerica! These awesome hydroponic gurus, Steve and Matt, will help you all the way to create your garden! They are always fun, the store is full of colorful psychedelic graphics and reggae music is playing so I am feeling at home ;D

From left, Matt, Mihoko and Steve:

All the fun colorful graphics:

And of course their green babies are growing amazingly!! Here is their Swiss Chard; they are as long as my arms!

Super healthy Collard Green:

Matt told me that these purple lights create no heat:

Let's bring organic produce to your super-local garden to keep us and our earth healthy and happy! ;D

Aloe Baby from Maureen :D

Dear friend, Maureen, gave us a baby aloe! Here is the Thank YOU Card I made for her ;D

This soil is the most fresh & softest soil you have ever touched! It is made by our 24 hours open worm factory and this is the first time to plant anything with the soil! I am really excited to make a little garden near the windows here :D The hard-working earth worms digest our organic vegetables and fruits scraps and their poop become the amazing soil :D They are the smartest & perfect pet you can ever have ;P

You can get to know more about the worm factory here, the fabulous article written by Brandon Welti :)))

Speechless Natural Beauty...

My super talented photographer friend Takami (check out her gorgeous poetic pictures!) came to Concord with a cool hat during the summer and we went canoeing in Sudbury River! Thanks to our sweet neighbour John, we rented his canoe and put on the top of our car! You see the gorgeous reflection here?

Just start paddling the canoe, Che jumped into the water!! She has already experienced taking a bath, riding a loud and busy New York Subway, swimming in the Walden Pond, cuddling with me in bed, so maybe this was her new challenge?! Probably her curiosity made her jump! We are not sure why she jumped, did she like water or she didn't like canoeing? Hmmm... either way, now she is happily sleeping in my arm :D

Beautiful graphic patterns on water... speechless...

Happy moment surrounded by nature... :D Yes, this is taken by Takami Shimura ;D Arigatooo as Always!!!

And the gorgeous sunset!!

Flying above the St. Johns River ;D

Created fun video of "Bosun Swinging" by hanging a bosun's chair from the 50 foot mast of Karavela, lifting it just above the life rail and swinging out over the water on the Freedom 40 sailboat captained by Jacqueline Welti and Jos VanBavel who masterfully navigated around the thunder clouds so we could ride the wind and waves~!! Can't stop!! :D Thanks to Ratatat for the kick'n music~! Woohoooo!!

(You can see the full size video on YouTube)

"Greenest" roof I have ever seen! It is made of gorgeous ivy vines :) This is a garage roof top in Jacquie's house :D