Good news Friday: On dirt, bees and summer

On Good News Friday we build into our community some of the happy, playful joie d'vivre of the villagers of Ordinary. Here are three of my faves this week. I invite you to share some good news or a feel good link of your own in the comments section below.

Dig in soil, get happy--Better still, get smart

Planting a garden
© ThroughWaters
Creative Commons 2.0

One of my favorite bloggers, Paul Lambert whose blog is titled Wondering!, recently posted Dirt, Dust, Happiness and Smarts, regarding reports on two scientific studies that show how gardening is good for your mood. We all knew that, right? It's nice to have science back us up though. Turns out there's a bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae, in the soil that makes us happy. What's more, the bacteria in soil appear to make us smarter. There's a catch: The smarts don't last. You have to keep innoculating yourself through regular contact with the soil and the outdoors. No wonder gardeners are such cheery, lively people!


New bee species makes nests of flower petals

Flower petal egg nest
Image courtesy Jerome Rozen
American Museum of Natural History

In a serendipitous coincidence, on exactly the same day, in two different countries, independent teams of scientists discovered a new species of bee (Osmia (Ozbekosima) avoseta) that makes nests of flower petals, according to NPR. Mama bee makes a separate, delicately colored nest for each egg, leaving behind a slurp of nectar and pollen before depositing the egg. When it hatches, it feeds on the meal, wraps itself in a cocoon and waits for spring to emerge. The article includes several fascinating images of the nests and the bees.


Celebrate life, community, summer

Community, sharing, dance, good food, giggles, outrageous happiness--these are some of the things that make being human so much fun. If Ordinary were real today, a celebration of life and summer there might look a bit like this one in Santa Rosa's Harmony Village.



Feeling good about something? Share it here!

Spread some good cheer! If something struck your fancy this week, and you'd like to share, please tell us about it in the comments section, along with a link. If the link is to one of your blog posts, all the better. Do keep it upbeat, family friendly and in the spirit of building a world more like that of the Village of Ordinary.

What are you feeling good about today? Share it below, won't you?

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None of the web sites featured today solicited promotion, nor do I receive anything for mentioning them here, other than the pleasure of knowing about some folks who are working hard to make the world a little more like Ordinary.

This post updated 7/9/2010 because I posted from my mobile last week and omitted the intro to the video and all of this last section. Still working on getting the hang of mobile blogging!

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We make peace in a million small ways every day.

All text and images, unless otherwise noted, copyright L. Kathryn Grace. All rights reserved.