December 6, 2010 Salem, Missouri aldermen voted unanimously to end negotiations with ProEnergy services for an electricity-generating biomass incinerator. The facility would have required 315,000 tons of green trees a year and 500,000 gallons of water a day, according to Salem Mayor Gary Brown.

Urge your U.S. Senators (www.senate.gov) to remove all funding for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program from the Omnibus Appropriations Act and instead support efficiency measures along with appropriately sited and scaled, community supported solar and wind.

- From Biomass Busters Newsletter

According to Forest Service data the Ozark hellbender's range is in the White and Black River watersheds of southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas.
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Habitat Protection Urged for Ozark Hellbender

A most versatile plant is mustard. There are many varieties of mustard and most will cross-pollinate with each other readily. I did not plan it this way, but that is exactly what has happened in our gardens over the past couple of decades.

One of the most common wild fruit trees in Missouri is the Wild Plum, of which there are five varieties. The most common and most widespread is the American Plum, Prunus americana Marsh. It is the largest and most important member of the plums as it is found rather generally throughout the state of Missouri, and is also found in Arkansas and elsewhere.

The other wild plum trees are the Chickasaw Plum, Prunus angustifolia Marsh., the Wild Goose Plum, Prunus munsoniana Wight and Hedr., Hortulan Plum, Prunus hortulana Bailey, and the Mexican Plum, Prunus mexicana.

If you have ever seen a wild persimmon tree (Diospyros virginiana L.) that is fully loaded with fruit, it is a sight to behold. These trees grow wild over much of the Ozarks and other areas as well. If left uncut and unpruned, a persimmon tree may reach great height, with few side branches. On the other hand, a persimmon tree that has been cut down after several years of growth, often regrows as a multi-branched tree, and these are often loaded with what appears to be thousands of fruits.

There is a green leafy vegetable that goes by several names: Bok Choy, Bok Choi, Pok Choy, and Pak Choi. There may be other variants, but you get the idea. Because my seed-saving "Bible" book, SEED TO SEED by Suzanne Ashworth, lists the vegetable as Pak Choi, that is what I'll call it.
It is relatively easy to grow, can grow in spring, summer, and fall outdoors. It also grows indoors in a sunny window in winter and seems to grow faster than most leafy greens. This beauty is scientifically known as a variety of Brassica rapa.

This proposed listing was the result of a petition and lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity. The hellbender has languished on the state and federal proposed lists since the late 1990's but no action has been taken because of a lack of funding from Congress and administations going back through the Clinton Admiistration. The only way to get FWS to get off of their duffs is to sue them. Charles
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 9, 2010
Ark., Mo. salamander proposed for endangered list
By Tom Parsons