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Molehill
A molehill (or mole-hill, mole mound) is a conical mound of loose soil raised by small burrowing mammals, including moles, but also similar animals such as mole-rats, and voles. The word is first recorded in the first half of the 15th century. Formerly the hill was known as a 'wantitump', a word still in dialect use for centuries afterwards. The phrase " making a mountain out of a molehill" is commonly used metaphorically to mean "to exaggerate a minor problem". Evidence of burrows Molehills are waste material which come from digging or repairing burrows, and so are usually found where the animal is establishing new burrows, or where existing ones are damaged (for example by the weight of grazing livestock). Where moles burrow beneath the roots of trees or shrubs, the roots support the tunnel, and molehills are less common, and so even a dense population of the animals may be inconspicuous in these places. Molehills are often the only sign to indicate the presence of the anim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molehill Trail
A molehill (or mole-hill, mole mound) is a conical mound of loose soil raised by small burrowing mammals, including moles, but also similar animals such as mole-rats, and voles. The word is first recorded in the first half of the 15th century. Formerly the hill was known as a 'wantitump', a word still in dialect use for centuries afterwards. The phrase " making a mountain out of a molehill" is commonly used metaphorically to mean "to exaggerate a minor problem". Evidence of burrows Molehills are waste material which come from digging or repairing burrows, and so are usually found where the animal is establishing new burrows, or where existing ones are damaged (for example by the weight of grazing livestock). Where moles burrow beneath the roots of trees or shrubs, the roots support the tunnel, and molehills are less common, and so even a dense population of the animals may be inconspicuous in these places. Molehills are often the only sign to indicate the presence of the ani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Make A Mountain Out Of A Molehill
Making a mountain out of a molehill is an idiom referring to over-reactive, histrionic behaviour where a person makes too much of a minor issue. It seems to have come into existence in the 16th century. Metaphor The idiom is a metaphor for the common behaviour of responding disproportionately to something - usually an adverse circumstance. One who ''makes a mountain out of a molehill'' is said to be greatly exaggerating the severity of the situation. In cognitive psychology, this form of distortion is called magnification or overreacting. The phrase itself is so common that a study by psychologists found that with respect to familiarity and image value, it ranks high among the 203 common sayings they tested.Kenneth L. Higbee and Richard J. Millard, ''Visual imagery and familiarity ratings for 203 sayings'', Am. J. Psychiatry, Summer 1983, Vol. 96, No. 2, pp. 211–22; found aJSTOR website Retrieved January 28, 2010. Similar idioms include ''Much ado about nothing'' and ''Making ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mole (animal)
Moles are small mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have cylindrical bodies, velvety fur, very small, inconspicuous eyes and ears, reduced hindlimbs, and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws adapted for digging. The word “mole” refers to any species in the family Talpidae, which means “mole” in Latin. Moles are found in most parts of North America, Europe and Asia. Moles may be viewed as pests to gardeners, but they provide positive contributions to soil, gardens, and ecosystem, including soil aeration, feeding on slugs and small creatures that eat plant roots, and providing prey for other wildlife. They eat earthworms and other small invertebrates in the soil. Terminology In Middle English, moles were known as ''moldwarp''. The expression "don't make a mountain out of a molehill" (which means "exaggerating problems") was first recorded in Tudor times. By the era of Early Modern English, the mole was also known in English as ''mouldywarp'', a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits, and herbs, are grown for consumption, for use as dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use. Gardening ranges in scale from fruit orchards, to long boulevard plantings with one or more different types of shrubs, trees, and herbaceous plants, to residential back gardens including lawns and foundation plantings, all the way to container gardens grown inside or outside. Gardening may be very specialized, with only one type of plant grown, or involve a variety of plants in mixed plantings. It involves an active participation in the growing of plants, and tends to be labor-intensive, which differentiates it from farming or forestry. History Ancient times Forest gardening, a forest-based food production system, is the world's oldest form o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garden Pests
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both natural and artificial materials. Gardens often have design features including statuary, follies, pergolas, trellises, stumperies, dry creek beds, and water features such as fountains, ponds (with or without fish), waterfalls or creeks. Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while others also produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas, or sometimes intermixed with the ornamental plants. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, and their purpose (enjoyment of a hobby or self-sustenance rather than producing for sale, as in a market garden). Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, and fragrances to create interest and delight the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castor Bean Plant
''Ricinus communis'', the castor bean or castor oil plant, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus, ''Ricinus'', and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of castor and its relation to other species are currently being studied using modern genetic tools. It reproduces with a mixed pollination system which favors selfing by geitonogamy but at the same time can be an out-crosser by anemophily (wind pollination) or entomophily (insect pollination). Its seed is the castor bean, which, despite its name, is not a bean (that is, the seed of many Fabaceae). Castor is indigenous to the southeastern Mediterranean Basin, Eastern Africa, and India, but is widespread throughout tropical regions (and widely grown elsewhere as an ornamental plant). Castor seed is the source of castor oil, which has a wide variety of uses. The seeds contain between 40% and 60% oil that is rich in triglycerides, mainly ricin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euphorbia Lathyris
''Euphorbia lathyris'', the caper spurge or paper spurge, is a species of spurge native to southern Europe (Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal), northwest Africa, and eastward through southwest Asia to western China.''Flora Europaea''''Euphorbia lathyris''/ref>Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flora of Britain and Northern Europe''. Other names occasionally used include gopher spurge, gopher plant or mole plant. Growth It is an erect biennial (occasionally annual) plant growing up to 1.5 m tall, with a glaucous blue-green stem. The leaves are arranged in decussate opposite pairs, and are lanceolate, 5–15 cm long and 1-2.5 cm broad, glaucous blue-green with a waxy texture and pale greenish-white midrib and veins. The flowers are green to yellow-green, 4 mm diameter, with no petals. The seeds are green ripening to brown or grey, produced in globular clusters 13–17 mm diameter of three seeds compressed together.Huxley, A, ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictiona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William III Of England
William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the 1670s, and King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II. He is sometimes informally known as "King Billy" in Ireland and Scotland. His victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is commemorated by Unionists, who display orange colours in his honour. He ruled Britain alongside his wife and cousin, Queen Mary II, and popular histories usually refer to their reign as that of "William and Mary". William was the only child of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal, the daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland. His father died a week before his birth, making William III the prince of Orange from birth. In 1677, he marrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principles in fields such as regenerative agriculture, town planning, rewilding, and community resilience. Permaculture originally came from "permanent agriculture", but was later adjusted to mean "permanent culture", incorporating social aspects. The term was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who formulated the concept in opposition to modern industrialized methods instead adopting a more traditional or "natural" approach to agriculture. Permaculture has many branches including ecological design, ecological engineering, regenerative design, environmental design, and construction. It also includes integrated water resources management, sustainable architecture, and regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural syst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals who are raised for consumption, and sometimes used to refer solely to farmed ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. Horses are considered livestock in the United States. The USDA classifies pork, veal, beef, and lamb (mutton) as livestock, and all livestock as red meat. Poultry and fish are not included in the category. The breeding, maintenance, slaughter and general subjugation of livestock, called '' animal husbandry'', is a part of modern agriculture and has been practiced in many cultures since humanity's transition to farming from hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animal husbandry practices have varied widely across cultures and time periods. It continues to play a major economic and cultural role in numerous communities. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vole
Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of low-crowned with rounded cusps). They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America. Vole species form the subfamily Arvicolinae with the lemmings and the muskrats. There are approximately 155 different vole species. Description Voles are small rodents that grow to , depending on the species. Females can have five to ten litters per year, though with an average lifespan of three months and requiring one month to adulthood, two litters is the norm. Gestation lasts for three weeks and the young voles reach sexual maturity in a month. As a result of this biological exponential growth, vole populations can grow very large within a short time. A mating pair can produce a hundred more voles in a year. Voles outwardly re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
