Margaret Redfern – författare

A much-needed study on plant galls – growths on plants formed of plant tissue that are caused by other organisms.Most naturalists have come across oak apples, robin’s pincushions, marble galls and witches’ brooms, a few of the more familiar examples of the strange growths that are plant galls. They are beautiful, often bizarre and colourful, and amazingly diverse in structure and in the organisms which cause them. They have been known since ancient times and have attracted superstitions and folk customs. Both the ancient Greeks and the Chinese used them in herbal medicine, and until well into the nineteenth century, they had a variety of commercial uses: important for dyeing cloth, tanning leather and for making ink.Knowledge of gall types increased during the late nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century as more species were described and their structure became more clearly understood, and yet even today, little is known about the mechanisms that cause gall formation as well as the life cycles of the organisms that initiate gall growth. Since most galls do not cause any economic damage to crop plants, research funding has traditionally been sparse in this area. However, the insect cycles and gall structures are amazing examples of the complexity of nature.Margaret Redfern explores these fascinating complexities in this New Naturalist volume, providing much-needed insight into the variety of galls of different types caused by a wide range of organisms including fungi, insects and mites. She discusses the ecology of galls more generally and focuses on communities of organisms within galls, the evolution and distribution of galls, as well as human and historical perspectives.

Death and Loss, are two emotions that painfully remain in our minds and hearts, seemingly forever. The personal sharing of my mothers death reaches through the gentle, loving concepts within Alices story with a hint of what is to come within the title.What greater source of peace can be offered, especially to children, but also to adults, to visualize little Alice as being sought and brought to heaven by the bedraggled little messenger in returning to the Heavenly Father and stands before Him with Alice.Earning her wings and halo leaves room for visualizing preparations for Alices appointed and loving task by the Heavenly Father to bring her mothers love into the Christmas Crib scene.What greater gift can be offered to children to lead them through the inspiration of this beautiful story, to offer their own gift of love through the depth of their loss. Such a loving and generous gift will be memorialized forever from the beginning of this Christmas story and into the ending.

Looking for one hundred shoes is no easy job! Thaddeus tries his best to hide from his mothers impatient voice as she reminds him that it is shoe hunting day. Being a centipede with one hundred legs, he is found as flat as he can be in his favorite hiding place, under a rug.But his unhappy mother drags him out from under the rug and they set out into the nearby meadow to look for comfortable materials for shoes for his one hundred feet. Thaddeus reluctantly but obediently tries on various pieces of meadow materials, even unthawed snow, but problems are met with all of them. Slipping and sliding, tumbling and tripping are only a few problems that appear throughout this journey for new shoes. Finally, in aggravation and exhaustion, Thaddeus stamps his feet and strongly suggests that he and his mother return home. His mother, in her own frenzied need, agrees with him.The answer to Thaddeus needed shoes is found at the edge of a small pond and a green, slimy moss covered rock at its edge which they pass on their way home. The author invites you to read the story and celebrate with Thaddeus as he wiggles his new shoes in the air!

Maddies Magic Tree is the story of a young girls love for animals and nature. She excitedly sees the first white, winters snowflakes as she rises from bed. She rushes out into the surrounding meadow and meets the hero of the story, a young Pine tree heavily covered in snow with a magic wave to Maddie as she relieves the tree from the white burden on its branches, a group of animals and birds all receiving magical gifts from the tree, and a spying Maddie from behind a tree that magically sends animals to successfully find food during the winter. Magic! Magic! Magic! The author inspires children from the goodness in the story of the kindness of the Magic tree in silently guiding the animals to find food for themselves and their family, and the love and caring heart of Maddie in wanting to keep the animals safe and fed through the winter. The gratitude of the animals toward the tree when they find needed food and the outpouring of love in the gifts with which they decorate the tree become the loving symbol of their love for the tree. This story can be a channel to strengthen love, gratitude, kindnes and caring in the minds of young children. How was Magic shown in the story? Why was Maddie always so worried? What does the last illustration show us about loving each other? Why was Maddie so happy with her hug?

This is a book that you can read in one sitting. In fact, you will not put it down in hurry. Ms. Redferns wisdom throughout her writings is clearly evidenced in the table of contents. However, the listing of each chapter offers the readers insights into what we cannot see within our children. The authors insight is well defined in the first article, Outside vs. Inside, in the contrast between the five senses on the outside with the place or space within our children, where an affirmation of them as a person will forever need nurturing within their academic journey. The Acclamations speak volumes from the minds and experiences with children who have crossed their paths as educators, caregivers, or parents. A Childs Expectations, written in the first person, capsulates the entire message within the entire book in a quick glance of what will be read. Enjoy!

Will and his brother Ned are commandeered into the army of ditch-diggers whose task it is to build the foundations for Edward I's castle at Flint. But the lads are nervous - and not just because they're far from home. Ned is a mute whose affinity with horses and skills as a herbalist make him suspicious in the eyes of their English overseers. In addition, Ned has been tutored by the exiled Welsh bard, Ieuan ap y Gof. An atmospheric and unusually affecting first novel, rich in historical and cultural detail.

Sophia is disguised as a young male - a necessary lie if she's to survive the journey ahead of her. When her herbalist grandmother dies, Sophia takes to the Spice Road in search of her legendary storyteller grandfather - and the attractive trader she believes might help her find him. Between them lies a way fraught with danger, not the least of which is a band of slavers out for her blood. It takes all her skill to evade capture and still she remains one step behind her quarry. But the tales of heroes and villains draw her in, bringing her closer to a new home and hope.