https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6TLFZUC9gI

Trees are an important part of our world.  They provide wood for building and pulp for making paper.  They provide habitats (homes) for all sorts of insects, birds and other animals.  Many types of fruits and nuts come from trees -- including apples, oranges, walnuts, pears and peaches.  Even the sap of trees is useful as food for insects and for making maple syrup -- yum!

part of tree

Trees are an important part of our world.  They provide wood for building and pulp for making paper.  They provide habitats (homes) for all sorts of insects, birds and other animals.  Many types of fruits and nuts come from trees -- including apples, oranges, walnuts, pears and peaches.Trees do lots for us, our environment and other plants and animals in nature but we don't just love trees for practical reasons.  Trees can also be very beautiful -- tall enough they seem to touch the sky and so big around you can't even hug them.  Thousands of artists, professional and amateur alike have painted pictures of trees and thousands of poems, songs and stories have been written about them.  I would guess that just about everyone on earth has at some point in their life stopped to enjoy the beauty of a tree.

part of tree

Trees are an important part of our world.  They provide wood for building and pulp for making paper.  They provide habitats (homes) for all sorts of insects, birds and other animals.  Many types of fruits and nuts come from trees -- including apples, oranges, walnuts, pears and peaches. Trees do lots for us, our environment and other plants and animals in nature but we don't just love trees for practical reasons.  Trees can also be very beautiful -- tall enough they seem to touch the sky and so big around you can't even hug them.  Thousands of artists, professional and amateur alike have painted pictures of trees and thousands of poems, songs and stories have been written about them.  I would guess that just about everyone on earth has at some point in their life stopped to enjoy the beauty of a tree.

Plant Parts - Fruit

The fruit is the ripened ovary of a plant containing the seeds. After fertilization, the ovary swells and becomes either fleshy or hard and dry to protect the developing seeds. Many fruits help seeds spread (maple seeds). Many things we call vegetables are really fruits such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans.

Every seed is a tiny plant (embryo) with leaves, stems, and root parts waiting for the right things to happen to make it germinate and grow. Seeds are protected by a coat. This coat can be thin or thick and hard. Thin coats don't protect the embryo well. But thick coats can let the embryo survive some tough conditions.

The seed also contains a short-term food supply called the endosperm which is formed at fertilization but is not part of the embryo. It is used by the embryo to help its growth. In the bean that is shown, the endosperm is no longer there. It has been used for the growth of the embryo, and most of its nutrients and energy are now in a different form within the tissues of the cotyledon.

Plants with one cotyledon (like corn) are called monocots. If they have two cotyledons (like beans), they are called dicots.

Seeds are a plant's way of getting from one area to another by either wind, water or animals.

Plant Parts - Flowers

Flowers not only look pretty but, in fact, are important in making seeds. Flowers have some basic parts. The female part is the pistil. The pistil usually is located in the center of the flower and is made up of three parts: the stigma, style, and ovary. The stigma is the sticky knob at the top of the pistil. It is attached to the long, tubelike structure called the style. The style leads to the ovary that contains the female egg cells called ovules.

The male parts are called stamens and usually surround the pistil. The stamen is made up of two parts: the anther and filament. The anther produces pollen (male reproductive cells). The filament holds the anther up.

During the process of fertilization, pollen lands on the stigma, a tube grows down the style and enters the ovary. Male reproductive cells travel down the tube and join with the ovule, fertilizing it. The fertilized ovule becomes the seed, and the ovary becomes the fruit.

Petals are also important parts of the flower, because they help attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies and bats. You can also see tiny green leaf-like parts called sepals at the base of the flower. They help to protect the developing bud.

Water Saving Tips

Ways to Save Water Indoors

• Check all faucets, pipes and toilets for leaks.
• Install water saving showerheads and ultra-low-flush toilets.
• Take shorter showers.
• Never use your toilet as a wastebasket.
• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth or shaving.
• Defrost frozen food in the refrigerator.
• Rinse vegetables in a full sink or pan of water.
• Fully load your dishwasher.
• Rinse dishes in a full sink or pan of water.
• Wash full loads of clothes.

  Ways to Save Water Outdoors

• Don't over-water landscaping.
• Water your lawn or garden early in the morning or late in evening.
• Adjust sprinklers so that they don't water the sidewalk or street.
• Don't water on cool, rainy or windy days.
• Equip all hoses with shut-off nozzles.
• Use drip irrigation systems.
• Plant drought-tolerant or low water-use plants and grasses.
• Use shrubs and ground cover to reduce the amount of grass.
• Place mulch around plants to reduce evaporation and discourage weeds.
• Set your mower blades one notch higher, since longer grass means less evaporation.
• Use a pool cover to cut down on water evaporation.
• Use a bucket instead of a hose to wash your car.
• Use a broom rather than a hose to clean sidewalks, driveways, loading docks and parking lots.

Rules of Fasting

Who must fast?

Muslims all over the world wait eagerly for Ramadan, as it is a time of increased inner peace and well-being.

Fasting in the month of Ramadan is obligatory upon every adult Muslim, male or female, who has reached puberty, is sane and who is not sick or traveling.

Sickness could be a temporary sickness from which a person expects to be cured soon. Such a person should not fast during the days of his or her sickness, but he or she must fast later after Ramadan to complete the missed days. Those who are sick with incurable illness and expect no better health are also allowed not to fast but they must pay the fidyah, which is giving a day's meals for each fast missed to a needy person. Instead of food for one day one can also give equivalent amount of money to a needy person. Women in their menses and post-natal bleeding are not allowed to fast, but they must make up the fast later after Ramadan. If pregnant women and mothers who are nursing babies can also postpone their fasting to a later time when they are able to do so.

A travel according to the Shariah is any journey that takes you away from your city of residence, a minimum of 48 miles or 80 kilometers. The journey must be for a good cause. One must avoid frivolous travel during Ramadan which causes a person to miss fasting. If possible one should try to change their travel plans during Ramadan to be able to fast and should not travel unless it is necessary. The traveler who misses the fasts of Ramadan must make up those missed days later as soon as possible after Ramadan.

Fasting According to the Sunnah

1 - Take sahur (pre-dawn meal). It is Sunnah and there is a great reward and blessing in taking sahur. The best time for sahur is the last half hour before dawn or the time for Fajr prayer.

2 - Take iftar (break-fast) immediately after sunset. Shariah considers sunset when the disk of the sun goes below the horizon and disappears completely.

3 - During the fast, abstain from all false talks and deeds. Do not quarrel, have disputes, indulge in arguments, use bad words, or do anything that is forbidden. You should try to discipline yourself morally and ethically, besides gaining physical training and discipline. You should also not make a show of your fasting by talking too much about it, or by showing dry lips and a hungry stomach, or by showing a bad temper. The fasting person must be a pleasant person with good spirits and good cheer.

4 - During the fast, do acts of charity and goodness to others and increase your worship and reading of the Quran. Every one should try to read the whole Quran at least once during the month of Ramadan.

Things That Invalidate the Fast

You must avoid doing anything that may render your fast invalid. Things that invalidate the fast and require qadaa' (making up for these days) are the following:

1 - Eating, drinking or smoking deliberately, including taking any non-nourishing items by mouth or nose.

2 - Deliberately causing yourself to vomit.

3 - The beginning of menstrual or post-childbirth bleeding even in the last moment before sunset.

4 - Sexual intercourse or other sexual contact (or masturbation) that results in ejaculation (in men) or vaginal secretions (orgasm) in women.

5 - Eating, drinking, smoking or having sexual intercourse after Fajr (dawn) on the mistaken assumption that it is not Fajr time yet. Similarly, engaging in these acts before Maghrib (sunset) on the mistaken assumption that it is already Maghrib time.

Sexual intercourse during fasting is forbidden. Those who engage in it must make both qadaa' (make up the fasts) and kaffarah (expiation by fasting for 60 days after Ramadan or by feeding 60 poor people for each day of fast broken in this way). According to Imam Abu Hanifah, eating and/or drinking deliberately during fast also entail the same qadaa' and kaffarah.

Things That Do Not Invalidate Fasting

Using a miswak to clean your teeth does not invalidate fasting

During fast, the following things are permissible:

1 - Taking a bath or shower. If water is swallowed involuntarily it will not invalidate the fast. According to most of the jurists, swimming is also allowed in fasting, but one should avoid diving, because that will cause the water to go from the mouth or nose into the stomach.

2 - Using perfumes, wearing contact lenses or using eye drops.

3 - Taking injections or having a blood test.

4 - Using miswak (tooth-stick) or toothbrush (even with tooth paste) and rinsing the mouth or nostrils with water, provided it is not overdone (so as to avoid swallowing water).

5 - Eating, drinking or smoking unintentionally, i.e., forgetting that one was fasting. But one must stop as soon as one remembers and should continue one's fast.

6 - Sleeping during the daytime and having a wet-dream does not break one's fast. Also, if one has intercourse during the night and was not able to make ghusl (bathe) before dawn, he or she can begin fast and make ghusl later. Women whose menstruation stops during the night may begin fasting even if they have not made ghusl yet. In all these cases, bathing (ghusl) is necessary but fast is valid even without bathing.

7 - Kissing between husband and wife is allowed in fasting, but one should try to avoid it so that one may not do anything further that is forbidden during the fast.

Requirements for Fasting to Be Valid

There are basically two main components of fasting:

1 - The intention (niyyah) for fasting. One should make a sincere intention to fast for the sake of God every day before dawn. The intention need not be in words, but must be with the sincerity of the heart and mind. Some jurists are of the opinion that the intention can be made once only for the whole month and does not have to be repeated every day. It is, however, better to make intention every day to take full benefit of fasting.

2 - Abstaining from dawn to dusk from everything that invalidates fasting as mentioned above.