More rain and its showing little let up. In between showers I have managed to clip the lomandra for mulch and transplant clusters of marigold seedlings throughout the garden. Wet clothes are mounting up.

Rain means a chance to read.  Richard Mabey, in his THE CABARET OF PLANTS describes ascending from above, in an hot air balloon, the canopy of a rain forest. Lowering a light weight raft and a light weight netting upon which the scientists could scramble along the netting. Its currently estimated that a tenth of all flowering and other vascular  plants….some 30,000 species………live as epiphytes in tropical forests. That means they live in complex relationships with other organisms. Cooperation, or at least negotiation, is the rule.

I would love to scramble amongst the canopy and stay long enough, quietly, to watch what birds arrive.

Recent news articles stemming originally from Reuters but even repeated in Mother Jones seek to discredit one of the International Agency’s scientific panel, Aaron Blair. In view of the pending court cases against Monsanto in the US courts re glyphosate causing cancer, Monsanto is getting desperate.  The US Right to Know organisation unravels the lies – https://usrtk.org/tag/aaron-blair/ .  The original Reuter’s article was authored by reporter Kate Kelland, who has a history of cozy relations with the Science Media Centre partly funded by agrichemical company interests whose aim is to connect certain ‘scientists’ with journalists to disparage news adverse to corporate profits. This group is very active in Australia.