When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr.Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.

Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note-“Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery”-and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically(魔术般)appear.     

All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr.Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr.Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.

There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.   

Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch(门廊)！Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.

We all need to eat, and when we go to buy food at the supermarket, we’re offered many choices. But we often buy food that’s been produced in huge amounts and that’s traveled many miles before it ends up on our plate; So for some, growing their own food is a better choice and it tastes good too!

From growing vegetables in little pots to taking care of a small plot of land, there are many ways to produce home-grown food. It can be backbreaking work digging, weeding and watering the soil, but the result is fresh, home-grown fruits and vegetables, helping us keep a ‘five-a-day’ diet.

Nowadays demand for homegrown food has seen a comeback in the UK. Miriam Dobson from the University of Sheffield, told the BBC that some people have been spending a lot of their time on growing plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables-which, at times, have been challenging to buy in supermarkets.

But for those with limited space, a solution to grow your own vegetables lies closer to home-using pots. Sheila Brand lives in a third-floor flat in Rotterdam. She has managed to grow tomatoes and eggplants and is already harvesting raspberries. She told the BBC watching the plants grow "is very exciting: ‘Oh it’s got a new, leaf!’

As well as the benefits of saving money and enjoying tasty food, growing your own not only improves your well-being and immediate environment, you can actually grow a lot of vegetables. So, maybe it’s time for us all to get planting and develop our green fingers!

When you visit Kinderdijk, one of the most visited villages in the Netherlands, you step right into the middle of Dutch history.

Kinderdijk lies in the Alblasserwaard, where the Lek and Noord rivers meet together. Much of the village is near or even below sea level. Although there are canals and dykes (坝), the lowlands of the village are still at risk of flooding. Among the most deadly floods was Saint Elisabeth’s flood in 1421, which killed thousands after the dykes broke in several places. To deal with this kind of problem, the Kinderdijk windmills. (风车) were built around 1740 to move water from the lower areas to higher ground and into the canal.

Nineteen of the 20 Kinderdijk windmills remain and were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 Of the 19 windmills，16 still have millers who live inside and control the huge sails in the wind. These windmills, continue to help manage the Netherlands ongoing fight to stay above water.

For tourists; boat tours are offered along the canals and walkways lead from the visitor center to the windmills. Two windmills serve as museums, filled with old millers’ items and photos. You can climb up inside to see how the windmills work. The windmills also are working, so be prepared to feel the whole building shake when the sails turn in the wind.

Each year, about 500,000 people visit the Kinderdijk windmills and the buildings have become a must-see on any trip to the Netherlands. “There are some windmills north of Amsterdam that were built for tourists, but we’re a historical site where tourists come, so it’s the other way around,” says Kinderdijk communications manager Peter Paul Klapwijk. “Tourism is a good way to support our site.”