A jar of poppy seeds sitting open next to two poppy seed bagels. - Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock It's tempting to wonder if that little jar of grocery store poppy seeds in your pantry could do more than top ...

Growing up in suburban New York City, our house was surrounded by woods of primarily American beech (Fagus grandifolia) and white oak (Quercus alba). And one year it occurred to me that I could ...