JUNE 10, 2014 – NATIONAL ICED TEA DAY – NATIONAL BLACK COW DAY – NATIONAL BALL POINT PEN DAY – NATIONAL HERBS AND SPICES DAY

                             NATIONAL ICED TEA DAY

Today is set aside to celebrate one of summer’s favorite drinks, it is National Iced Tea Day, which is celebrated annually on June 10.  Whether it is sweetened or unsweetened, with or without lemon, it is loved by many and enjoyed by the glass full all summer long.
Iced tea can be found in many flavors including lemon, peach, raspberry, lime, passions fruit, strawberry and cherry.
An alternative to carbonated soft drinks and very popular in the United States, iced tea makes up about 85% of all tea consumed.  It can readily be found in restaurants, convenience stores, vending machines, grocery stores and self-serve soda fountains.
Recipes for iced tea have been found dating back to the 1870′s.  The Buckeye Cookbook, published in 1876 and Housekeeping in Old Virginia, published in 1877 both contain iced tea recipes.  It is believed however, that iced tea started to appear in the United States in the 1860′s and became widespread in the 1870′s where it was found offered on hotel menus and was on sale at railroad stations.  The popularity of this refreshing drink grew rapidly after it was introduced at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. 
“Tea has been historically promoted for having a variety of positive health benefits. Recent human studies suggest that green tea may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer, promote oral health, reduce blood pressure, help with weight control, improve antibacterial and antiviral activity, provide protection from solar ultraviolet light, increase bone mineral density, and have “anti-fibrotic properties, and neuroprotective power.”  (Wikipedia)

Enjoy a nice TALL glass of iced tea today !!

NATIONAL ICED TEA DAY
Within our research, we were unable to find the creator and the origin of National Iced Tea Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.
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NATIONAL BLACK COW DAY

National Black Cow Day is celebrated each year on June 10.  Are you in the mood for ice cream?  We are all familiar with the “Root Beer Float” but did you know that it is also called the “Black Cow”?
A “Black Cow” was originally made with root beer and vanilla ice cream.  Today it is sometimes made with root beer and chocolate ice cream or cola and vanilla ice cream.
Frank J. Wisner of Cripple Creek, Colorado, gets the credit for inventing the “Black Cow”  way back in August of 1893.
One night, as Wisner, owner of the Cripple Creek Cow Mountain Gold Mining Company, was staring out the window and thinking about the line of soda waters that was producing for the citizens of Cripple Creek, he came upon an idea.  The full moon that night that was shining on the snow-capped Cow Mountain reminded him of a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  He hurried back to his bar and added a scoop to the children’s favorite flavor of soda, Myers Avenue Red root beer, tried it, liked it and served it the very next day.  It was an immediate hit.
Wisner named the new creation, “Black Cow Mountain” but the local children shortened the name to “Black Cow“.

Sit back, relax and enjoy a Black Cow today!

NATIONAL BLACK COW DAY HISTORY
We were unable to find the creator of National Black Cow Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.
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NATIONAL BALL POINT PEN DAY

Grab your ballpoint pen and write this on your calendar, June 10 of each year is National Ball Point Pen Day.
This special day commemorates an item that most of use everyday, the ballpoint pen and marks the anniversary of the patent filing on June 10, 1943.
Prior to 1943, anyone who wanted to write a letter or scribble some notes on a piece of paper had to find a different source to use other than the ballpoint pen.  Now the dominant writing instrument, the ballpoint pen was originally conceived and developed as a cleaner and more reliable alternative to the quill and fountain pens. Every day, millions are manufactured and sold worldwide.  Lost cost and its omnipresence assure that there is always a ballpoint pen within your reach.
In earlier years, many attempts by inventors lead to failed patents as their try at inventing workable ballpoints, found  pens that did not deliver the ink evenly and also had overflow and clogging  issues.

Brothers, Laszlo and Gyorgy Biro,  are credited with the invention of the ballpoint pen and obtained a patent in June of 1943.

Today to celebrate, write a personal, handwritten note to someone!
NATIONAL BALLPOINT PEN DAY
Within our research, we were unable to find the creator of National Ballpoint Pen Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.
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NATIONAL HERBS AND SPICES DAY

National Herbs and Spices Day, an “unofficial” national holiday is celebrated annually on June 10.
It is the season for fresh herbs and spices and they are an essential part of flavorful cooking as well as fun and easy to grow.
Gardening your own herbs can be a form of relaxing therapy.
Herbs and spices have been used for many hundreds of years and besides making our food delicious, each has its own specific health benefits.
We found the following link that will provide more information on some of the spice health benefits:
http://www.womansday.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-shortcuts/surprising-healing-benefits-of-spices-107253
And we found this link, for you, for growing herbs in a home garden:
http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/hortcult/herbs/ne208hrb.htm