Posting Soil to the USA!!

[Paulines7]

English oaks in the form of acorns.

These wouldn't be allowed as they could harbour insects or disease. 

When I went out to the states I took my American sister-in-law two dozen packets of chocolate Angel delight as she acquired a taste for it when she lived in the UK.  I also took out packets of shortbread and some jars of special marmalade and jams.  Processed food is all right if it is still in the packets but things such as fresh fruit are definitely forbidden.

During my visit I went to a nursery and ordered some reblooming irises.  The nursery had to wash the roots of all soil, sterilise them and then take them to the Secretary of Agriculture to get a "Nursery Inspection Cerificate" before posting them to me.

[Paulines7]

[Robert_Brenchley]

They're very strict about plants, but it's possible for someone over there to get permission to export small quantities of cleaned seed quite easily. I don't know whether this works in reverse.

[Columbus]

Hi all,

One day, when I have a garden, I`m going to have a huge piece
of Mountsorrel pink granite in it To you all, it would be just a peice of
roadstone but to me its a link to my childhood and several generations
of family. So you see how the right stone might be significant to the
family in the states in the same way.
Its also more localised and permanent than soil. It doesn`t have to be a boulder
just something for the mantlepeice.

Col

[dandelion]

Favoured food items are,
weetabix, marmite, and garibaldi biscuits.

Garibaldi biscuits  :o ?  Are those considered English? I grew up eating those in Belgium (they're called something else there; the name escapes me)
As for Marmite YUCK  :P

I've searched high and low for Gari bikkies.....Can't find a one in Belgium...Do they still make them??

I've asked my mum to check. She normally shops at Delhaize.

Kenkew, in Belgium it's sold under the brand name Sultana. http://www.sultana.be/waco/sultana/nl/product.html

They do different flavoured ones these days; when I lived in Belgium it was raisins only.

[GrowingChillis]

Right then

I have put him off the idea of soil. He has suggested a rock or stone of some kind, I told him about your ideas for sending a stone as jewellery, and I think he likes it.
He says he would like a stone with a whole in it, I presume so that his wife can put it on a string. I have managed to establish he family were from the Cambridgeshire area, so anyone know what kind of rock woule be applicable?

Peter

[Ceratonia]

Depends on which part of Cambridgeshire, here in the South, chalk and flint are the local stone, which is why we the only old stone buildings are the colleges which could bring in stone from elsewhere. In most of the county, it's either fen silt or clay and not much in the way of rock/stone. They used to mine for coprolite around Cambridge (fossilized dinosaur poo) - that would certainly be an unusual gift!

There are plenty of plants with Cambridge in the name - maybe seeds from one of those?

[bunjies]

i am not 100% sure, but fluorite is found up that way somewhere and is absolutely stunning if polished up, as is good old calcite, dunno if that occurs there though ;)