If you thought that eating your carrots raw was the best way to boost nutrition, you might be surprised to learn that cooking your carrots is actually better for you.  That's because when the cell walls are broken down via cooking the carrots release more antioxidants, such as, carotenoids and ferulic acid to fuel your body. Cooked carrots contain more beta-carotene than raw carrots, says Prevention. 

Spinach, Swiss chard and beet greens are all high in calcium, but if you want to get the most  calcium from these veggies, you will need to cook them first. They contain the compound oxalic acid which binds with the calcium and makes it unusable to the human body. Cooking breaks the bond and makes the calcium available for absorption.

Broccoli, cauliflower and other Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, bok choy and Brussels sprouts, may be more nutritious eaten raw, explains Deborah Baic at the Globe and Mail. This is because they contain a substance called myrosinase that is released when you chew or chop the raw veggies. It in turn helps to convert phytochemicals to cancer-fighting compounds. Cooking these veggies destroys the compounds and reduces their cancer-fighting abilities.

 

Eating both raw and cooked vegetables is good for your health, as not all nutrients respond the same to cooking. Heat may cause one nutrient to increase, while another decreases. Some vitamins like Vitamin A and C can be lost  during the cooking process, especially if you cook your veggies with a lot of water. But many experts agree that the gains in other nutrients during cooking may offset any loss of these readily-available vitamins.

Other considerations include whether you (or your children) are likely to consume more vegetables cooked or raw. Obviously, if little Katie refuses to eat cooked carrots, but devours them raw, she will get more nutrients from raw carrots. Likewise, a healthy helping of cooked broccoli may outweigh a nibble of the raw veggie.

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Many people assume that the color of the beetle determines whether it is an Asian or American Ladybug, but this isn't always true. Traditional ladybugs can range in color from bright red to orange-red. While Asian Lady Beetles range in color from orange-red, orange and nearly tan. It can be difficult to tell the difference between the two at first glance.

You can tell American Ladybugs and Asian Ladybugs apart by looking at their 'face'. Asian ladybugs have a white pronotum (the section between the head and the body of a ladybug)  with a black M or W above their eyes, while the traditional American version has a black pronotum with small white cheeks.

If you grew up with this rhyme, you may have wondered why the violets you see are actually purple not blue. The truth is some violets are named purple violets while others are named blue violets. Their petal color ranges from blue to shades of purple, but you can't always tell them apart by their name.

In other words, some blue violets are actually purple, while some purple violets can be blue. To confuse the matter even more, GoBontany says that both purple and blue violets can also be white.

According to the Wild Seed Project there are 18 species of violets in Maine with many hybrids. This makes it difficult to determine the exact species of violets found growing in the wild. For most of us, that means referring to violets that look blue as blue violets and those that look purple as purple violets.

Whatever you call them, these delightful little wildflowers emerge in early spring and can be found in woodlands, meadows, edges of forested areas and even on banks along the roadside. Some violets invade lawns. 

Violets prefer humus-rich, well-drained soil that is moderately moist, but will grow in nearly any soil.

This violet is obviously more purple than blue, but I can't confidently identify the species to give it a proper name. Note the yellow center that differs from the white throat in the blue violets above. Purple violets tend to grow in clumps.

Delicate white violets can also be found throughout Maine, but they are not without their variations, too. This variety, called Sweet White Violet (Viola blanda), is a small woodland violet. It has an intense, sweet fragrance.

Yellow violets (Viola pensylvanica) typically grow under deciduous trees in areas where the sun reaches the ground in the spring, but they can be found in mixed forests. Look for clumps of yellow violets around the bases of trees or along the edges of wooded areas. Yellow violets often spread freely, blanketing a large area with a splash of yellow in early spring.

If you grew up in Maine you probably call Red Trilliums (Trillium vaseyi or Trillum Erectus) Stinking Benjamins while in other areas they are often referred to as Stinking Willies. Both names refer to the odor of the Red Trillium. While some describe the scent as "wet dog" others say they smell faintly of rotting flesh. According to scientists, the scent is the trillium's way of attracting insects to increase the odds of pollination. Still others call the trillium Wake Robins because they bloom at about the same time robins return to the area in the spring.

Whatever you call them, these spring flowers bloom in early spring and can be found in deciduous of mixed forests, particularly where there are beech trees. Look for areas where the sun reaches the forest floor in the spring to find these harbingers of spring.

​According to Penn State, a trillium plant can live up to 30 years and must be 15 years old to bloom.

The Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum) is common in central Maine, although less so than the red. Painted Trillium blooms are somewhat smaller than the Red Trillium, but what they lack in size is more than made up for with their maroon-painted centers. The bright coloration in the center is thought to direct pollinators.

White Trilliums (Trillium grandiflorum) also grow in Maine, but I have never seen one in my local area.  Trilliums all grow in the same basic areas and prefer rich, acidic soil that is moderately moist and drains well.

Look for Trilliums along the edges of wooded areas, in sunny spots under trees and in moist ditches in April and May. 

A red berry containing two or three seeds forms after the blooms have faded. By fall the berry is bright red. Deer are known to eat the berries at times, but it is unknown if other wildlife eat them.

The flowers of the bunchberry plant (Cornus canadensis) look remarkably similar to dogwood blooms for a very good reason. Bunchberries are also known as dwarf dogwood and belong to the same family.

These hardy wildflowers grow in shady or semi-shaded areas, usually under deciduous trees. They prefer slightly moist, acidic soil. They bloom in late spring, typically around the first of June in central Maine.

While these flowers look like simple four-petaled flowers, looks can be deceiving. The white petals aren't actually petals at all. They are bracts. Bracts are modified leaves that rest just below the flower on a plant. While bracts are typically green and look like a leaf (although their shape is usually different from the other leaves on the plant), Some plants produce bracts that look more like petals to attract insect pollinators.

The true flowers of the bunchberry plant are in the center of the bracts. There are 20 to 50 flowers ranging from green to white in the center of the four white bracts.

When pollinated, the tiny center flowers each produce a berry forming a cluster of berries lending it the name bunchberry. The berries ripen to a bright orange-red by August and can be found well into the fall, if birds do not eat them.