ABOUT US
The Gulfstream Bonsai Association, Inc. is a non-profit, educational charitable organization as defined by IRS under chapter 501(c)(3) criteria. The expressed purpose of this organization is to provide educational material and knowledge about the art of bonsai using trees of tropical species. The charity basis of “tax-free” status is to support the organization known as Mission To The World (MTW). One of the finest organizations we have found for evaluating, sorting, preparing and sending Christian missionaries throughout the world.
Many people from various areas of the country had expressed to me their frustration about not finding any source of information about designing and nurturing tropical tree species as bonsai. They found more than enough information about deciduous species of northern climates from sources around the world, but desired similar knowledge and experience about tropical species. Our answer to this has been to publish The Gulfstream Journal of Tropical Bonsai, quarterly using annual subscriptions. The Journal includes advertisements of vendors of needed materials to support this activity. It is important for the interested people to know what supplies and support is available, where to get it and the cost.
Our plans include acquiring articles from various experts from many locations about what they know and have experienced on this subject, as well as soliciting experiential knowledge from anyone. We try to provide ideas about how to do the job more effectively, with less hardship and cost.
The majority of people expressed a preference for a printed magazine. The most efficient composition is a “pocket–sized” 5½ x 8½ to be specific. The journal is published in black & white, color and available in digital form on the Internet. The size and content is limited by USPS postage limitations, containing 52 pages on 8½ x 11 paper folded to the 5½ x 8½ booklet. The paper weight (3 oz) and thickness (¼) are at the limit of what the USPS will accept to ship as first class mail. The journal is mailed quarterly by season–Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter–roughly Feb, May, Aug and Nov. The journal is also posted on the web for viewing. A minimal $5 fee is charged to view or download. Those who have a printed subscription can enhance their experience by using the screen graphics. Many people in foreign countries can now subscribe without the prohibitive cost of shipping. To pay for the production and printing revenue is needed from any source available (Thousands of dollars are needed for the software alone). Web viewing is controlled by using a password, given to all subscribers. The recommended–most efficient subscription is the $15 per year black and white version. The reader can read it anywhere, anytime then go to the web posting to see the photography in brilliant color and print or enlarge for more detail. Printing can be done for the entire journal, or exclusively for articles of particular interest, saving considerable cost and waste of natural resources.
Our staff is limited, and costs are minimal, that is to say, no one receives any pay or financial benefit whatever from the publication or sale of the Journal or products. We are thankful that four people have volunteered to proof read what the editor generates. (Tom Zane, Daytona Beach, FL, Pierre Kaufke, Pensacola, Fl, Carl L. Rosner of Margate, NJ, and Lois Miller, the Editor's wife.)
The editor and publisher for, and president of the Gulfstream Bonsai Association, inc. is Richard (Dick) Miller. He has been doing bonsai since 1994, and published the Florida Bonsai publication of the Bonsai Societies of Florida for four years (2004-2007). Dick took the responsibilities as curator for the bonsai collection at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, in 1996 and with various volunteers built if from total abandonment to the world-class public exhibit it is today. He worked for a year in a bonsai nursery under the tutorage of Jim Moody, wrote many articles for the previous editor of Florida Bonsai, presents programs, teaches classes, and is a mentor for the American Bonsai Society correspondence courses. He lives with his wife in Atlantis, FL, a small community in southeast Palm Beach County, Florida. They have two children and three grandchildren–countless bonsai.
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