How church members are contributing to the locally grown organic food movement … and how you can too. A handful of the church’s gardeners pose proudly in the garden. House of Hope Helps Feed Those in Need “The church garden was started in 2011 as a way for our church to help feed the hungry […]
A few summers ago, the Kraus family noticed a steady increase in monarch butterflies visiting their backyard native wildflower garden. One day after an overnight rainfall, Paula Kraus was stunned to see the black walnut tree in her family’s backyard overflowing with monarch butterflies sunning their wings. “We counted 40 butterflies in that single tree,” […]
Throughout the millennia, the astounding beauty of the butterfly has inspired the imagination, the arts, literature, and poetry. Attracting these magnificent creatures into our own yards requires three basic ingredients: larval host plants, nectar plants, and sheltering habitat.Read More
The Ephemeral Spring Wildflowers After a long winter, spring wildflower ephemerals herald a new growing season. The first blooms magically transform the woodland landscape. These early plants emerge in deciduous forests before the overhead trees fully leaf out. One of the many spring ephemerals: Trillium grandiflorum. Photo: Vicki Bonk Those same trees provide the leaf […]
December 9, 2017lesliePonds, Water Did you know stormwater does not go to a wastewater treatment facility? Pollutants that go down the storm drain on the streets where you live, such as salt, grass clippings, leaves, pet waste, fertilizers, pesticides, and residue from automobiles, are funneled untreated to the nearest waterbody.Read More
November 27, 2018leslieTrees Overall, one tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year.Read More November 24, 2018leslieSolar “My wife Julie and I feel strongly about taking care of our environment. We believe climate change will be a significant issue for future generations. We decided we couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer. We recycle […]
About 15 years ago, MaryJo and Charlie Skemp started noticing unusual activity in a hosta planting that runs along the back side of their home. Beginning each spring, the garden would become an energy-filled flurry of what appeared to be bees, or perhaps wasps or hornets, hurriedly flying in and out of anthill-like holes in […]
November 14, 2017leslieWaste, Water You love your pooch but its waste is an environmental pollutant—so much so that the EPA has put it in the same category as herbicides and insecticides; oil, grease and toxic chemicals. Always bag it up and throw it in the trash (or flush it down the toilet if you have […]
March 19, 2018leslieInvasive Species Wanted: Ecosystem Outlaw Don’t be fooled by this outlaw! With buckthorn’s ability to quickly grow into dense, thorny, thicket-forming hedges, you may love how it keeps your neighbors from seeing you with your hair sticking straight up while taking the dog out to the backyard first thing in the morning, but, […]
February 19, 2024leslieBiodiversity, Sustainability You know this is lichen. You’ve seen it everywhere your entire life. That’s because there are over 14,000 species of lichen in the world. Yet, what do you know about lichen? Here’s a secret: it’s one of the most fascinating organisms on Earth. And you’ve barely noticed it.Read More
Did you know stormwater does not go to a wastewater treatment facility? Pollutants that go down the storm drain on the streets where you live, such as salt, grass clippings, leaves, pet waste, fertilizers, pesticides, and residue from automobiles, are funneled untreated to the nearest waterbody. Water that goes down the stormwater drain on the […]
March 2, 2023leslieBiodiversity, Community, Organic An Interview with Mainor Ortiz Ortiz, by Sara Nelson Sara Nelson: In 2016 I began a series of trips to Costa Rica with the intention of learning rainforest field botany. However, after apprenticing with a brilliant herbalist, chocolate maker, and Scottish Costa Rica transplant named Ancel Mitchell, my focus veered […]
“My wife Julie and I feel strongly about taking care of our environment. We believe climate change will be a significant issue for future generations. We decided we couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer. We recycle more than we discard, we compost, we drive a plug-in electric hybrid car, and we have photovoltaic solar […]
When a caterpillar emerges from an egg, it is minuscule and can’t travel far to find food. To aid her offspring’s survival, the female butterfly (or moth) deposits her eggs on the food source her newborn caterpillars require so they can eat as soon as they emerge. The specific plant (or plants) a particular caterpillar…Read […]