A New Blog

Wild boys in the wilds of Heath picking 'wild' lowbush blueberries

Just when I was preparing a handout for my Heath Fair talk on Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants, I learned about a new group blog www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com that is being written by some of my favorite bloggers, many of whom I got to meet in Buffalo.

Beautiful Wildlife Gardens will give you lots of information about the natural world around us – in different parts of the  country. Informative and engaging. Which is what you might expect from a blog written by Helen Yoest (Gardening With Confidence), Barbara Pintozzi (Mr. McGregor’s Daughter), Chris McLaughlin (Kid Safe Landscape), Kelly Senser, (the editor of (National Wildlife Magazine), Kathy Green (All Things in Nature), Ellen Sousa (Turkey Hill Brook Farm right in in Massachusetts), Lisa Gustavson (Soil Sisters) and Gail Eichelburger (Clay and Limestone) who invented Wildflower Wednesday. They have a number of desires from the general creation of sustainable landscapes to the particular, like encouraging more bugs. Douglas Tallamy,  author of one of my favorite books, Bringing Nature Home, says we need more bugs.

Here on our hill we are surrounded by wildlife. I had a most remarkable experience this summer with a newborn fawn, and last year’s visits by a porcupine.  Once I walked down to the vegetable garden and came upon a HUGE flock of turkeys. I surprised them, and they me! – and they immediately flew into the air and down the hill to the tree line. Usually turkey sitings are not so dramatic. We hear the coyotes at night, and at noon.  The next town has a noon whistle – which must wake up the coyotes because they respond with their own howl. We wait for it when the grandchildren are visiting.

We have wildflowers, and flowers that have gone wild. Never Plant  Tansy!

Needless to say, we have our own kidsafe, wildlife safe, caterpillar safe, bird safe landscape. I’m delighted to know that I have a new place to visit that will encourage us all to be more aware of the wonders around us.

While I am talking about the wild world, I should mention my ‘colleague’ at The Recorder, Bill Danielson, who writes a fabulous column Speaking of Nature with special pages for kids. He also has a website of his own. Click here to see his columns and hear about his upcoming books.

This Post Has 14 Comments

  1. Lisa at Greenbow

    Hi Pat, I checked out your friends blog. It is really nice. I also like the new Wildlife garden blog.

  2. Carol

    About this time of year I feel like my garden is all wild Pat! Since I have hardly been gardening for the last six weeks, it has been taken over even more. Then again I feel a bit like a wild weed myself. We are so fortunate have our share of diverse wildlife all around and within our worlds here in Western Massachusetts. Some more welcome than others in the garden … ahhhh… how to banish rabbits??! To have a garden that feeds so many creatures of the land is delightful… most are wise and courteous enough to let the plants live to generously give year after year. I think it is wonderful to see so many caring about this today… growing for beauty that feeds our souls, bodies and our neighboring insects, birds and mammals is a great movement towards change. Pesticides will disappear too! May bugs multiply and prosper! Although less ticks would be appreciated… luckily I have not seen any for sometime… though I know they are here and there somewhere! I do not wish to encourage black flies and mosquitoes either! Good luck to the new wildlife blog!! I know I will enjoy visiting! ;>))

  3. Pat

    Lisa – I’m glad you checked out Bill’s website and the new Wildlife blog. I think it is great.
    Carol – There are bugs that are not as delightful, its true – and hard to remember to be grateful for bugs which some of them are so dangerous. But we are lucky in our part of the world – and that people are more caring than they were. Less pesticides is a good thing. I hope you are thriving like a wild weed. They seem to always overcome drought, heat and other problems.

  4. Carole

    Pat: thanks so much for the shout-out for our new Beautiful Wildlife Garden group blog. It’s so exciting to see the wonderful response we are getting, and are thrilled to find ourselves mentioned here in your post. I’m finding more wildlife gardeners everywhere I look, and that is so nice.

  5. Chris McLaughlin

    Pat ~ How wonderful that you’re enjoying Beautiful Wildlife Garden as much as we are (and bless you for the shout-out)! Nature paints the prettiest landscape, yes?

    ~Chris

  6. Thanks for the shout out Pat! It was great meeting you in Buffa10.

    Just want to give a mention to Carole Browne at Ecosystem.com, one of our co-founders at http://www.BeautifulWildlifeGraden.com. Carole is the ninth blogger in our team and our blog designer.

    We are thrilled to be connected with other beautiful wildlife gardener like YOU! Helen

  7. Lisa

    Thank you for the kind mention of our new site! I love your mention of insects, we DO need more..they are perhaps the least appreciated members of our backyard eco-systems and the first link in a very big food chain. More insects means more beautiful wildlife! As for the tansy, at least it makes a really great organic insect repellent for the veggies in our garden… it smells awful! LOL!

  8. Pat

    Carole and Helen – Forgive me for leaving out the Ecosystem link. All the blogs are so enjoyable and informative!
    Chris – Mother Nature does paint the most beautiful landscapes and it doesn’t look like she is even trying.
    Lisa – It was just wonderful meeting the Soil Sisters in Buffalo – even if we didn’t have enough time for more visiting.

  9. Kelly Senser

    Hello, Pat.

    I love the photo you open this post with, as well as your mention of sharing experiences with your grandchildren. While I enjoy checking out the animals that visit our garden, I especially enjoy exploring with my kids. Cheers to nurturing a sense of wonder and love of the outdoors!

    All the best,
    Kelly

    P.S. Here’s the link to “National Wildlife” magazine’s wildlife gardening section, if you ever want to check it out: http://www.nwf.org/gardening.

  10. Kathy Green

    I love the picture of the baby fawn, it looks so at home in your gardens. I will add my thanks to all the other team members for taking the time to give our new blog a glowing review! I’m so happy we have so many people interested in wildlife gardening.

  11. OMG – I love that porcupine photo! How cool to see one, much less be able to photograph it. Thanks for the shout out!

  12. Pat

    Kelly – Thanks for National Wildlife link. You can count on my visiting.
    Kathy – That fawn was actually terrified, and waiting for me to disappear so Mama could come back and they could go back into the field.
    MMD – That visiting porcupine was amazing. He stayed around for about a week and slept in the compost bin, which I guess generated a little heat, or was out of the wind.

  13. Ellen Sousa

    Pat- love the picture of those wild boys from the wilds of western MA. They look like good blueberry pickers to me! So happy to hear you have found the Wildlife Garden community, it’s like home for habitat gardeners…

Leave a Reply