Miniature Native Garden for Kids (and Kids at heart)
I’ve received a few garden gifts and plants from friends that inspired me to create this unique garden. The name of this garden is “Oboikoval Prairie State Park”, a miniature state park where Mr. Gnome lives, managing a tallgrass prairie for bison,...What a difference a year makes – cold 2013 spring, delayed plants
Remember our spring 2012 when the weather reached the mid and upper 80’s in March? This was followed by severe drought and heat. This early spring caught us all off guard. I quickly hurried to get my yard ready for a controlled burn in mid-March since my...
Wishing you a year of Nature’s Euphoria!
This time of year you’ll hear the words “Happy New Year”. My wish for you is not only for happiness, but physical, mental, spiritual well-being, creativity, tranquility, and all the benefits of being in nature. It’s something I call nature’s euphoria, others call it “Vitamin G”, (for Green space) or Vitamin N (for Nature).
Favorite Local Wild Places to visit, Part 1
When I first began learning about the prairie, I wondered why we didn’t have prairie preserves in addition to the forest preserves since Illinois was once covered in mostly prairie. From my readings, forest preserves got their name because the initial focus...Good Winter Reads I
Happy first day of winter! Winter is a wonderful time to read a few good books about nature and restoring the ecology of the land. I chose these books because they help us understand and appreciate our local wildlife, habitats, and ecosystems, which in turns helps us to understand why we need to do more in our private landscapes.