Pro tip: if you have a judgy neighbor who "just doesn't understand this whole native plants thing," leave your lawn alone/maybe mow it 3 times a year for several years until it is a dead, weedy eyesore. Then let it stay there, mocking your neighbor and their weekly lawn shearing sessions for at least 10 months. Then, and only then, put in native plant/pollinator-friendly landscaping. Your neighbor will be so grateful to see something in front of your house that's not a barren moonscape that they'll regularly come over to compliment your yard.
😂😂😂 I love this. So grateful to not live in an area with an HOA!! But our back neighbor who doesn’t let a leaf or weed stay on his lawn accused us of being “cheap” for not having landscapers come every two weeks to take care of our lawn. Meanwhile they have no fruit on their fruit trees because they don’t have any bees, and ask us how we get fruit on our trees and bushes! He’s the head of conservation in our town, too, which makes it all the more concerning for our planet 😖
Thank you for the DIY egg bites recipe! Making them and realized I forgot cottage cheese entirely 🙄 but I did have whipping cream and extra emmentaler cheese, so... same same? Hahahaha
Haha honestly it’s incredibly forgiving!! The water bath is key for getting them nice and soft — especially for my daughter who LOVES the Costco Starbucks ones and I’m like girlllll we have chickens we don’t need to be buying $$$$ egg bites 😂
We've done something similar and damp near split up because we were sniping at each other so fiercely. Glad you discovered what was going on!
Sadly, those in my social circles have been screaming about imminent pollinator colony collapse since the 90s, only to be met with mockery and derision. I remember my own parents spraying the lawn liberally with pesticides and smirking at me for being a filthy, stupid tree-hugger.
Fortunately, I now live in the Laurentian mountains, and my partner and I have covered our property with indigenous wildflowers, leaving most of it wild for animal and insect habitats.
Oh my gosh you must live in the absolute dreamiest area! When we moved in to our house 5 years ago the previous owners left tons of Preen and told us to spread it over pathways to kill weeds and we promptly brought it to our towns hazardous waste disposal day. Imagine spending money on literal poison!!!!
Where we live, there are only two seasons, really: winter, and mosquito. ;)
That said, we're on the edge of a massive wildlife reserve, so we have species ranging from foxes and deer to moose and wolves around us. It's very quiet, with hundreds of miles of protected woodland nearby, and our property is perpetually teeming with life.
My favourite time of year is late summer/early autumn, when the asters are in full bloom and the air is so thick with bees, we can feel them humming when we step outside.
So dreamy. I love our house and we live very close to my dad but I say all the time I would move if we found the perfect, remote space where I don’t see or hear any neighbors 😂😂
Unfortunately, we do have some …questionable… neighbours who live in the murder shack on the next property over, but when they're not blasting French duster and setting off fireworks, they're okay.
I've been anti-lawn for ages, but only very recently did a horticulture friend turn me on to Doug Tallamy / the importance of native plants for insect populations. It makes so much sense that they co-evolved and that plants not from the region won't support the same ecosystem! Don't know why it took me so long to put the pieces together, but I'm 1000% focusing on planting more natives, pollinators, and bird habitat this year.
Isn’t it all so fascinating?? Sometimes the information is out there it just takes someone collating it and delivering it in a way that it all clicks. That is exactly how I felt reading his work! It gave me such an immense appreciation for oaks, too. ❤️
Epic newsletter this week! The coffee - the hilarious horror!!! And wow, you reminded me that I hate my lawn so much. I’ve planted a lot of goodies since moving in 4 years ago but it still needs mowing. I mulch the leaves where they fall. I do all I can to invite the creatures. Lawns are so absurd. Thanks for this wonderful moment every week.
Omg thank you!! I honestly was like oh crap what is wrong with me? Am I pregnant?! That is how exhausted I felt 😂 we had such a dry, dry summer last year and we never water our lawn (because lol what a waste!!) that now there are tons of barren patches just begging to be planted with native species!! Thank you for the kind words ❤️❤️❤️
I love Gardener's World because I am legit in love with Monty Don 😁. I highly recommend his Adriatic Gardens series if you need an escape - I've watched it multiple times since November!
Also agree on the Merlin app - we are on an acreage surrounded by a wildlife refuge (part prairie/part slough) and so i often hear but can't see birds - i like to let Merlin record for a few minutes and see who all is out there!
Thanks for this newsletter - I look forward to it each week! ❤️
I’m so impressed with your garden! We’ve been trying to get our garden act together since we moved to this house (in Central Maine) 3 years ago. I am very behind on my seed starting this year, particularly the native seeds that apparently I was supposed to start a month ago 😅 We have planted a few native trees and shrubs too, but the invasive emerald beetles have been stifling their progress year after year.
Oh my gosh those beetles have been the bane of my existence. If they’re the ones I’m thinking of, try picking them off at nighttime with a flashlight and a bucket. They are brutal!! And you’re definitely not too late — IMHO, too late is better than too early anyways. I’ve started seeds too early and then it’s a chaotic mess trying to find room for too-large seedlings that aren’t ready to go outside yet!!
Fellow bird nerd. How do you know if you have a Fish Crow? You ask it, "Are you an American Crow"? And if it says "nuh uh," you know it's a Fish Crow 😂 (for non-bird nerds, this joke is best understood after listening to the call of the Fish Crow)
Thank you for a lovely newsletter! It made me laugh (the coffee…), gave me a warm feeling and a lot of happiness in knowing that there are plenty of us who care about our planet and all the wonderful creatures that inhabit it.🌱🦋🐛 We stopped cutting our lawn regularly a few years ago and we have more flowers every year. We leave the grass high in certain spots to let the insects have somewhere to rest, and encourage the native plants that choose to come to us.
The coffee story definitely sounds like something that would happen at my house! 😅 I really enjoyed this content, and I am so glad to have found your Substack!
Omg seriously my husband thought he was having a depressive episode or something. I have never seen him in such a grumpy funk in 15 years!! I at least sip on green tea during the day so I didn’t have horrific headaches but man it was NOT a good week 😂😂
Pro tip: if you have a judgy neighbor who "just doesn't understand this whole native plants thing," leave your lawn alone/maybe mow it 3 times a year for several years until it is a dead, weedy eyesore. Then let it stay there, mocking your neighbor and their weekly lawn shearing sessions for at least 10 months. Then, and only then, put in native plant/pollinator-friendly landscaping. Your neighbor will be so grateful to see something in front of your house that's not a barren moonscape that they'll regularly come over to compliment your yard.
...I love living in the suburbs.
😂😂😂 I love this. So grateful to not live in an area with an HOA!! But our back neighbor who doesn’t let a leaf or weed stay on his lawn accused us of being “cheap” for not having landscapers come every two weeks to take care of our lawn. Meanwhile they have no fruit on their fruit trees because they don’t have any bees, and ask us how we get fruit on our trees and bushes! He’s the head of conservation in our town, too, which makes it all the more concerning for our planet 😖
Thank you for the DIY egg bites recipe! Making them and realized I forgot cottage cheese entirely 🙄 but I did have whipping cream and extra emmentaler cheese, so... same same? Hahahaha
Haha honestly it’s incredibly forgiving!! The water bath is key for getting them nice and soft — especially for my daughter who LOVES the Costco Starbucks ones and I’m like girlllll we have chickens we don’t need to be buying $$$$ egg bites 😂
I love the Merlin app!!!
It’s the best!!!
We've done something similar and damp near split up because we were sniping at each other so fiercely. Glad you discovered what was going on!
Sadly, those in my social circles have been screaming about imminent pollinator colony collapse since the 90s, only to be met with mockery and derision. I remember my own parents spraying the lawn liberally with pesticides and smirking at me for being a filthy, stupid tree-hugger.
Fortunately, I now live in the Laurentian mountains, and my partner and I have covered our property with indigenous wildflowers, leaving most of it wild for animal and insect habitats.
Oh my gosh you must live in the absolute dreamiest area! When we moved in to our house 5 years ago the previous owners left tons of Preen and told us to spread it over pathways to kill weeds and we promptly brought it to our towns hazardous waste disposal day. Imagine spending money on literal poison!!!!
I honestly cannot imagine.
Where we live, there are only two seasons, really: winter, and mosquito. ;)
That said, we're on the edge of a massive wildlife reserve, so we have species ranging from foxes and deer to moose and wolves around us. It's very quiet, with hundreds of miles of protected woodland nearby, and our property is perpetually teeming with life.
My favourite time of year is late summer/early autumn, when the asters are in full bloom and the air is so thick with bees, we can feel them humming when we step outside.
So dreamy. I love our house and we live very close to my dad but I say all the time I would move if we found the perfect, remote space where I don’t see or hear any neighbors 😂😂
Unfortunately, we do have some …questionable… neighbours who live in the murder shack on the next property over, but when they're not blasting French duster and setting off fireworks, they're okay.
I've been anti-lawn for ages, but only very recently did a horticulture friend turn me on to Doug Tallamy / the importance of native plants for insect populations. It makes so much sense that they co-evolved and that plants not from the region won't support the same ecosystem! Don't know why it took me so long to put the pieces together, but I'm 1000% focusing on planting more natives, pollinators, and bird habitat this year.
Isn’t it all so fascinating?? Sometimes the information is out there it just takes someone collating it and delivering it in a way that it all clicks. That is exactly how I felt reading his work! It gave me such an immense appreciation for oaks, too. ❤️
Epic newsletter this week! The coffee - the hilarious horror!!! And wow, you reminded me that I hate my lawn so much. I’ve planted a lot of goodies since moving in 4 years ago but it still needs mowing. I mulch the leaves where they fall. I do all I can to invite the creatures. Lawns are so absurd. Thanks for this wonderful moment every week.
Omg thank you!! I honestly was like oh crap what is wrong with me? Am I pregnant?! That is how exhausted I felt 😂 we had such a dry, dry summer last year and we never water our lawn (because lol what a waste!!) that now there are tons of barren patches just begging to be planted with native species!! Thank you for the kind words ❤️❤️❤️
I love Gardener's World because I am legit in love with Monty Don 😁. I highly recommend his Adriatic Gardens series if you need an escape - I've watched it multiple times since November!
Also agree on the Merlin app - we are on an acreage surrounded by a wildlife refuge (part prairie/part slough) and so i often hear but can't see birds - i like to let Merlin record for a few minutes and see who all is out there!
Thanks for this newsletter - I look forward to it each week! ❤️
Oooo I will check that out!! I know, Monty Don is an absolute treasure. I bet you hear some incredible birds near you!! 🫶🏼
I’m so impressed with your garden! We’ve been trying to get our garden act together since we moved to this house (in Central Maine) 3 years ago. I am very behind on my seed starting this year, particularly the native seeds that apparently I was supposed to start a month ago 😅 We have planted a few native trees and shrubs too, but the invasive emerald beetles have been stifling their progress year after year.
Oh my gosh those beetles have been the bane of my existence. If they’re the ones I’m thinking of, try picking them off at nighttime with a flashlight and a bucket. They are brutal!! And you’re definitely not too late — IMHO, too late is better than too early anyways. I’ve started seeds too early and then it’s a chaotic mess trying to find room for too-large seedlings that aren’t ready to go outside yet!!
Fellow bird nerd. How do you know if you have a Fish Crow? You ask it, "Are you an American Crow"? And if it says "nuh uh," you know it's a Fish Crow 😂 (for non-bird nerds, this joke is best understood after listening to the call of the Fish Crow)
Haha!! At first I was like ummm is this crow choking on something? Bc that is what it sounded like!! 😂
Thank you for a lovely newsletter! It made me laugh (the coffee…), gave me a warm feeling and a lot of happiness in knowing that there are plenty of us who care about our planet and all the wonderful creatures that inhabit it.🌱🦋🐛 We stopped cutting our lawn regularly a few years ago and we have more flowers every year. We leave the grass high in certain spots to let the insects have somewhere to rest, and encourage the native plants that choose to come to us.
I also love Merlin Bird ID!!
The coffee story definitely sounds like something that would happen at my house! 😅 I really enjoyed this content, and I am so glad to have found your Substack!
Thank you, Alexandra!! The decaf has officially been relegated to the freezer so that never happens again 😂
Love, love, love this article - and laughed out loud about the accidental decaf!
Omg seriously my husband thought he was having a depressive episode or something. I have never seen him in such a grumpy funk in 15 years!! I at least sip on green tea during the day so I didn’t have horrific headaches but man it was NOT a good week 😂😂