Please do something to help our pollinators! Stay tuned this week, Pollinator Week 2026, to read about pollinators, their plight, and what we can do to help them. Since my article in 2021, I’ve become a Certified Pollinator Steward through Pollinator Partnership, planted three native beds, moved to a more rural and Northern Climate, and…
Conservation
Poetry Friday: What if?
Today is Poetry Friday (again)! Is time moving faster? It seems to be for me! I don’t know what happened to the last six months! They just disappeared! Karen Edmisten is our host today. Hop over to her blog for more poetry goodness! Thanks for hosting, Karen. This week whizzed by. I’ve got my husband’s…
Poetry Friday: Me and My Bumbles
As many of you already know, I’ve been creating native gardens for bumblebees. This project started in February 2023 when I took a course from Pollinator Partnership to become a certified Pollinator Steward. The process ends when I make a community presentation on my habitat and the type of bees it is attracting. I plan…
Poetry Friday: Memories of Carnivals, Marching Band and The End of Summer
There was always an indication of the end of summer when I was growing up, and it was our town’s Fireman’s Carnival. All the towns in our area had them, and we went as a family to several. There was always a parade with marching bands and firetrucks from the host town, as well as…
There’s a BioBlitz Underway for Monarch Butterflies
One way that scientists gather information about different species is to engage the public. Monitoring life cycles, sightings, phenological events, and migrations are all ways to find out more about what a particular species is doing and how it’s adapting to our changing world. One such example is the BioBlitz that is underway now for…
Why Wasn’t the North Rim Fire in the Grand Canyon More Visibly Reported?
Knowing only politics makes us ignorant. My husband was the one who saw the news brief on his phone yesterday morning. He told me that a wildfire had destroyed the lodge at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and that part of the park was closed. Searching my phone and social media, I couldn’t…
Poetry Friday: Yosemite National Park
Happy Poetry Friday! This week’s round-up is hosted by children’s author and poet Buffy Silverman on her eponymous blog. Thanks for hosting Buffy! My husband and I spend May 28th – June 3 in three of our National Parks. We first went to Yosemite for four days, followed by Sequoia and Kings Canyon for two with…
New Monarch Activity Pack Available for Self-Study
If you’ve followed my blog for any time, you’ll know that I’ve been an active monarch conservationist for the last 25 years. Over that time, I’ve taught hundreds of community members and thousands of school-aged children about the Monarch Butterfly, their life cycle, habitat, and migration. For me, trends in monarch conservation have come and…
Earth Day & Poetry Month
Today is Earth Day. I pulled out some of my environmental lessons and am working to put them together so I can post them to Teachers Pay Teachers. One idea I had in 2020 was to make a self-study activity card pack on the monarch butterfly for classroom use. Lately, it’s been on my mind…
National Poetry Month: Day 5
I’m continuing with the prompts I’m using for National Poetry Month. I wish the word for today were disgruntled because that is how I’m feeling. Yesterday was a very frustrating on many levels, including (or maybe, especially) writing and poetry. Here is today’s poem for those who are interested. (Thank you.) Tomorrow will be a…







