The Apples in My Orchard
A Blog By Carol Labuzzetta Since 2017
Category: stewardship
-
Yesterday, I did something that I’ve been putting off. If you read my blog regularly, you know we’ve been cleaning out in anticipation of moving later this year. Sometimes cleaning out is easy. You look at something and think, why did I keep that piece of sh_t? Or, sometimes cleaning out is hard. We all…
-
It’s August! The monarch butterfly season is in full swing! Soon, the monarchs we see flying through our yard will be on their way to somewhere else, and it’s not just the next yard! It will be on to the next state, and the next, and the next until they reach the over wintering grounds…
-
A few years ago we let a bordered garden bed in which we used to grow pumpkins and other vegetables go unplanted. I was learning about native plants and the importance of prairies, so I had an idea to let this garden be a mini-prairie patch in our yard. The space is 36 feet by…
-
Planting for pollinators is currently all the rage! And, rightly so, we need our pollinators more than ever even as their populations have declined. The reason for this decline is multi-factorial. Contributing factors are habitat loss, competition of non-native species, pesticide use, climate change, and disease. Stabilization or reversal of pollinator population losses are essential…
-
I was worried about the loons that live on our lake last night when I went to bed. We had been at the cabin since noon. After dinner, we took a canoe ride around the lake, before dusk. Dusk is typically the time we can see loons floating and diving on our lake. It is…
-
I have often wondered if I would have enjoyed being an entomologist! Even saying that amazes me, but as I’ve aged, I am constantly amazed by the role insects play in our lives. If you don’t know, an entomologist is a scientist that studies insects. Often during the summer months, my posts focus on that…
-
One of my favorite Garden Club lessons was on Carnivorous Plants. Usually, I covered this group of plants in a unit on plant adaptations for that is exactly what these plants have done – adapted to survive! The most famous Carnivorous Plant is the Venus Fly Trap. It is a snap trap. But, did you…
-
Earlier this week, I was just getting ready to write the organization, Monarch Joint Venture, when my box of handouts arrived. If you have ever wondered what 500 bookmarks look like, check out the photo below! Spring is approaching fast and April, especially, will be busy with three different school-wide presentations. As I am a…
-
Towards the end of my schooling in Environmental Education and Interpretation, we had to take a 3 credit course in interpretive media design. It was not an easy course. The technicalities of the chosen software program, InDesign, part of the Adobe Creative Suite, were intricate and time-consuming to learn and use. However, that said, I…
The Apples in My Orchard 