Your native garden a business card - an ambassador - to the neighbor

If you stumbled onto this post chances are I don't have to convince you on the value of native plants in your garden/yard/any greenspace.  You most likely already know how valuable that island of native vegetation is to pollinators and other wildlife. What you may not know, or may not acknowledge, is that your neighbors might consider your native plant patch obnoxious if not ugly or a nuisance. Believe me, I'll be the first one to tell anyone that I find unkempt joe pye weed, cord grass or sneezweed spilling out of "its designated place" beautiful. I also know that to convince some neighbors to start using natives, you have to manicure your garden (at least at first). It seems to be particularly important  if you live in the city and have small areas to plant natives, live in an association type setting or have neighbors who are just a pain. Remember - the goal is to provide habitat, enjoy a beautiful show of flowers AND convince your neighbors to follow suit. Here are few practical tips:

1. Start with a plan - no seriously, think it through before you go to your native plant sale. It is so easy to get over enthusiastic and wanting to buy every species. 

   a. Take some time, draw it, picture it and remember prairie plants grow larger in a garden setting

   b. Speaking of prairie plants - perhaps your yard is shaded and you would do better with a woodland plants or at least savannah species. Also, see where you plant. If placing plants by a fence see if it is north or south of it. If the plants are to the south of the fence ( fence is to the north of the flowers) the plants will be exposed to more sun. 

   c. Consider moisture. Is the soil well drained (plant mesic) or perhaps you have nice muddy puddles forming after a small rainfall (wet prairie plants - maybe some sedge meadow). 

2. Resist the urge to get tall plants - don't get me wrong, I love me some silphiums. I have them growing against a fence but in all reality they do not look too good unless you have a large area to work with (which I do not). They need context, in a natural type of way. If you have your heart set on them put them in a corner or against a fence. Both prairie dock and compass plants (and to some extent cup plants) have leaves that provide great textures for winter gardens. I'll try to follow with a list of short and medium height plants soon.

3. Get something easy and showy to convince the neighbors. It is hard to find someone who would not appreciate blazing stars or spiderworts. They are beautiful and can be a good conversation starter. They (especially spiderworts) produce so much seed - a nice neighborly gesture to the interested (or guerrilla native plant seeding )

4. Get a couple plants of each species. This has multiple advantages - more plants increase the chance that this particular species will survive in your garden. It will look more pleasing to have a larger clump of species of choice. Also when seeds are produced greater genetic diversity will be present. More of the same might also give more opportunities for pollinators that like that particular plant to come back and "spread the word." 

5. Don't expect it to be completely hassle free. Yes,  native plants need less grooming and less water. But... there is a but... at first they might need almost as much care. Especially if you want them to 'behave' in a given way. It is ok to tie plants to the fence, have rocks, mulch or other things outlining the area where they are growing.

As much as you might want a wild prairie in the backyard remember we are ambassadors for natives plants and sometimes playing nice can get more results, you know you can attract more flies (or bees) with honey  than with vinegar 

I promise to do more on this later....

Dragonflies- nature's helicopters

Common baskettail (???) resting on a scouring rush (prehistoric reunion)

Recently, I took an Odonata (dragonfly and damselfly) monitoring class, and we of course were introduced to dragonfly id… The class inspired me to go back through my pictures and try to identify at least a couple. I just spent the last 2 hours on this pursuit, and I cannot say I am 100% positive about my i.d. with the exception of one common green darner, which I knew before the class (one of maybe three I was familiar with).

clubtail of sorts

common green darner

ruby faced meadowhawk (???)

someone having a"Snow White effect" i.e. attracting different organisms

Anyways, these insects are so spectacular in their look and flying abilities that I think this summer I will be paying a lot more attention to them.  Quickly I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of these flying machines. The earliest ones should be coming to Chicagoland within a month – be on a lookout!

Sprig is definitively here - and it is stinking cute

Skunk cabbage at one of the Forest Preserves of Cook County

Yesterday was the spring equinox- first day of spring – even though we did not have much of a winter this year spring is definitively here. One of the sentinels of this long awaited season is skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), a cool, almost alien-looking plant that is among one of the first that emerges.

I have been “hunting” for this plant for a while. It’s quite rare because it needs a good quality woodland or forest and preferably a seep – type of a wetland fed by groundwater. Needless to say habitat destruction has played a major part in its demise. Also, skunk cabbage is not too easy to notice, so looking for it on your own in an unknown terrain that might be a good habitat is a bit tricky.

skunk cabbage spathe surrounding the spadix (reproductive part of the plant)

Anyways, the plant is neat! It is one of the first ones to bloom in the spring, partially because it has an ability to warm the soil around it (!). The leaves come up later in the season but what you can see (often among snow or some ice on the ground) above the ground is its flowering parts (spadix) surrounded by a smooth, leathery, maroon colored spathe (you can think of it as a petal- but the plant actually lacks true petals and spathe is actually a bract – if I am not mistaken). To me it looks like the spathe surrounds the reproductive parts as if a flame of a (maroon) fire hugging and protecting the rest of the plant: very surreal, elegant and beautiful.

The names comes from the smell – the plant releases odors similar to those of a rotting meat to attract flies. Pretty nifty. 

Greening up a kid's closet

*This will not be a post about not dressing your daughters in pink - although probably many of us feel there is too much of it in their closet - it is about buying smart and green.*

Today there are many options to buy better, greener projects for our little ones. From organic cottons to 'conscious' clothing lines (not sure what that makes the standard clothes in that same store) but I want to refer us to the good old hand me downs, thrift stores and consignment stores/sales.

I feel like baby and toddler fashion is out of control. Really, your toddler needs to wear skinny jeans? One, they are uncomfortable and two such a pain to put on and potty train in. And you will pay a lot of money for them so they can put them on a total of 5-8 times. Waste of money.

And now more importantly the carbon footprint of those jeans is huuuge. The cotton might be grown in the USA with huge water waste supported by subsidies. Then the material might be woven in Nepal or Vietnam and the final product sown in China or Bangladesh. Then it needs to be shipped, once again, to US and distributed locally. It makes my heart skip a beat when i think about it. (Planet Money Team did a bunch of reporting when they designed a t-shirt and followed its creation - I recommend the podcast)/

I will not even touch upon the psychological effects of our kids thinking they always need to wear the newest trend.

I try to buy at least some of my clothes second hand and I try to do the same for my kids. I understand that a trip to a thrift store with a kid, when you are unsure you'll buy that Easter dress you are looking for, might be hard to arrange. There are kids' second hand shops (i.e. once upon a child and many local stores) that might be actually pretty pricey for what you are getting but will have a larger selection.

There are also consignment sales, that is a sale where a lot of moms turn in their used clothes for sale and pay a percent to the organizer (or a non-profit). I personally like those as the bigger ones have a large selection. Chicagoland has many of those, but wherever you are, just search the area.

Of course there are also the good old garage sales during the summer - they are not only an opportunity to reuse and reduce but to build a great community.

March 8th – International Women’s Day

March 8^th is one of those silly, yet profound holidays. We are celebrating women! Yay for me, but really, just one day a year? Or maybe, on this day we highlight all the accomplishment of women throughout time and space. If so, why do we need to highlight it on a special day, they should be acknowledged every day without spoken/written acknowledgement in some colorful parade – just by normal thank you.

I don’t mean to turn this into an angry post about how women are underappreciated (we are), and underpaid (ditto) and how much harder it is for us in most workplaces (it is). But it got me thinking about my situation, my choices and where I am as a (relatively) young and educated woman in my life at this point.

I currently have two young children (3 and 1.5 years old) and after my second one – M – was born I stayed at home. I mostly say I stayed at home as a financial decision; after paying for daycare for two kids I would be left with about ~$200/week. I also make it sound like I would love to be back at work after the twelve unpaid weeks allowed for maternity leave. It is not completely true. A part of me rejoiced in the fact that I “had no choice” and that I “had to” stay at home (yes, I do acknowledge how privileged I am that I actually did not have to go back to make that additional $200/week – I realize many mothers do not have that comfort), another part was scared, longed for the feeling of accomplishment, and the intellectual stimulation that comes with a demanding working environment.

 When I left H (my older daughter) with a loving caregiver after 12 weeks I was happy to be at work but also devastated. I would miss her, think of her and mostly by Wednesday I did not want to get up for work. I was also physically exhausted. But I liked the unrealistic idea of having it all. I practically bragged how I work, commute 75 miles one way, make organic food for my baby while working in a field that still (surprisingly) has mostly men as managers and supervisors.  And there was a lot to be proud of there, but I also missed many crucial “firsts.”

 After staying at home I found a new routine, new fulfillment, I learned to “take in” the little things, but after 8 months I started to really miss work, and I still do. I will grant you I am A LOT more rested than working mothers with little kids, and I have different kinds of stress, but I miss work which I loved and identified with, which challenged me mentally, emotionally and often physically. I miss my coworkers, fresh air, open spaces.

I feel bad when I talk to working mothers who want to stay home but feel like they cannot or really cannot. I do feel like a spoiled brat who gets to have what they want and not appreciate it. I feel bad talking to many stay at home moms who rejoice in this vocation as I feel like I am suggesting to them that their life is inadequate.

Anyways, on this March 8^th, when we celebrate women, I would like to be able to be less critical of myself and celebrate me- the me that changes diapers and the me that does data crunching.  The me that still gets angry that I cannot have it all and the me that will now go pick up my crying baby. 

Encouraging winter walks

I have to admit - I like winter. I enjoy taking a brisk walk in the cold, I love hearing the crunch of a slightly frozen snow under my boots.
This winter in Chicago has not been ideal and we have been going a bit stir crazy at home. Sure, the kids have their classes and I make other opportunities for them to run around but I really missed a walk in the park (or a Forest Preserve) as pulling them on a sled has mostly been unrealistic this year.
We finally got out, and to encourage my two girls to walk around and stay mostly on a path I had a push toy for one (a frog on 2 wheels on a stick) and a pull toy for another (a row of ducks).
This little walk accomplished a couple of things
1) burn some energy, breath fresh(er) air and avoid cabin fever
2) show budding trees (even if it was willows and grrrr buckthorn) to the girls and explain spring is coming
3) we walked over a bridge over north branch of the Chicago River so by throwing sticks on one side of the bridge and looking for them on the other we tried to introduce the concept of water flow (and it was fun)
4) we saw ducks - mallards to be more exact and one brave teal - which both H and M liked. We did not feed the ducks. Please do not feed wildlife in Forest Preserves.

Anyways it was fun and it is getting us ready for the spring -at least mentally