Happy World Bee Day! Until a few years ago, I was unenlightened about bees, especially native bees. Like most people, I thought most bees were like European honey bees (Apis mellifera) – lived in hives, made tasty honey, died when they stung you, do a waggle dance to tell their friends where the good flowers … More Learning the bees
I have seen several initiatives for monarch conservation this year. In the US and Canada, the focus is providing caterpillar food sources in the form of milkweed. A variety of programs are giving out free seeds and information about the monarch life cycle. I recommend visiting the Monarch Watch webpage for lots of good information. One … More Monarchs & Milkweeds
Enjoy the last day of autumn everyone. Tonight (or maybe last night) was the longest night of the year. Tonight at 10:48 p.m. CST winter begins. Personally I like the cozy feeling of long shadows and early evenings of this time of year, but I also like that it will gradually become spring again too. … More Winter Solstice
Have you received a kiss under the mistletoe yet this season? There are a variety of mythologies surrounding mistletoe and winter traditions. Because of my celtic ancestry, let’s hear a few from the British Isles. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant to the Druids. They believed mistletoe to have many magical characteristics: healing diseases, antidote to poisons, … More Tis the Season to Decorate with Parasites!
The other day it was warm and windy. At home, I had the windows open and with every gust of wind I could hear the acorns steadily falling onto the backyard picnic table. I noticed in the mid-summer that this year would be a bumper crop of acorns. Our oak tree’s bottom limbs were almost touching … More Acorns Are Everywhere!
Priscilla H. C. Crawford 