Winter Wildlife!
HMM Newsletter
Volume 5 – February 2023
I hope everyone is settling in to the new year and enjoying nature as much as possible!
What’s New?
Surf Video
I made a short edit of Tyler surfing, including some clips of the local beachgoers.
Local Happenings
Nature’s Art and Garden Supply
I have an original painting and new prints up for sale at Nature’s Art and Garden Supply. Check out the store and send me an email or message if you’re interested in making any purchases of my art. Hope to see you there!
Garden Magic
Winter Wildlife
Nature doesn’t slow in winter, especially in Florida. Some plants may be dormant, and there may be less bright green new growth, but I still see all sorts of activity in the garden this time of year. Recently, I photographed an American Robin, Southern Toad, Eastern Phoebe, Palm Warbler, White-tipped Black Moths and Blue-crowned Parakeets, just to name a few, all from our backyard. Here are a few of my favorite images. Check out the rest on my website in the recent images section, or on my iNaturalist profile.
White-tipped Black Moth and Bidens alba flowers
Blue-crowned Parakeets eating American Elm seeds
American Robin
Western Honey Bee and White-tipped Black Moth on Bidens alba flowers
Brown-winged Striped Sweat Bee
Final Thoughts
Tyler and I are very lucky to own a home on just a small piece of land. With that ownership comes a responsibility for stewardship of the land. Land stewardship is a component of indigenous cultures all over the world, and for good reason. So many problems with our waters and our soils and our wildlife stem from the way people treat their properties, small or large. Their lawns manicured, the air dead and silent, many people remain ignorant of the impact of the fertilizers they spray, and the pesticides they use, all for the visage of cleanliness and organization. But it’s all a front, because the chemicals don’t disappear. The fertilizers seep into the waters, causing algae blooms and death in our waterways. The pesticides kill pollinators, spiders, ladybugs, caterpillars and more, and work their way up the food chain to birds and other wildlife. The same water that we pollute, comes out of the very faucets we drink from. People eat food from grown from already near-depleted soil, and throw out the excess to sit in a landfill, wasted biological potential.
If you own any piece of land at all, take responsibility for the piece of the Earth under your feet. Build the soil and nurture the soil microbial life by composting all food and yard waste. Plant native species and restore the landscape. Instead of a lawn, grow a botanical garden filled with native wildflowers and native shrubs, fruit trees, native trees, vegetable no-dig garden beds, whatever your heart desires. Trust me when I say, caring for a permaculture garden is way less work and way more rewarding, than breaking out the lawnmower every couple of weeks to cut back the nonnative grasses you or someone planted in the first place, and spraying weedkiller to destroy the food for the very pollinators your own food depends on. How would you feel if every evening someone came and trashed your dinner plate right as you were about to sit and enjoy it, or sprayed it with a nice scrumptious mist of glyphosate?
Lawns are OUT. Keep them in the 18th century where they belong. Change the way you perceive things. Think, lawns: ugly. Food forests, native plants, permaculture gardens: GORGEOUS.
I know the lawns I describe in this letter are no longer everyone’s ideal, and many people are already changing the way they think about their land, and working to improve themselves and the practices they implement every day. So, my challenge to you, if you already know lawns suck, is to share your passion and optimism for the alternative with someone who’s still stuck in the 18th century. You may just be the inspiration and source of information they need.
-HM
