Evergreen Garden Club of Deer Isle Maine

  Smithsonian Article: Meet the Ecologist Who Wants You to Unleash the Wild on Your Backyard. Fed up with invasive species and sterile landscapes, Douglas Tallamy urges Americans to go native and go natural. Meet the Ecologist Who Wants You to Unleash the Wild on Your Backyard | Science | Smithsonian Magazine

  University of Georgia entomologist Nancy Hinkle said in a press release that these "beautiful creatures" offer "free pest control." "Joro spiders present us with excellent opportunities to suppress pests naturally, without chemicals, so I'm trying to convince people that having zillions of large spiders and their webs around is a good thing," Hinkle said. https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/zillions-of-big-spiders-are-about-to-invade-the-east-coast/ar-AAUXoKV?ocid=msedgntp&fbclid=IwAR2mssisI1vpy5T-DNGpy45enXbWozyyw76fCKYc-qXZSTU6cJQkKr3yEM0

  Heather Holm's webinar is available at https://youtu.be/-SWq26siR-M. I immediately ordered Heather Holm's book, Pollinators of Native Plants , following the session. Engaging speaker and gorgeous photos.

EXCELLENT RESOURCE Wild Seed Project HERE: https://wildseedproject.net/... LINK HERE Native Plant Trust: https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/ LINK TO THEIR PAGE ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/246308762689499 Butterfly info: https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/7151e/

 Check out some of these free webinars. Doug Tallamy is one of the presenters.  Webinars - Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes  ( https://wildones.org/webinars/ )

  February is Brown Tail Moth Awareness Month and the beginning of Brown Tail Moth Eradication Month. More details can be found at the Maine Department of Agriculture Conservation and Forestry:  https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MEDACF/bulletins/3016765 Webinar February 10, 2022, 4 PM Blue Hill Heritage Trust ,  Island Heritage Trust,   Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District,  Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust , and  Frenchman Bay Conservancy  are hosting  a conversation about Brown Tail Moths in the region  with State Entomologist and Director of MFS Forest Health and Monitoring Allison Kanoti. A brief overview of the problem and management approaches will be presented.  Register for this free webinar . At some point, the Mariners Memorial Park Committee will be hosting workshop sessions, open to the public, at Mariners Memorial Park on safely eliminating brown tail moth nests, once winter snows do not impede...

  Bonita's suet cake recipe:  It's the Christmas season; time for giving. Let's not forget our backyard birds. Here is a recipe for suet cakes that I take out every year to make a treat for those birds in my backyard: 1 cup crunchy peanut butter 1 cup lard 2 cups quick-cooking oats 2 cups cornmeal 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup sugar 1-1/2 cups black oil sunflower seed or mixed bird seed (whatever you have) Melt peanut butter & lard together. Stir in remaining ingredients, including the bird seed. Pour into square or rectangular pan (mixture should be about 1”- 1-1/2” thick). Cool completely & cut into squares. These freeze well. The birds are crazy over this, and it has attracted the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers and the Northern Flickers.