Befriending Beneficials

It's one of the biggest insects I've seen outside of a museum in quite a while.

"What the --!?"  This afternoon, that phrase sprang forth as I stopped down to pull out a plantain that was growing by my strawberry patch.  There, resting on a strawberry leaf,  was a large dragonfly of a kind I had never seen before.  I'm not an expert but I think it is a common green darner. Normally, I'm comfortable with Midwestern insects as long as they are not crawling on me, but the surprise of seeing a large insect unexpectedly near my hand did startle me. 

Once I recovered from my surprise, I quickly grabbed the camera and had the kids come take a look.  They of course wanted to touch it, despite my admonishments stay back a bit and not scare it off.  After continuing to edge closer, the dragonfly became uncomfortable and flew off. 

Without thinking, people sometimes freak out or grab the insecticide when they see any insect.  But really, not all insects are harmful.  Dragonflies, like bats and earthworms, are a beneficial species that should be welcomed into your garden and yard.  They prey on mosquitos, flies, and other insects. 

How can you encourage beneficial species to help you?  First of all, become familiar and comfortable with different beneficial species.  While you may not want them inside your home, in the outdoors, they can be extremely helpful controlling pests and/or pollinating flowers.  Gardening books and websites can help you identify some species.  You can also use your cyber-sleuth skills to identify unknown species that you find. After all, it is important to know whether that little creature crawling on your prize tomatoes is going to eat the plant, is just visiting, or is providing a benefit to the garden.

Ok, you're comfortable knowing the black and yellow orb weaver by your backdoor is not going to jump on your face and drag you back to its lair.  What do you do when you have trouble with pests or weeds in the yard or garden?  First, take a deep breath, and assess how bad the problem is.  Ideally, you want to avoid reaching for the pesticide and carpet bombing the whole place with "who knows what this will do to everythingcide."  You and your family might even be exposed to the pesticides as well.  If the problem is out of control, chemicals may be necessary, but think of it as your last resort.  Spraying everything will not only harm the pests, but it can also harm beneficials that call your piece of property home.  If the beneficials are wiped out, you have even less protection if the pests and weeds come back.  And lets face it, pests and weeds usually do. 

Great!  Your thumb is no longer resting on the big red pesticide nuclear button.  What else can you do to help those great beneficials?  Consider setting up micro-habitats for them. If you want frogs or toads to help control insects, they are going to need a nearby water source.  Birds may need a safe nesting site while other animals may need a place such as small brush pile to hide in when they rest. 

Good luck encouraging Mother Nature to help you in the outdoors.  A little assistance from us can help beneficial species prosper. 

Developing an Apppreciation for Nature

  How can you develop an appreciation for nature?  Go outdoors.  A person's appreciation for nature begins with and is sustained by that.  Appreciation does not mean unconditional love.  There are things in nature that can be painful and poisonous, wondrous and beautiful.  But respect and knowledge can be gained for natural things when you step out of the doorway to your home.  My own appreciation for nature began there.

  I had the fortune of growing up in a rural, midwestern town.  Countless unstructured hours were spent outdoors.  A lot of time was spent playing in the yard and sandbox.  As I write this, there are memories that I am recalling that I have not thought of in years.  There were the thistles that grew in the yard, eating fresh rhubarb with a friend, catching lightning bugs, discovering that you can be stung by caterpillars (I do not recall the type).  My sister and I ran laps around the house during a summer shower.  One summer I decided to knock a wasp nest down from the shed using a baseball.  The memories of hearing people yell, "Run!!" now brings a smile to my face.  I don't think I ever ran so fast.  The free play allowed me to discover, and figure things about nature on my own.

  Having 100 percent of your outdoor time to be free play is limiting though.  When a child discovers something, adult guidance can help create further understanding. When I found a small brown lizard on a tree, my grandfather told me that some lizards can lose their tails to predators.  They can then regrow a lost tail.  That was completely fascinating.  Opportunities to learn come from discovery.  Those opportunities give us a reason to learn. 

  There are many things that keep one inside.  Television, computers, phone, unsafe neighborhoods, limited access to green space are such examples.  I admit that I have spent time creating in Minecraft, conquering in World of Warcraft, and exploring other video game worlds.  While these can be fun, they can also be prisons that keep us indoors.  The entertainment that people create is impressive, but nothing is truly as fascinating as the art that Mother Nature has painted.  So take some time, disconnect, and go outdoors.  Take someone with you.

I Just Mowed the Lawn. Now What?

Now what indeed?  Leave it where it lies.  Why rake it, blow it, or bag it when you could use that time to enjoy your yard instead?  Grass clippings decompose quickly and will return nutrients back to the soil.  By doing this, you will drastically reduce the amount of compost or fertilizer your yard will require.

If you insist on raking up the grass clippings, place it in your compost.  Or let the clippings dry out in a mesh bag.  When they have turned yellowish brown, use the clippings as a locally sourced mulch.  If you do not let the grass dry before you mulch, you run the risk of having too much nitrogen being emitted into the soil.  Too much nitrogen at once can harm the plants that you are encouraging to grow.

As a final note of caution about using grass clipping for mulch or placing them in the compost bin, only use grass that has not had any synthetic chemicals added to it.  Conventional soil fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides could potentially damage or kill plants and beneficial species that help to sustain your micro ecosystem.

Building Appreciation for the Natural World

Yesterday, my young kids and I went for a walk to a nearby playground.  What is special about this playground is that it borders a stream that does not have a lot of human influence.  The plants are allowed to go grow naturally and it does not appear to be sprayed.   

After a lot of playing on the swings and slides, we started to return home.  We stopped along the edge of the stream to see if we could spot any fish.  Although we could not, we did see a water bug hopping on the water and several neon blue dragon flies.  (I don't what the names are sadly).  

 Further down the stream, a frog was hopping through the water in a shallow area on the far bank.  When we went to the edge of the stream to get a closer look, the frog had hidden in the grasses.  We could hear its chirping but could not see it. After giving up looking for it, we moved about 50 feet and we encountered a muskrat watching us from the edge of the path.  It of course quickly disappeared as we got too close.

Seeing nature up close instills a sense of the natural world.  When we are in the car, I point out different sights but it doesn't create the same sense of wonder and as being close to nature.  Today they were quite willing to get close to a cicada that we found on the sidewalk.  Who knows what we will find tomorrow?

What are your memories of being close to nature?