Welcome to Stewardship Garden, my habitat in Central New York
My yard, located in Syracuse in Central New York, is more than just a place to sit and relax, more than just a garden. It's a place where birds, butterflies, bees, chipmunks, and other little creatures can find food, water, cover, and a place to raise their young; a place where there are no pesticides or herbicides used that would be unhealthy for these creatures or for people. It's a place that's full of life -- a very exciting place to be. It's the kind of place you, too, can have in your own yard!
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) certified my yard as Backyard Wildlife Habitat #27815 in December 2000. In 2006, Monarch Watch certified my yard as Monarch Waystation #581.
Whether you have an apartment balcony, a city lot, or acreage in the country, you can provide the essential habitat elements and become certified as a wildlife habitat, too. (NWF has since changed the name from "Backyard Wildlife Habitat" to "Certified Wildlife Habitat".) To find out more about these programs, visit NWF's Certified Wildlife Habitat website, and the Monarch Waystation program at Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas.
I hope the information and experiences I'm sharing on this website will help you create your own habitat garden and will inspire you to become a steward of your own little piece of the earth.
If you're in Central New York, you can learn more about habitat gardening:
Free habitat gardening course starting April 9
Would you like to invite more birds, butterflies, toads and other little creatures into your yard? Would you like your yard to be more earth-friendly? Learn the basics of providing habitat for wildlife, and make your yard more enjoyable for people, too. Become a habitat gardener ... and watch your yard come to life!
Janet Allen will be teaching this 6-session course on habitat gardening starting April 9 at Liverpool Library. To register for this free course, call the library at 457-0310 or register online (use the right-most tab.)
Do you need a speaker for your Central New York club or organization?
It doesn't have to be a gardening club - everyone likes to learn more about landscaping their yards!
I have presentations on
- Habitat Gardening for Wildlife... and for People, Too
- Monarch Waystations, and
- On the Wings of Pollinators
- Global Warming and Gardeners
- New York Interfaith Power and Light, a faith community response to global warming
Contact me at hg.cny /at/ verizon.com for information about fees and availability.
You can be a citizen scientist!
Help scientists learn more about global warming by becoming a citizen scientist! A new citizen science program, Project BudBurst, asks citizens to collect data on when their plants first bud out or flower (details vary depending on the kind of plant being studied.) It's free and easy to participate. For more info…
The Great Sunflower Project
By watching and recording the bees at sunflowers in your garden, you can help scientists understand the challenges that bees are facing. It takes less than 30 minutes. It's easy. And they will send free Sunflower seeds for planting. No knowledge of bees required! For more info…
Our generation's challenge
"What we will do in the next two, three years will determine our future. This is the defining challenge. "
~ Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the International Panel on Climate Change
"We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road – the one less traveled by – offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth."
~ Rachel Carson
As much as I would like to focus on my backyard habitat, it's imperative that we now focus the nation on solving global warming so future generations can also enjoy their habitat - a world that provides food, water, cover, and a place to raise young for all people and all living things.
What we can do about global warming in our garden
The National Wildlife Federation has developed a guide and some fact sheets concerned your landscaping and global warming.
- Booklet: The Gardener's Guide to Global Warming (a large .pdf file)
- Factsheet: Global Warming Grows Trouble for Gardeners
- Factsheet: Signs of Global Warming in Gardens
- Factsheet: Gardener's Role in Reducing Global Warming
