Seriously?

Our property has been certified & listed with National Wildlife Federation's 'Backyard Habitat' program for over 11 years,  and we're very committed to tend the land in balance with nature, displacing as little natural habitat as possible.  We do not use any chemicals, pesticides or herbicides on our property and I put out 'no spray' signs when the county passes by with it's defoiliant. I'll keep the weeds in my ditches, thank you very much. We're not obsessed with having a picture perfect yard- but we are obsessed with the beauty and wonder of nature.

We share our home with a large diversity of wildife and insects, and we take certain measures to keep the environs 'critter friendly'.  We've planted many native perennial flowers, shrubs and fruit-bearing trees that benefit both birds and butterflies, and we've covered every window and sliding glass doors on our home with birdscreens, that effectively eliminate all window strikes. The wooded area is left in a natural state since our intent is not only to live among the wild, but to live with the wild, and to us there is a very large difference.

We take our commitment to keep our property safe quite seriously. Apparently NWF does not. They've teamed up with Scotts, a division of Monsanto and makers of Miracle Grow and many other products. Poisonous products. Toxic products.Roundup . Products that I would not touch with a ten foot pole. Products with names like 'Weed B Gone' -' Bug B Gone'.  Have a home, lawn or garden pest problem? Well, no problem! Scotts will help you take care of that in a jiffy. And those pesky mice, that are a huge food source for hawks and owls? Scotts will show you how to kill them efficiently and quickly. They even make a product called 'GroundClear'. I'm honestly a bit too squeamish to search out what exactly it clears.

The Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer label, for example, says to make sure the product does not touch your skin or clothing. It also says that if you have inhaled the product for long periods of time you may experience damage to your central nervous system. The same is true for your pets. I find it more than a bit horrific that anyone, nature lover or not, would use a product with such dire warnings. If you don't value nature and wildlife, certainly you would value your own health.. or the health of your children and pets?

To read more about this attempt at greenwashing a company that has less than a good record when it comes to our environment, you can read all of the dirty details at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. If you're as dissapointed as I am, I hope you'll contact NWF either by their homepage or their facebook page. Our NWF sign came down today. And it will stay down unless NWF reverses their decision on this toxic partnership.

Night of the Owl

winter grips all things

trusses pop trees groan owls talk

i'm listening grandfather

In the Immeasurable Cold

COLD POEM

Cold now.
Close to the edge. Almost
unbearable. Clouds
bunch up and boil down
from the north of the white bear.
This tree-splitting morning
I dream of his fat tracks,
the lifesaving suet.

I think of summer with its luminous fruit,
blossoms rounding to berries, leaves,
handfuls of grain.

Maybe what cold is, is the time
we measure the love we have always had, secretly,
for our own bones, the hard knife-edged love
for the warm river of the I, beyond all else; maybe

that is what it means the beauty
of the blue shark cruising toward the tumbling seals.

In the season of snow,
in the immeasurable cold,
we grow cruel but honest; we keep
ourselves alive,
if we can, taking one after another
the necessary bodies of others, the many
crushed red flowers.

(Mary Oliver)

Merry Musicians

When the first gray days of autumn
With their chill, have driven away
Many merry bird-musicians
That made blithe each summer day.
Or when leaden skies brood o'er us,
And the snowflakes whirl about,
Wings a cloud-gray flock, snow-breasted,
To the thickets, in and out.
Fluttering gently, lisping sweetly,
Cheery, friendly junco throng,
Neighbors till in April sunshine
North they fly, with trilling song.

(Alice E. Ball)

Hold On

Hold on to what is good,
Even if it's a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do,
Even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand,
Even if someday I'll be gone away from you.

(Pueblo Prayer)