Issue #110 - November 18, 2013

In This Issue

More than Honey film

We are thankful for our habitat gardens

For trees

More than roses

For the miracle of soil

For birds and other creatures

More Than Honey
Wed., Nov. 20 at 7:30 pm

And more than just honeybees

What is killing off the world's bee population at an alarming rate? Without bees one-third of our food would not exist.

In this award-winning film, the director, Markus Imhoof, travels the world observing beekeepers, farmers, and scientists.

Through a point-of-view cinematography we will soar through the air with the bees!

Sponsored by the Iroquois chapter of The Sierra Club.

Free and open to the public

University United Methodist Church, 1085 E. Genesee St. Syracuse.

Park and enter on University Ave.

Resources for teachers and homeschoolers
from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

For middle school teachers

Citizen Science: 15 Lessons that Bring Biology to Life The goal of this new book is simple: to inspire you to engage your students through citizen science, thereby connecting students with relevant, meaningful, and real science experiences.

Citizen science can support independent inquiry as well as learning both content and process skills.

It illustrates the power of citizen science through case studies of middle school classes and also provides 15 lessons so educators can build data collection and analysis into their science teaching.

For homeschoolers

Science Investigator's Kit for Homeschoolers
This is a curriculum created especially for homeschoolers who want to get outside to observe nature and build science skills.

A ready-to-go resource, the lessons propel your child to consider the local environment through creative thinking, the scientific processes, and citizen science.

More resources for schools on My Habitat Garden website:
Science for kids
Habitat gardening at school
Note: You can click on each section of the menu to "pin it down" as you navigate through the menu levels.

HGCNY Officers

President:
Janet Allen
Vice-President:
Carol Biesemeyer
Treasurer:
Randi Starmer
Secretary:
Soule Leiter
Membership:
Linda Rossiter
Program Chair:
Carol Biesemeyer
Newsletter Editor:
Janet Allen
Additional Planning Committee Members:
Beth Mitchell
Dave Mitchell
John Allen

Our Habitat Garden

Visit Our Habitat Garden website for information on providing habitat, earth-friendly gardening practices, plants, and various creatures here in Central New York.

TIP: Click on each sliding menu item as you navigate through the menus to pin them down instead of sliding away.

HGCNY on Facebook

As as more of us participate on our Facebook page, this will become a useful resource for asking (and answering!) local HGCNYers' questions about habitat gardening.

Join HGCNY!

Becoming an official member of HGCNY is easy: just join Wild Ones!

Basic household membership is $37/year, but there are other options, too. (See membership application or website.)

Mail the membership application and check to:

Wild Ones

P.O. Box 1274

Appleton, Wisconsin 54912-1274

Make checks payable to Wild Ones.

Or telephone toll-free 877-394-9453.

Our Edible Garden

Visit OurEdibleGarden.org to see an example of a Central New York edible garden, the perfect companion to your habitat garden.

Emerald Ash Borer larva
Wikimedia: Chris857

We are thankful that for the first time, our Sunday November 24 meeting does NOT fall on Thanksgiving weekend!

The topic is an important one: the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), an invasive insect that is expected to kill all of the area's untreated ash trees.

Ash species comprise about 13% of all trees in Onondaga County, so their loss will impact Central New York's environment.

In addition, there are concerns about
* the effects of treating the trees with pesticides,
* human safety,
* cost and coordination challenges, and
* how to maintain the beauty of our natural areas.

Jessi Lyons, a natural resource educator from Cornell Cooperative Extension, will discuss the current status of EAB in our region, the challenges brought by this beetle and possible solutions to reduce its damaging effects.

NOTE: We do not meet in December. Have a joyful holiday season!

We meet at Liverpool Public Library on the last Sunday of the month at 2:00 pm. Free and open to the public. Invite a friend! (Directions)

And a TIP about using the Our Habitat Garden website: Simply click on each menu item as you navigate through the multilevel menus. This pins them down so they don't slip away.

Janet Allen
President, HGCNY

We are thankful for ...

Habitat gardeners have much more to be thankful for than have people with sterile, lawn-dominated landscapes.

Below are just a few of the many blessings of a yard full of life!

We're thankful for our trees

Some of the "Top 22 Benefits of Trees" from Tree People:

1) Trees absorb CO2, removing and storing the carbon while releasing the oxygen back into the air.

2) Trees absorb odors and pollutant gases and filter particulates out of the air.

3) Trees provide oxygen. In one year an acre of mature trees can provide enough oxygen for 18 people.

4) Trees cool the city by up to 10�F, by shading our homes and streets, breaking up urban "heat islands" and releasing water vapor into the air through their leaves.

5) Trees provide habitat for wildlife.

Read about more benefits of trees at TreePeople.org.

We're thankful we can stop to enjoy more than just roses!

Purple milkweed
(Asclepias purpurascens)

Our native roses are beautiful, but so are the thousands of other kinds of plants we can grow in our landscapes.

We're blessed with a cornucopia of plants: not just one kind of rose, not just one kind of fern, not just one kind of moss!

And not just one kind of milkweed! See the variety of native milkweeds at Our Habitat Garden.

And it's important to plant as many milkweeds as we can. Dr. Chip Taylor's estimate of the monarch overwintering population is that the entirety of this year's migrating Monarch butterfly population may occupy only about 1.25 acres in Mexico! That would make this year's Monarch population the smallest in its recorded history.

Let's make sure we have enough milkweeds available so that every monarch that returns to CNY will be able to lay eggs for more monarchs.

Read more about Dr. Taylor's recent remarks ...

We're thankful for the miracle of soil

Soil is more than dirt. Just as animals need plants, plants need soil.

When we take good care of the soil, plants will thrive.

As Karl Capek said,

"A real gardener is not a man who cultivates flowers; he is a man who cultivates the soil ... If he came into the Garden of Eden he would sniff excitedly and say: 'Good Lord, what humus!' "

Download a yard sign with this quotation from Our Habitat Garden website.

Learn more about soil from this short trailer:
Symphony of the Soil trailer

We're thankful for birds and all the other creatures who share our yard

Free serenades!

It's easy to appreciate the birds and butterflies that visit our yards.

And most of us are learning to appreciate bees and other insects, too. They're critically important sources of food and provide many other environmental services.

If you want to know more about any kind of insect, spider or their kin, visit www.bugguide.net. You can even submit photos you've taken for these entomological volunteers to identify. Insects are more interesting when you learn more about them!