Nov 192013
 
Habitat Garden at Carrie Busey Elementary School

Habitat Garden at Carrie Busey Elementary School in Savoy, Illinois. Tony McGuigan designed and supervised the installation of this ground-breaking project with Elizabeth Slifer’s 4th grade class. Learn outdoors!

 

I so miss my time on the prairie.  I was there ten days ago and already want to return.  Speaking at the Champaign County Audubon Society’s monthly meeting brought me out to Champaign, Illinois.  Creating a Habitat Garden at Carrie Busey Elementary School in Savoy, Illinois will bring me back.  “How tall is the oak tree?, Have the insectary shrubs filled out?, Are birds using the dead wood spire as a perch?” and so many more questions that will gnaw at me over the years.  I miss my children (the trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and animal habitats) in Savoy.

 

Here is my Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens post.  If nothing else, I hope you get what a pleasure meeting and working with those Illinoisans involved was.

 

http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/school-habitat-garden-in-illinois-prairie-country/

 

And if you like the buffeting sound of a windy day, then here are two videos of my Habitat Garden installation at Carrie Busey Elementary School in Savoy, Illinois:

 

The Before — Habitat Garden

The After — Habitat Garden

Any school out there looking for a Habitat Garden?  Give me a buzz — I’ll give you a flower.   Enjoy your precious time on our glorious Planet Earth.  And when in doubt, Habitat It!

Tony

Oct 172013
 
Harlequin Bug on impatiens flower stalk

I have a paper to write, so I procrastinated in the garden.  Was so fun meeting Harlequin Bug on a withered impatiens flower plant.

Harlequin Bug on impatiens flower stalk

Harlequin bug on impatiens flower stalk.

Enjoy your garden.  Habitat It!

Tony

Oct 112013
 
Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 2

Through my Canon 50D and 180mm macro lens, I witnessed the following sequence of photos.  A male checkered white, ID’d by the sparse dark spots versus the female’s abundance of brown outline and spots, is approached by another male checkered white.  Note how the grounded butterfly’s abdomen is used to ward off the approaching male.

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 1

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 1

 

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 2

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf approached by another male.

 

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 3

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf fending off another male.

 

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 4

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf approached by another male checkered butterfly.

 

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 5

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf successfully fends off another male.

 

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf -- pic 6

Male checkered white butterfly on sunflower leaf at rest, again.

 

Enjoy your wildlife food forest garden.  Habitat It!

Tony

 

Sep 122013
 
Come to the Ludwigia Cleanout Party, Lower Stone Farm, Fri., Sept. 13th, 8AM.

The Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation of Santa Rosa, California fosters education of the Laguna wetlands and watershed.  The Foundation’s “Learning Laguna” program provides classroom activities and field trips to 2nd-4th grade classrooms.  One of the field trip sites is Lower Stone Farm, a City of Santa Rosa property alongside the Laguna.  The invasive, alien, bad-bad-bad! plant ludwigia has overgrown much of the Luguna, especially at Lower Stone Farm.  Friday, September 13th, 2013, a team of volunteers will remove some of the ludwigia at one of Learning Lugana’s field stations for Learning Laguna.  Bad, bad ludwigia!  Good, good volunteers!
http://www.lagunadesantarosa.org/

Disclaimer: This video is a call to action created by Tony McGuigan.  This video is not a product of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation.

Promise: If you walk into the Laguna, your feet will get wet.  Enjoy!

 

See this 4 minute video of Lower Stone Farm BEFORE the September 13th cleanup:

 

Enjoy the Laguna de Santa Rosa and watersheds throughout!

Tony

Aug 032013
 
Cozy Cottage Egg Farm 1st Egg
Cozy Cottage Egg Farm 1st Egg

Cozy Cottage Egg Farm's 1st egg, layed by our Bard Rock hen, Marmalade. The coins are used for relative size: a Norwegian 5 kroner coin and a U.S. quarter (25 cents) coin. The eggshell was very thin and split open in the coop. Still yummy out of the fry pan!

Cozy Cottage Egg Farm 1st egg was layed!

Watch the video:

 

 

Happy habitat food forest!

Tony

Jul 042013
 
Cynipid Wasp on Ceanothus.

I will be posting my monthly blog article (due every 14th of the month) at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens:

Cynipid Wasp on Ceanothus.

Cynipid Wasp on Ceanothus.

 

Enjoy your wildlife garden.  Habitat It!

Tony

May 142013
 
Sambucas mexicana in Elderberry Pond wildlife habitat.

I posted my monthly blog article (due every 14th of the month) at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens:

 

Sambucas mexicana in Elderberry Pond wildlife habitat.

Sambucas mexicana in Elderberry Pond wildlife habitat. Perhaps the cutting shrub propagation will be successful. The young shoots look promising.

 

Enjoy your wildlife garden.  Habitat It!

Tony

Apr 142013
 
20130413 Citrus Caterpillar Corner

20130413 Citrus Caterpillar Corner

The habitat installation, Citrus Caterpillar Corner, has been in a few days now.  Today’s upgrade is to re-unite the oak spire with its bark that was left behind on the driveway.  The massive oak limb section has provided habitat for critters on our driveway for a few years; most of the bark fell away from the hardwood.  Moving the loose bark to Citrus Caterpillar Corner and creating a small debris pile with it there will strengthen Citrus Caterpillar Corner as an animal habitat.

 

See the complete write-up of this habitat installation at: http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/20130414-citrus-caterpillar-corner/ .

Apr 022013
 

Contest Entries

During each calendar month, Spore Lore will accept postings of residential wildlife habitats to Spore Lore’s facebook page, Habitat It and They Will Come.

click to post your Habitat of the Month entry

Click to post your Habitat of the Month entry.

Contest entries must include:

1) The name of the garden habitat.

2) The 4 components of wildlife habitat:

SHELTER =

FOOD =

WATER =

SPACE TO RAISE YOUNG =

3) At least one picture of the the wildlife habitat.

Entry Awards and Contest Winners

All Habitat of the Month Contest entries will receive a “Habitat It!” bumper sticker.  Habitat of the Month, as in the The Winner, will receive a signed copy of Tony McGuigan’s book, Habitat It and They Will Come.  The month’s winning habitat will be chosen from a review of Comments (facebook) posted to the entry AND ALSO from Tony’s impression of the contest entry.  In the case of a tie, two (2) winners, both declared “Habitat of the Month” will be announced.

Contest entries (postings to the facebook page Habitat It and They Will Come) will be accepted till noon (Pacific treefrog time) of the 28th day of the month (26th day for February).  Contest winners will be announced by 6PM (Pacific treefrog time) on the 30th day of the same month (28th for February).  Contest winners will be announced primarily at Spore Lore’s website (sporelore.com\Blog\Habitat of the Month Contest) and at Spore Lore’s facebook page (Habitat It and They Will Come).

To receive your contest entry “Spore Lore” sticker, and/or receive a book if your habitat is chosen as Habitat of the Month, please email your postal address to habitatofthemonth@sporelore.com; please include the name of your habitat in your email.

Please enter your garden habitat one time only.  However, if significant changes have been made to the habitat and/or significant documentation (like pictures!) of the habitat is available, then the same habitat may be re-submitted as a new contest entry. 

Create wildlife habitat and have fun.

Post your habitat to Habitat of the Month.

Good Luck!

Fine Print — Other Rules

There is no cash value for any contest rewards or contest prizes.

Participants/Entrants of the Contest give Spore Lore permission to leave contest posts on Spore Lore’s facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/HabitatItAndTheyWillCome, and to post Contest entries and Contest winner announcements to Spore Lore’s facebook pages (Habitat It and They Will Come, Spore Lore, and Tony McGuigan), as well as Tony McGuigan’s/Spore Lore’s other social media sites (Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube) and Spore Lore’s website (sporelore.com).   Spore Lore reserves the right to use the winner’s name (if provided in the contest entry), habitat name and habitat location (if provided in the contest entry),  for publicity purposes only in connection with the Contest and for no other reason.

Spore Lore is not bound to announce contest entries/winner/winners. 

GOVERNING LAW: Contest governed by the laws of California and subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. Accordingly, all issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the Contestant and Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the State of California or any other jurisdiction). The Contest is void where prohibited by any applicable law. Contestants, by participating in this Contest, hereby waive and release, and agree to hold harmless Spore Lore and all of its respective officers, directors, employees and representatives and agents, from and against, any and all rights, claims and causes of action whatsoever that they may have, or which may arise, against any of them for any liability for any matter, cause or thing whatsoever, including but not limited to any injury, loss, damage, whether direct, compensatory, incidental or consequential, to person, including death, and /or property, arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from their acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize, or their participation in this Contest, or any prize-related activity. By participating in this Contest, Contestants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor. Except where prohibited by law, by accepting a prize, winner agrees that Spore may use the winner’s name, address (state), photograph, likeness, and/or prize information for advertising, publicity and promotional purposes and to the use of statements made by or attributed to winner relating to Spore Lore or to this Contest and grants to Spore Lore any and all rights to said use without further notice and/or compensation except where prohibited by law.