Too many times, with our fancy phones and cameras we quit living in the moment and document it instead. We have to remember to live in the moment.
As good stewards of what we manage, those of us fortunate enough to own land are charged with how we conserve the wildlife resources that co-inhabit our farms. I love turning over a board or stone and finding a small garden snake or discovering a toad in one of the cracked flower pots I recycle by laying them on their side as a make-shift toad hostel.
I quit cleaning my lily pond so that our favorite bullfrog could overwinter in the debris in the basin’s bottom. It’s delightful to see him basking in the morning sunshine on a cobblestone by his pond. OK, so it doesn’t take much to float my boat, but I’ve embraced the concept of experiencing the simpler life that is the hallmark of not only the Buchheit’s but the larger homesteading community as well.
It’s also not too late to add some perennials to help feed the hummingbirds and butterflies. Think about some curled parsley. Did you know that swallowtail butterflies love to lay their eggs in the folds of this herb? The one I planted in my front container will be just for a butterfly habitat, but I have others in the working herb garden right outside my kitchen that I will use for cooking. Make sure to add a shallow water source like a bird bath with some stones or a recycled skillet entrenched in a landscape border. It can make all the difference to small beneficial garden guest on a hot day. Please think about what I shared about living in the moment. Life is too short not to enjoy life fully.
May you be richly blessed! Anne May
