Footprints


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Step lightly
To do as little harm
As we step forward
In a world teeming with life

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Time and the forces of nature
May erase some of our former steps
But there are more than 7 billion of us

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Ever stepping forward
Ever the desire
Ever the need for more

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Our footprints become heavier
As we mar the ground beneath our feet
Ever harming more living things
Those that are not us

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The steps of the past are still there
If we look behind

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It is to our next steps
To our children, and to theirs’
To learn
To teach

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To step lightly
And do as little harm
In a world teeming with life
For it shouldn’t be only about us

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Landscape Thursday : Rorschach Eating Habits


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Red Bud leaf

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Rorschach Ink Blot

First impression – was the leaf folded when whatever ate it?
Second impression – why can’t whatever is doing this, do its’ eating during the day when I could get a picture of it?
Third impression – It’s obvious to second impression for the eater would become the eaten – eating in the light of day

Curious Friday: A Matter of Design


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Look around
Life made of small patterns
Small designs
Woven into the fabric
Of a world we see everyday
Easy to miss
One has to look close
Take the time
Yet when you see it
All the small patterns
All the small designs
The whole looks different
And maybe a better place

The picture above is of a fungus called Splash Cups or Bird Nest fungus – Crucibulum laevehe The fungus lives on decaying wood and the bird’s nest is the reproductive part. The little eggs inside are called peridoles that look like seeds but contain spores inside. The peridoles open and little drops of water splash into the cup spread the spores to surrounding areas.
They are usually only about a 1/4 inch in size.

Curious Friday: Re-purposing


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Click to enlarge

I’m always looking for things in nature that might be of interest to young ones when I do presentations. I had collected this bird nest last fall that fallen to the ground and put in my garage to store. I found this nest very interesting in the materials used and how it was woven.

Well as you can see I had a family of field mice who like my garage as their winter home and saw the nest and thought it would be ideal winter den, after some improvements. With little strands of items on hand they did a nice job of it.

So now that it has been re-purposed and no longer in use I might try to keep it for I pretty sure kids might enjoy seeing it.

Onesies, Twosies and IPM


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Sadly, this post isn’t about fashion, for when I created this title I learned that ‘onesies’ is also a garment that is wore by babies to adults, but opinions I leave to others
Let’s end this fashion scourge once and for all
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/11/anti-onesies-petition Onesies:
One Direction at Battersea, London, Britain - 08 Nov 2010

This about while I’m working or just wandering about taking pictures I come across something that I haven’t seen before or only on rare occasions. Many times I see something that I’m not sure what it is.
I try to click a picture to help me later ID it, which most times isn’t easy to do. I try to use Bug Guide.net as my first source, but I’ll say there are so many creatures out one can help stand in awe.

The lighting isn’t great, they’re on the under side of a leaf or it goes to ‘flight or fight’
For I’m sure a camera lens looks like something that wants to eat it. So trying to move slowly trying to do the best I can, only to learn after that the shot didn’t always come out that good.

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I find one of something that is new to me, but I figure there has to be more of them, for as it is with almost all living things it’s a matter of surviving, thriving and reproducing.

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One has to wonder is it a beneficial or is it a pest and might that sometimes be a judgement call. For what if that what we consider a pest, might it be a beneficial to some other species’ as a food source or in other direct and indirect ways?

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And when I see them are they associated with that plant, does it serve as its host plant or was it just by chance that it landed where it did?

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And if it might be a host plant, how is it that insect knew that it was there.

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We get excited when insects come to pollinate the flowers of our plants, but not that excited when they decide to chew on its’ leaves.

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This brings me to the last part of my tale that of IPM
“Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of common-sense practices. IPM programs use current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment. This information, in combination with available pest control methods, is used to manage pest damage by the most economical means, and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment.

The IPM approach can be applied to both agricultural and non-agricultural settings, such as the home, garden, and workplace. IPM takes advantage of all appropriate pest management options including, but not limited to, the judicious use of pesticides. In contrast, organic food production applies many of the same concepts as IPM but limits the use of pesticides to those that are produced from natural sources, as opposed to synthetic chemicals.” EPA

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Just because we find an unknown insect on our plants or leaves being eaten do we have to react to it? In the evolution of plants and other species hasn’t it been built in to each of their survival The interaction and dependence of each in ways we may not understand.

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There are plenty of products out there that pretty much can kill anything – insects, fungus and plants, but is it that selective to kill only what we want and nothing else? What about those chemicals that remain after our targeted pest is removed?
And are we wreaking havoc on the whole ecosystems by introducing chemicals we surely don’t know what they are?

And the one thing I think we all need to understand is that “Life is a Buffet” and that it isn’t or should be only about “Us”

A book that might be of interest on the subject is “Bring Nature Home” by Douglas W. Tallamy published by Timber Press