Submitted by Ruth; a woman passionate about preserving monarchs and milkweeds...Her recent letter to the Tri-County Editor near Kiel, WI.






My husband and I walk a one mile stretch of Holstein Rd. between Sheboygan Road and County Highway H almost everyday. There are no houses on this road and we enjoy the abundance of native plants, especially the common milkweed. My husband has fond memories of collecting milkweed pods during World War II. A few days ago we happily noticed a scattering of the less common red milkweed. They were blooming beautifully and I even took photos of them. Late this AM a county-approved tractor mowed down both sides of "our" road. I made several phone calls and was told the reason for mowing was to prevent deer from hiding and then running into the road, causing accidents. This makes no sense to me. Is there a study with statistics documenting this? Milkweed is the ONLY known food source for the monarch butterfly caterpillar. No milkweeds=No monarchs. No question. With so little habitat to begin with, these thin strips of roadside habitat are all we have left over much of our countryside! In addition to seasonally destroying caterpillar food creating yet another year of depressed reproduction, we also impact habitat for fledgling grassland birds. We take this issue very seriously. Please, let's think about the delicate balance of Nature and this senseless destruction of native plants - it affects us all. 

Let's Ditch the Ditch Mowing!!

lovely spring garden
summer HEAT, garden left wild
towhees benefit 

My brother said the summer heat of 2012 was akin to a blizzard. It forced many of us indoors against our will.

After many sweaty days in the garden, I made a decision to let it go. Surprisingly, it still produced more tomatoes and chocolate mint than I could ever use.....but the potatoes, squash, beets and chard suffered. I'm shopping for fresh veggies at the local farm stand...

On the bright side.....as I machete my way toward the sungold cherry tomatoes, I'm greeted by families of wrens, goldfinches and towhees. TOWHEES! Flitting among the drooping sunflower heads. A late summer reward from my messy garden.

I'm planning for next year.... 

It seems the garden prep takes more time every year.  

It's time to haul out the stalks of sunflowers and squash shells from last year's garden. Time to dig out the quackgrass that invades on all sides. Time to plan a new layout.
 
My seed potatoes have already arrived. Garden planting anxiety has set in.