Butterfly Effect Farm

It's that time of year! Goldenrods are falsely taking the blame for sniffles and sneezes.

Goldenrod's pollen is heavy, sticky, and doesn't fly through the air. Ragw**d is most likely the culprit of your seasonal allergies since its irritating pollen floats freely with the breeze.

Now, everyone go outside and apologize to your nearest goldenrod.

Learn more about goldenrods: https://bit.ly/3AZbJdu

Goldenrod © Kim Caruso

Monarch Tagging Demonstration this Thursday from 4pm to 6pm at ! We”ll walk through monarch tagging, followed by a q and an and community discussion.

This is a free event, but we do ask that you rsvp if you’d like to attend so we can be prepared for you! RSVP here https://forms.gle/VFLzRvsyHD1uRRj29

Bring a blanket or lawn chair if you’d be more comfortable sitting!

We will be open for regular sales during this demo.

Swipe through our post for all the details.

Peace, love, and native plants!

Tonight should be a big night of migration for birds across the United States, with an estimated 367 million birds flying south. If you can, turn off your outside lights this time of year to help birds orient properly during their southward flight. Putting outside lights on a motion sensor and/or using yellow LED bug light are additional ways to reduce your impact on nocturnal wildlife behavior.

Explore the website below to see how many birds are estimated to be migrating right now in the US and in your town tonight.

https://birdcast.info/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0jFPWhPtF0DONr0TVQ0hFDjF0dOsaRwfLdbvxYGNsSs1rybCsqXRyY6HM_aem_5QUV-1P0q0qW0OHW-hVuNw

Everyday we choose our life outcome....

September has arrived! We look forward to watching soaring hawks migrating, woodchucks bulking up for winter, and mushrooms popping up around the sanctuaries.

What are you excited to see this month?

Download the almanac here: https://www.massaudubon.org/nature-wildlife/outdoor-almanac

In this Newsletter! Monarch tagging date. Free event = free native plant! Learn what you need to create a monarch habitat and hear all about Nantucket Wildscapes Initiative! - https://mailchi.mp/butterflyeffectfarm/creating-a-monarch-habitat-and-our-tagging-event

We are definitely not your average nursery! We are an experience in itself and offer native plants that help re-create biodiversity, have immense ecological benefits, and look good doing it! Not to mention you get to explore a little slice of secluded nature while shopping here💫

Join the movement with one plant!

Here are some helpful hints when visiting Butterfly Effect Farm. Also a reminder, we are having a big August Sale, Spend $100 save $20, as many times as you like!

We just got a fresh plant order in from our friends Van Berkum Nursery so if you haven’t been in a while, come see what we have😍

Here all weekend 10 to 3, and all fall for your native gardening needs!

Bare Soil & Native Bees

If you're looking to improve bee diversity and encourage native bees in your garden, then you will want to leave some bare soil for them to nest in.

Extension Master Gardener tells us, “A recent study conducted by researchers at Oregon State University looked at the interaction between agricultural soils and wild bees. While honey bees are well known pollinators world wide, ground nesting native bees can work just as hard and currently receive much less recognition.

The researchers analyzed the sites and soil the bees were using for their nests and discovered a previously unknown lipid in the soil samples, which might help with waterproofing the nests. You can read more about the soils the bees preferred in the journal article below.”

Journal Article: https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20085

UF/IFAS Article on Miner Bees: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/anthophora_abrupta.htm

Come shop for native plants, learn about reuse and recycling efforts and meet volunteers from many local organizations.!

THIS FRIDAY at the Chatham Community Center. Bring the kids and come meet local organizations keeping the Cape green, including Dennis Conservation Land TrustBrewster Conservation Harwich Conservation Trust Association to Preserve Cape CodFFriends of Chatham Waterways Friends of Chatham Waterways Town of Chatham, MAShellfish CARE for the Cape and Islands Pleasant Bay Community Boating Atlantic White Shark Conservancy Center for Coastal Studies Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Grow Native Massachusetts Green Road Refill and many more...

Happy Birthday Smokey! 🐻

Part 1, of a 2 part post about Sweet Fern!

Sweet fern has so many uses and has one of the most intoxicating fragrances in nature.

It is exhilarating and refreshing when used in a hydrosol from Birchstone Apothecary. Seriously, if you haven’t tried it, treat yourself right now! Summer must have.

Town Farm Tonics blueberries from Blueberry Hill Farm are available for pick your own for another week. So get your blueberry fix and while there grab a Front Porch Pottery berry colander to rinse! This is where sweet fern comes in, you can keep those blueberries fresh with Sweet Fern!

In this post we share Moojigitoodaa s story telling
“The Friendship of Blueberries and Sweet Fern”

“In the time before refrigeration, Ojibwe folks kept their blueberry harvest fresh by lining their birchbark storage containers with a plant called sweet fern that often grows right alongside blueberry bushes! The leaves of sweet fern produce a compound called gallic acid, which is a potent anti-microbial and keeps harmful bacteria like salmonella from growing on the berries.
It’s name in the Ojibwe dialect I’ve learned is “giba`iganiminzh” meaning “it covers the berries” because of this usage and its contribution to keeping the precious staple food of minan (blueberries) fresh!

I don’t use a birchbark container but I do pop a few sprigs of sweet fern into my gathering bag when out picking and then into my tupperware when storing berries to remember and utilize the gifts of this wonderful plant!

(Sweet fern can also be used as a medicinal tea to help the intestines and colon! And when added to a fire, the smoke will help keep away mosquitos and horse flies—in addition to smelling lovely!)” - Moojigitoodaa

You can also check out their Etsy shop to support them and their “Native, Q***r, Crafty” inspired products!

Cut and paste!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Moojigitoodaa/?load_webview=1&bid=h9pOy-zzG86SYjfWvJGgoviFlyX9

There’s so much to say about this lovely shrub (it’s not a fern), that we could never say it all.

Check out our reel in the next post Butterfly Effect Farm to hear more about this incredible, native, deer resistant, salt tolerant, host plant!
Peace, Love, and Native Plants

🌱 Join us for a journey into native plant restoration with David Vissoe, Vice President of the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society.

Dave will guide us through the inspiring story of ReSeeding RI, a project dedicated to restoring native plants across our state. From the initial vision in 2022 to the hands-on work of botanists, seed harvesters, and growers, this visual journey will give you a unique insight into how native plants are being reintroduced into our landscapes.

You’ll also learn practical tips on how you can collect, clean, and propagate native plants yourself!

This workshop is FREE and open to everyone, thanks to the program.

PLEASE NOTE: This is an updated event with a new date, time, title, and description! If you have already registered, there’s no need to re-register, but be sure to update your calendar!

👉 Check out the revised event details and register here: https://events.uri.edu/event/native-plant-gardening-6256

These two caterpillars look very similar. You will only find monarchs feeding on milkw**d while black swallowtails will feed on a variety of plants and herbs in the Apiaceae, or carrot, family.

Hello August!

Find web and pdf versions at massaudubon.org/almanac

Lawn as area rug. Lawn as place for dogs to do their business. Lawn as access point. Lawn as firebreak (if needed in your area). Lawn as negative space in a design to help calm the eye and guide it through the space.

We're not anti all lawn -- we're anti lawn as default landscaping mode that's wall-to-wall carpeting.

We have FAR too much lawn in this country, especially in places it's never used (soccer, picnics, events, garden design), while the maintenance of those wasted, unused spaces throws away fresh water and pollutes the air through maintenance equipment and less ability to cool / clean air compared to taller grasses, flowers, shrubs, and trees.

Here's our view on lawn and the benefit of alternatives to it: https://prairieup.com/on-lawn/

Nature Hacks

'They Come Already Sick': With Summer, More COVID-19 Cases Arrive On Nantucket

wbur.org COVID-19 cases in some popular summer destinations have been slowly rising, particularly on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Local health officials believe many of the new cases are arriving with vacationers from outside Massachusetts.

Clover Lawns: The Benefits and How Clover Went Out of Style

lawnstarter.com Poor clover lawns. Once a standard part of lawn seed mixes, it fell victim to bad branding by makers of chemical w**d killers. But it's making a comeback.

Lawn Mowed Into Checkerboard Becomes Natural Social Distancing Space - Urban Gardens

urbangardensweb.com The novel Cornavirus has inspired some novel ideas. From personal glass greenhouses at an Amsterdam restaurant, stuffed pandas occupying chairs in a Bangkok eatery, to pool noodle hats at a cafe in Germany, people are exercising their collective creativity to maintain social distancing and make it s...

Why Outdoor Education May Be the Key to Reopening Schools Safely | Bioneers

Wouldn’t this be something if it were to gain momentum?!

bioneers.org A swift move into outdoor learning may well be the only way that school districts can reopen safely with maximum enrollment while minimizing risk.