Fall 2018 Almanac

Hello friends!
I hope that you had a wonderful summer and that you have an interesting Fall to look forward to. This past summer, I got to celebrate my French grandmother’s 100th birthday in Nice and also spent a few days in Maine with loved ones, enjoying life on the coast. The air is just magic there.

Welcome to the Fall issue and a big thank you to all new subscribers!!

Let’s begin with mosquitoes. If you’re concerned about them where you live, I strongly recommend putting up a bat house or two. Read about the best places to put up bat houses here as well as the benefits of bats.
Another wonderful house to install in your garden is a Mason Bee House. Mason bees are non-aggressive and are excellent pollinators. You can learn more about them here.

I really enjoy spending time outdoors, wandering through the woods and observing nature on my walks, where I have found many natural treasures. Those treasures are illustrated on the cover of this issue, and if you are curious what some of them are, I made a list here.

The artist featured in this issue is well known and his work is all outdoors, and vast. The two works I feature I found to be particularly beautiful and wondrous. I like to feel WOW when I see art and his work definitely has a WOW factor.

Also truly amazing and wonderful is the eco cinema film series. It’s fascinating and educational, beautiful and inspiring. Take a moment to visit the world that the director Costas shows us.

The featured Gamechanger has created something remarkable and enduring, and I would love for you to learn about her. I’m also excited to share the blog I posted in Innovative Design. It’s a real eye opener, about a pressing issue that we all need to be aware of but one that affects each of us.

I will be following the September Garden Calendar,as best I can, and also, and most definitely, be making the Butternut Squash soup recipe using squash from my garden. So exciting! I love growing my own food!

Have you read about Parkipelago? Do you know the difference between organic, biodynamic and sustainable wines? Are you already helping more trees to be planted by using Ecosia? Do you know why you should wipe the tops of cans before opening them, or the best way to store celery? Don’t miss the one about why you should not drink water from plastic water bottles kept in the car; even more of a reason to bring your own reusable bottle. I also shared another health story about cars, and A/C. A must read.

Trees in the forest in Maine are being cut to save songbirds and crows are being trained to help clean up a scourge in the parks, the same scourge that is contributing to pollution in the oceans. Another way to protect the ocean and the wildlife that call home, is by using this instead of environmentally harmful balloons.

It fills me with hope when I read a story about a natural and sustainable solution to an awful problem: plastic bags and food wrapping. I also get comfort when reading a soul- nourishing book like Braiding Sweetgrass, one of the 3 books I recommended in this issue.

And lastly, I added three new stories- about a wallet, a pencil case and a lamp to The Cabinet of Green Curiosities, a page dedicated to beautiful and fascinating unusual natural treasures and then others that become something else extraordinary via human intervention. Oh, and I almost forgot: Hickory Nut Milk. I made it last week from nuts I foraged from trees by the house. There was the most delicious smell in the house when boiling the nuts!

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I’ll leave you with a quote I love, from Braiding Sweetgrass: “ Breath it in, the sweet-smelling hair of Mother Earth, and you start to remember things you didn’t know you’d forgotten.”

Wishing you a fantastic fall!

I’ll be back with the winter issue!

All the best,

Priscilla