Bee Better Naturally with Helen Yoest 10 MAR 2016

Bee Better Naturally has a lot of exciting changes to come. While I’m still learning how to use Squarespace, my now website hosting site, I’m also learning how to create online courses. I thought the first mini-course would be ready by now, but I realized I was rushing things and have pulled back. Instead of an April 1st launch, I’m now looking to lunch on Earth Day, April 22nd. Stay tuned. The course is called the Monarch 95% Club.

Did you know in nature, only 5% of monarch butterflies reach adulthood? Our mini-course includes a members site and a download of ten of the most common milkweeds across the US with graphics.

The Monarch 95% Club is a membership site; and as a member commits to growing not only more milkweed but also raising monarch egg and caterpillars to adulthood, vastly increasing the survival rate up from just 5%.

Stay tuned!!!

As we grow our courses, we hope to expand our mailing list. If you haven’t already subscribed to our newsletter, where we off a free monthly maintenance gardening guide, please do so. For more than ten years I have been adding and tweaking these 12 posts to be more wildlife friendly including food and decorating. I hope those of you who have subscribed, find it helpful. If so, I’d love for you to leave a comment!

You may have heard I’m leaving Ferrington Village as one of their gardeners. I loved the work, but it was time to move on. It was the fastest two years and three months I can remember. Why? Well, there were several reasons, but I wanted to do more challenging and rewarding work, so I’m back writing and focusing on technical writing. I’ll be a technical editor and writer for Merck Pharm. I’m super excited. And knowing I’m back at a desk all day, I can save my physical strength to work in the Bee Better Naturally Teaching Garden!

Bee Better Naturally with Helen Yoest is alive and well. You’ll see even more from me. As mentioned above, I will be writing and producing online courses. These online courses will be challenging and rewarding.

So lots of exciting happenings with Bee Better Naturally. If you are on Facebook, click here to like our page at Bee Better Naturally with Helen Yoest.

Also if you subscribe to this site (see above yellow bar) you will also get a free download of Getting Ready for Bluebirds!

Until soon, Helen

Factors in the Milkweed, Asclepias spp., Decline

 NATIVE East of the Rockies MILKWEEDS FOR MONARCHS

Our director, Helen Yoest, has grown a lot of different milkweeds in her home garden she calls, The Bee Better Teaching Garden. Some milkweeds are more successful in attracting adult monarch butterflies to lay her eggs than others types. And the very best and most widely available, is the non-native tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. This non-native has brought with it controversy as to its use. Keep reading. You can help!

WHAT HAPPENED?

The monarch butterfly population in North America is down by 90% in just the last 20 years. One of the biggest factors in monarch decline is the increasing scarcity of the monarch’s host plant, milkweed, Asclepias spp.

We humans have a tendency to want to point to an accuser, even though there are often many factors to any problem. In this case the accuser is Big AG. Their crime? Using genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or in other words, seeds or crops.

How GMO Seed Works. GMO seeds are seeds that have been modified for specific traits. In the case of corn grown throughout the midwest, GMO corn seed is resistant to Roundup and can be used on corn crops to control weeds, and not affect the corn plants.

These weeds, in a large part, are milkweed. Without milkweed, monarchs can’t successfully reproduce and the species declines. By planting milkweed in your own garden, landscape, and throughout your community, you can help reverse this decline of monarchs, at least in a small way, and by doing so, you become a part of a bigger group helping!

There is no doubt GMO seed use contributed to the decline in milkweed populations, but there is scientific evidence to show monarch butterfly and milkweed declines significantly predate the use of genetically modified crops.

We believe there are many factors attributed to this decline including sprawling urbanization, loss of native grasslands, as well as droughts and deluges. . Our focus should not be on the past, but rather to the future and what WE can do now.