insects

Taking wing: celebrating the Season of Creation

Face to face with a vivid orange, black, and white field crescent (Phyciodes pulchella) on top of tall purple fleabane (Erigeron peregrinus) in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada. Photo by Betsey Crawford.

We evolved on a planet filled with winged creatures. Soaring above us, buzzing around us, filling our air, inspiring us. They pull our eyes and minds upward. Their colors dazzle us. Our ears have been attuned and our souls elated by their songs. They are messengers of life, industry, mortality, mystery.

Gardening as if life depends on it

beautiful white flower of California native shrub for gardening: snowdrop bush (Styrax redivivus). Photo by Betsey Crawford

What we do with our land, however small an area, matters not just to us, but to the life of our planet. Landscaping isn’t a static, visual element but an active participant in the world we create. It can foster healthy soil and air or drench it with chemicals. Clean water as it filters through healthy soil or send it laden with toxic compounds to underground aquifers or nearby waters.

Most importantly, it can help save birds, butterflies, and other living beings from extinction.

Laudato si, repictured

Laudato si — Praise be! — are the opening words of each of the verses in Saint Francis’s beautiful Canticle to the Sun, and is also the title of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical defining the Catholic Church’s doctrines on the care of the earth. Last year I discovered that September 1 had been chosen as the annual World …

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Treasuring bees, saving the world

The invitation came from Susan Friedman, whom I met on the weekend with Joanna Macy, and whose native plant gardens were part of Retaining Paradise. The Work that Reconnects workshop was held at Canticle Farm, an urban farm in Oakland, a more or less rectangular open space created by combining the yards and gardens behind …

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Blessed unrest: the bioblitz

I’d never seen the word bioblitz until I got my first invitation to one. It had instant appeal: join a group of volunteers to survey a specific area, in an effort to catalog every species you find. Being on the ground taking photos of plants and bugs is one of my favorite things to do. …

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