A lawn can be green and still be empty. Rebuilding nature means asking what lives there. When we add native plants and reduce chemicals, everything begins to change. Bees arrive. Butterflies pass through. Birds linger. What was once surface becomes habitat — alive and connected.
Posts by andersene
edithandersen593117.substack.com/p/when-racco...
A “perfect” lawn might look good—but it’s often empty.
No bees. No birds. No life.
The good news?
It doesn’t take much to change that.
A few native plants. A small wild corner. Letting nature back in.
Life returns—quietly, but surely.
edithandersen593117.substack.com/p/sounds-of-...
edithandersen593117.substack.com/p/when-a-nei...
In a small town in WV, a few neighbors let parts of their yards grow differently.
They left a strip unmowed.
They planted milkweed and bee balm..
Butterflies began to appear.
Fireflies returned in greater numbers.
Native bees hummed where silence had settled.
Birdsong thickened in the morning air.
Invasive jumping worms are now in Michigan — devouring leaf litter, weakening soil, and threatening gardens and native habitats.
Check your mulch. Clean your tools. Don’t move soil.
Rebuilding nature starts below the surface. 🪱
#JumpingWorms #SoilHealth #RebuildingNature #Michigan
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is one of America’s most pristine freshwater treasures; and it’s at risk of being opened to mining.
Contact your U.S. Senators —ask them to oppose any measure that weakens protections for the Boundary Waters.
Clean water is not partisan. It’s generational.
February is National Bird Feeding Month
For many, spotting a cardinal isn't just beautiful—it may be a comforting sign that a loved one who has passed is near.
Whether you believe it or not, it's a sweet reminder of the meaning these little visitors can bring.
Some people don't harden. They open. The way soil does in spring — broken, receptive, ready to hold whatever needs to take root.
I planted an oak when I moved into my new home in 2024. It’s still young and skinny.
Oaks cool neighborhoods, slow stormwater, feed wildlife, and quietly pull carbon from the air.
If you plant one thing for tomorrow, let it be an oak. 🌱
#RebuildingNature #NativeTrees #PlantForTheFuture
Amazing news! One of Michigan’s last rare prairies may be saved. Conservation groups are raising funds to protect Sibley Prairie and its threatened pollinators. Hope in action. 🌱
#RebuildingNature #SaveOurPrairies #NativePlants #Pollinators #GoodNews
Winter looks quiet.
But it isn’t empty.
Under leaf piles, hollow stems, beneath bark—
insects wait for spring.
Birds depend on them.
Native plants protect them.
When we rake leaves or cut back,
we don’t just “clean up.”
We remove shelter.
Food.
Future life.
#RebuildingNature #LeaveTheLeaves
We live in a time of quiet loss.
Bird populations are shrinking.
Insects are disappearing.
Native plants are being replaced by turf and pavement.
It’s tempting to look away.
But looking away is how we arrived here.
People often think restoration requires grand gestures.
It doesn’t.
Since 1970, we’ve lost one-third of our birds.
Butterfly populations dropped 22% in just 20 years.
Insects — the foundation of our food web — are down 40–60% or more.
This is happening in our backyards.
Please carry these facts with you.
They matter.
What we plant, protect, and notice matters.
Just read The Ten Year Affair—a tender, wry look at marriage, desire, and the lives we don’t choose. A lovely companion to Albom’s Twice. Highly recommend.
The Everglades Detention Camp is inhumane, and DeSantis must shut it down immediately. Add your name now. sign.moveon.org/petitions/st...
"It’s time to stop ignoring the hypocrisy in wearing a big gold cross while announcing the defunding of children’s cancer research. Time to stop apologizing when we were NOT wrong. Time to stop surrendering when we need to fight," J.B. Pritzker's speech to Dems on April 29, 2025.
Hey everyone, 👋 hope today treats you kindly. Drink some water, take a breath, and do something that makes you smile. You got this.
If our courts are the last line of defense, yet they stand unarmed—who will protect justice when power comes with force?
“Truth sings to you with an absence of conflict, a lightness that requires no defense and offers no offense.”-- Kerri Lake
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." ~ Bertrand Russell
👇
👇
Three American goldfinches lined up on a windowsill. Photo taken from inside.
Windowsill visitors. American goldfinch. #birds