The warmth and aroma of tea are so regenerating, even herbal teas with no caffeine give me a boost when I am tired. When I make tea I often boil a whole pot of water and use the extra to kill weeds on our patio. Not only is it a great natural way to kill weeds, but it gets me outside even if just for a few minutes when I might have gone straight back to my computer.

It is peak migration season, and a wonderful time to see well known birds returning and also to catch a glimpse of other birds we don’t usually see passing through. Birds travel at night, and stop down to replenish themselves with rest and food during the day.
With so many birds passing through it is a good time to make sure your windows are visible. Outside screens are excellent, otherwise streamers and lots of decals work, too, especially where windows masquerade as habitat by reflecting trees and shrubs.
Another way to help prevent bird collisions is to have bird feeders either very close to the windows (less than 10 feet), or more than 30 feet away.
While feeders are a wonderful way to get a close look at birds, keeping our gardens filled with a variety of plants is the best way to feed them. They need the protein from insects, especially when they are breeding.
Lights disorient migrating birds at night, so turning off your outdoor lights and even indoor lighting at night when you are not using them is a big help to them in maintaining their path.
Two awesome articles in the NYT about migration.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/actress-lili-taylors-essay-on-birdwatching/?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/05/04/nyregion/birdweek-forecast.html?src=recg

On May 6, 2014, the Town Board of Bedford, NY unanimously adopted a resolution to endorse The Great Healthy Yard Project and promote its success! The reasons included “protecting water quality and meeting MS4 compliance.”

Ninety percent of commercial beehives in the United States are used to pollinate California’s Almond crop. This year ten percent of the honeybees have died-about 80,000 colonies-an unusually high number, and beekeepers do not know why.
The unexplained death of bee colonies, also called Colony Colapse Disorder, is thought to be due to a combination of factors including mites that feed on the bees, pesticides, and using bees to pollinate vast monocultures of crops rather than diverse forage.
Neonicotinoid pesticides are thought to be a potential culprit, and spraying plants in flower with this chemical is illegal in Europe. Neonicotinoids interfere with the bees nervous system. But farmers in Canada and Australia that use neonicotinoids are not seeing the same devastation of bee colonies as in the US and Europe.
Are US and European farmers using different mixes of pesticides, or is something else tipping the balance?
Neonicotinoids have been found in dead bees around some hives. They can wind up in pollen and nectar even if they are applied to the seed or soil rather than the flower. This is a problem both for commercial crops, and crops in our yards. If you buy a bee friendly plant that was treated before you get it, it can have neonicotinoid in the pollen or nectar, and you may in fact be harming the pollinators rather than helping them.
While scientists sort out the causes, home gardeners can use pesticide free native plants and bee friendly plants that provide variety and nutrition to support struggling bees. We need them to pollinate our food!

http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2012/120111KrupkeBees.html
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/19/6338235/beekeepers-search-for-answers.html

April 26 is National Drug Take-Back Day. This nationwide program to have police stations take back unused or expired medication prevents the drugs from being misused. Surprisingly, prior to the Secure and Responsible Drug Act of 2010 there was no legal means to transfer controlled substances from users to other individuals for disposal. The secondary benefit is that this prevents drugs from being disposed of down drains or toilets, or in trash that goes to landfills, where they leach into the water supply. Instead, the drugs are taken to facilities that burn them, protecting the water supply.
To find a take-back center near you contact the Call Center at 1-800-882-9539
For more information visit the DEA site:
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/

Spring is tick season, and after a heavy snow cover that sheltered ticks from the cold, it may be a very bad tick season in the northeast. The deer tick or black-legged tick is a serious concern because it transmits Lyme disease, babesiosis, erlichiosis and anaplasmosis. But broadcast spraying not only puts your family at risk when they come into contact with it, and when your pets rub residues onto family members, the spray also contaminates runoff and drinking water. How to balance these issues? Take measures to decrease the tick population naturally.
Remove Japanese barberry wherever possible. It gives deer ticks a perfect place to reproduce and grow. It also outcompetes native plants, preventing regrowth of native trees and shrubs so you will be improving your backyard for native plants and wildlife, too. Mow the grass where people play often because ticks dry out and die when they are in an exposed area. Mulch and compost your leaves. Ticks flourish in the dark, damp underside of leaves, but not in a healthy compost pile. Consider chickens. Okay-this isn’t for everyone, but we have them, and it has made a huge difference. And, there are eggs and they are attractive walking around the garden. If you go into the woods, do a thorough tick check when you get home and remove them. When the tick population is very heavy, we also put Bio-Spot on our dog. It is localized and doesn’t wind up in our drinking water. Don’t touch it, and don’t let your kids snuggle on the pet’s shoulders for a few days until it is absorbed and not oily.

Wonderful article by Richard Conniff in yesterday’s Science Times explains that salamanders eat bugs that shred leaves lying on the ground in the forest. This helps keep the leaves intact, and layers of leaves returns the carbon from decaying leaves to the soil. This not only decreases carbon entering the atmosphere, it enriches the soil. Salamanders are very sensitive to pesticides-give them a Healthy Yard so they can help us out!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/science/salamanders-hefty-role-in-the-forest.html?hpw&rref=scienc&_r=1

Why did the salamander cross the road? If it was the first spring evening where temperatures did not dip below 40 degrees and it was raining, the answer is it crossed the road with LOTS of friends to get to the woodland pool on the other side of the road and breed! There can be thousands of frogs and salamanders crossing at the same time if the conditions are just right. This is called The Big Night. These little amphibians are remarkably cute for crawling things, and they are an important part of the food chain, but they are very susceptible to pesticides and weedkillers. Be kind to salamanders, and of course to our children, and don’t use synthetic chemicals in your yard!

Monarch butterflies are struggling because of increased pesticide usage and habitat loss. Milkweed is the only plant they can lay eggs on, and it used to grow on the side of farm fields. But with the advent of genetically modified corn and soybeans that are resistant to glyphosate, farmers are using much more glyphosate on these crops, so that everything else, including the Milkweed and the Monarch butterflies, are being obliterated. What can we do? We can refrain from using pesticides and weedkillers in our gardens, and we can plant Milkweed for the Monarch butterflies. Butterflies need nectar, too. Some plants that supply nectar to butterflies are, seasonally: Spring-Dandelions and Red Clover (another reason not to use weedkillers on our lawns). Summer: Milkweed, Butterfly Weed, Monarda, Echinacea, and in Texas and Florida Lantanas. Fall: Joe Pye Weed.
Different butterflies like different plants. Black Swallowtails like parsley and fennel (it makes them smell and taste dangerous to predators). Spicebush butterflies like Sassafras, and Zebra Swallowtails like Paw Paws.
Karner Blue butterflies, like the Monarchs, are being threatened by pesticides and habitat loss. They used to be abundant in the Great Lakes region, New York and New England. They need wild lupine. Wild lupine is also a legume that fixes nitrogen for other plants. I will be adding wild lupine to my garden this year!
Butterflies also need moisture and love sunning themselves on warm rocks in sheltered places.

Today is World Water Day. It is also the third day of spring and our gardens are starting to wake up. It is a good time to remember that what we put in our yards winds up in our water, and a healthy yard means healthy water!