West Mi Permaculture Guild

05/10/2026

Interesting concept about how we perceive our forests.

04/12/2026

By cleaning up their most degraded areas, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Buffalo have created thriving lakeshore business districts, helped people reconnect with nature, and laid the groundwork for population growth into the future. Learn more about how they’re contributing to the Great Lakes region’s ...

04/12/2026

Stop what you're doing and think about that for a second.

Fifty eggs. Laid deliberately, strategically, and almost invisibly on the underside of a single leaf in your garden. The mother ladybug didn't place them there randomly. She walked your plants first. She found your aphid colonies. She chose that exact spot because she knew — instinctively, without a gardening book or a YouTube tutorial — that her babies would hatch hungry and need to eat immediately.

Within 3 to 5 days those eggs become larvae. Within days of hatching those larvae begin consuming aphids at a rate that would make the most aggressive pesticide manufacturer quietly jealous. Up to 400 aphids per larva. Multiply that by fifty eggs on a single leaf cluster. That is 20,000 aphids eliminated by the contents of one tiny cluster you could cover with your thumbnail.

And it happens silently. Invisibly. On the underside of a leaf you probably never thought to flip over.

This is what your garden is doing without you. This is what has always been happening in healthy gardens since long before pesticides existed. Nature built a system so elegant, so precise, and so effective that our greatest mistake has been assuming we could improve on it with a spray bottle.

Flip your leaves over this week. Learn what these eggs look like. And when you find them — because you will — do the most powerful thing a gardener can do.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

Have you ever found ladybug eggs in your garden?

04/12/2026

Every spring, people ask me why the native bees they attracted last year haven't returned. They spent a small fortune on perennials and covered every inch of soil in premium bark mulch. The truth is, a garden that looks perfectly tidy to us is usually a housing crisis for local wildlife. If you want resident pollinators instead of tourists, here is why you should ignore the urge to clear away all the dead stems and bare soil this weekend.

02/27/2026

Glen has settled in with his girls (mostly, Ally is still annoyed by him!) The Naughty Flock. Happy last Friday in February all! It was a brutal cold one! With that we will do a $5 Friday fundraiser! If you can, it's appreciated! We have a couple of rescues planned possibly this weekend and they'll need care.
Thank you for all your support! 🦆❤️

Paypal.me/WanderlustAcres
Venmp

#$5Fridayfundraiser

02/27/2026

02/27/2026

Addressing the environmental threat of plastic "nurdles," federal legislation aims to prevent their release into U.S. waterways.

02/27/2026

Accountability post incoming. Yesterday we confidently introduced you to a “sharp-shinned hawk.” The problem? It was a Cooper’s hawk.

And some of you came in hot in the comments. Respectfully. Passionately. With receipts. You were right. We misidentified it. That one is on us. So today we present: Hawk Redemption Arc.

On the left in this photo is a sharp-shinned hawk.
On the right is a Cooper’s hawk.

They are both hawks. They both zoom through backyards like feathered torpedoes. They both enjoy snacking on smaller birds. And yes, they look extremely similar.

But here’s how to tell them apart:

Head shape
Cooper’s hawks have a larger head that projects forward. It looks bold and confident.
Sharp-shinned hawks have a smaller, rounder head that barely sticks out beyond the wings when perched.

Neck and chest
Cooper’s hawks often show a lighter nape, giving them a capped look.
Sharp-shinned hawks tend to have a more uniform hooded appearance.

Legs
Sharp-shinned hawks have thinner legs. Think toothpicks with talons.
Cooper’s hawks have sturdier legs.

Tail
Cooper’s hawks usually have a more rounded tail tip.
Sharp-shinned hawks tend to have a straighter, squared off tail.

Size
Cooper’s hawks are larger overall, closer to crow sized.
Sharp-shinned hawks are smaller, more blue jay sized.

And yes. Size comparisons are tricky in photos. We know. We lived it. Bird ID is hard. Even for professionals. Even for people with binoculars that cost more than a small used car. The good news is we all care enough about wildlife to notice when something is off.

Thanks for keeping us sharp-shinned, err... sharp.

From here on out, we promise to check every raptor photo five times prior to posting. Please continue to shame us in the comments if you must.

Photos sharp-shinned hawk (left) and Cooper's hawk (right), courtesy of Friends of Malheur NWR Dan Streiffert.

02/27/2026

"Keeping honey bees to 'save the bees' is like raising chickens to save birds." - Scott Black, Director of The Xerces Society

Honey bees are commercially bred livestock. Despite annual losses by beekeepers, they're bred at a rate that outnumbers these losses.

Meanwhile, native wild bees in North America are at risk of extinction.

by planting species native to your region

02/27/2026

Climate Change has significantly increased Tick populations. Plant a natural garden to increase their predators.