Food Freedom Milwaukee

06/02/2026

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05/31/2026

05/27/2026

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1 Stories. Latest story added on 26 May 2026. See insider moments and handpicked daily stories you won't find anywhere else.

05/26/2026

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05/24/2026

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You should be planting goldendrod right now.

But not Solidago cansdensis or altissima; in fact when these inevitably blow into your garden they should be eradicated -- unless all you want is 5 foot tall goldenrod in a few years.

There are several other species that play nice in the more modest spaces of urban and suburban beds most of us employ. And they are powerhouses for nectar and pollen, especially for species migrating through at the end of the season or storing up to overwinter in nearby plant / leaf litter.

Solidago flexicaulis -- I use this one a lot in shade to dappled shade or east-facing gardens. In pure loam it can have a higher sociability (webinar on May 28 coming up to dig into this metric big time), but in our mostly clay or clay-loam soils -- with healthy density and plant competition more akin to what we'd see in the wild -- it is not a brute. Plus, when flowering, it smells like my late grandmother's perfume.

Solidago nemoralis -- This one has become a sun stalwart for me in just the last few years. It is a stud. Because it's shorter and also not incredibly social (in dense, layered plantings), it plays nice in front yard lawn conversions from an aesthetic standpoint. Plus, the seed heads almost rival the blooms imo. I'll see how long-lived it is, but expect it to be more an early-succession perennial as they tend not to love taller plants around them (again, perfect for shorter gardens).

Solidago speciosa -- It can get tall, so I limit it to the middle of a bed or large area or back of a bed. I've also experimented with ye olde chelsea chop, and am doing more so this year to see if it will still bloom but at shorter than 4-5 feet tall. Last year I think I snipped it back too late into summer, so this year I'm trying to do it by June 1 vs July 1 (I feel like it didn't bloom as much last year). I don't find this one to be a prolific seeder in dense, layered gardens, either -- but that's always the caveat. Density. Layers. Most of us think plants have to be spaced to breathe or something -- but that's not how it works in a meadow where there are dozens of plants in a square foot.

So get your C3PO on now. There are MANY more goldenrods out there to try.

05/24/2026

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A "messy" yard and a "clean" yard look different to a human. To wildlife, the difference is food and no food. Shelter and no shelter. Alive and empty.

A manicured lawn with trimmed hedges, mulched beds, removed leaf litter, and sprayed borders provides almost no habitat for the species that control pests, pollinate plants, and feed birds.

The "messy" features most homeowners remove are the ones most species depend on. 🌿

LEAF LITTER (removed in fall cleanup) — Shelters firefly larvae, moth pupae, overwintering beetles, salamanders, toads. Feeds the decomposer community that produces soil. Removal = the entire soil food web loses its substrate.

DEAD BRANCHES (pruned for aesthetics) — Woodpeckers drum on them. Cavity nesters nest in them. Insects colonize the wood. One dead branch supports more life than a living one.

BARE SOIL PATCHES (covered with mulch) — Seventy percent of native bees nest in bare ground. Mulch eliminates access.

TALL GRASS AT EDGES (mowed to the fence) — Ground-nesting bees, firefly pupae, toad shelters, box turtle foraging habitat. Mowing removes all of it.

SEED HEADS LEFT STANDING (deadheaded for looks) — Goldfinches, sparrows, and juncos eat the seeds through fall and winter.

🐾 The hybrid approach:

- Neat in front. Wild in back. Mulch on paths. Leaves under shrubs.
- The "messy" section can be small — a ten-by-ten-foot patch produces disproportionate habitat
- Every feature removed reduces the species count. Every feature left supports multiple species.

The yard that looks "finished" to a neighbor is often empty to the ecosystem. The yard that looks "neglected" is the one where everything is working.

05/24/2026

Bonjour! If you are a native plant fan, a front yard native garden recipient, and/or a food freedom supporter, join us in a round robin of our installations at participating gardens in and around Riverwest, meetup at Riverwest Radio this Wednesday by bike or car, tour leaves at 6! We will evaluate the installations and identify what's good and what to w**d and how!

05/24/2026

Excited about this collective of native plant experts bringing lots of very special species!