by Scott Jenkins - Supporting wildlife doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. In fact, you can help support threatened or endangered species in your own backyard. Here are ten ways you can help support threatened species in your garden and your local community. 10 Ways To Invite Endangered Species Into Your Garden 1. Learn About Endangered Species in Your Area Do you … [Read more...]
Creating A Pollinator Garden: This spring give bees a helping hand
by Melynda Harrison - You’ve probably heard about the plight of bees. We need them for their pollination skills –one out of every three bites of food comes from plants pollinated by bees—but numbers of bees are on the decline. According the EPA, one of the factors causing the decline is lack of nutrition due to habitat loss. The good news is that we can all help restore … [Read more...]
Gardening with Kids: Expert advice on getting your family’s hands dirty
by Linda McGurk - Gardening with kids is magical, fun, and always full of surprises. When Noreen Greimann of West Chester, Pennsylvania, was a child she loved digging holes in the dirt and watching plants grow in the gardens that her mother and grandparents carefully tended to. In adulthood, Greimann’s passion for growing her own crops only grew stronger, so when she had … [Read more...]
SubUrban Outdoors: the new victory garden
by Elizabeth Small "The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they feed themselves." ? Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, 18th-century culinary expert If you were born during or around World War II, chances are good you remember Victory Gardens as a patriotic, home-front effort through which private citizens planted food to mitigate pressure on the country?s supply … [Read more...]
Notable Summer Reads for Outdoor Families
by Kelly Johnson - Your local library's shelves are probably filled with nature books for kids. But how is a parent to know which specific concepts to promote, like biophillia, for instance, a term describing humans' inherent love of nature, or ecophobia, a fear resulting from too much exposure, too young, to environmental problems and the pressure to "save" nature? Which … [Read more...]
Spring Container Gardening With Kids – Expert Advice On How To Get Started
by Kelly Johnson - Embarking on journey toward container gardening with kids often means biting off more than one can chew. A big garden seems great - until weeds set in, insects find it, and life's everyday jobs place a pleasurable task of gardening on the back burner. Then, sadly, green-thumb visions of bountiful harvests turn brown, along with the plants. Beginning … [Read more...]
SubUrban Outdoors: The Small family explores a new way of living
by Elizabeth Small Note: Elizabeth will be sharing her family's journey with Outdoor Families Magazine readers each month in a new column titled "SubUrban Outdoors." We hope you find her daily struggles and triumphs to be both enlightening and inspiring, and perhaps even humorous. ~Erin Kirkland, editor My husband recently confessed that he decided to marry me … [Read more...]