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Welcome to the Latest Edition of
"Other Voices"
Last month we launched a new feature - "Other Voices" where we highlight your stories of building back habitat at home. One of our goals here at Prickly Ed's is to help connect people working to seed change in their yards and communities. We believe an important part of this is hearing others' stories. This month we are delighted to feature Mike and Wendy Zucker of Barrington. Their enthusiasm is contagious and we know it will ripple out to others in the community.
These are all their very own unedited words, we are just the vehicle for sharing - Enjoy!
From Traditional Yard to Wildlife Habitat
How it all started
The Covid era was a time for long walks…trying to be outside in the fresh air as much as possible. We set a goal of exploring every street in our neighborhood and then extended out into the rest of the town. During one of our rather long walks, we happened upon a house with beautiful flower gardens. We stopped to take pictures of our favorite plants and noticed a “Certified Habitat” sign from the National Wildlife Foundation. Intrigued, we took a picture of that as well, wanting to learn more about the program.
From research to action
When we got home, we went online and read all about the program. It sounded great and we decided to turn our backyard into a certified habitat. First, we had to learn more about native plants. We went to a couple of local nurseries and the people there were helpful, having some expertise in that area along with a small offering native plants. As we were returning home we happened to drive by the house with the beautiful gardens and saw a sign out front for “Prickly Ed’s”. We quickly turned into the dirt driveway and were surprised to see a small nursery. We jumped out of the car to check it out and learned that the nursery was run by Ed and Cindy, who were also owners of the house and gardens that started this journey. They were selling native plants and had a wealth of knowledge to share on the subject. We chatted for quite a while and then made our first purchases.
Time to change
We started the transition process that fall and then spent the following spring and summer converting almost all of our backyard gardens to native plants. We also put up multiple bird feeders with different types of seeds and suet, along with a burgeoning number of hummingbird feeders. As we finished the transition, our backyard was filled with all sorts of wildlife, from birds, to furry creatures, and more bees and butterflies than we’d ever seen. Every weekend or two, we were back visiting Ed and Cindy, showing them pictures of the transformation and purchasing more plants. Once all the existing gardens were changed, we’d take out some grass and create new gardens. And then we ran out of space.
Evolution to Revolution
This past spring, we were ready to continue our transformation, but with the backyard completed we needed a new “canvas”. After much deliberation, we decided to start converting our front yard gardens to native plants as well. At first it was easy…we pulled out some of the non-natives from our existing gardens and replaced them with local varietals. But by May that process was complete. It was at that point that we decided to take the plunge; to start to take out sections of our front lawn to create new native plant gardens. We were determined to do the work ourselves. No need to pay big money to a landscaping company. So off we went to Prickly Ed’s to share this exciting news with Cindy and Ed. They gave us some good ideas on how to approach the project and then we headed to Ace Hardware to purchase all the tools needed for the job. It was time to get to work!
We just kept going
Once the first garden bed was done, we noted the dimensions, took pictures and then went to Prickly Ed’s to pick out what we wanted to plant. We laid out the space in an open area on their property using sticks to denote the edges of the garden and then worked with Cindy and Ed to choose what to plant and how to lay it out. We finalized the plan, paid for the plants and filled two cars with all our purchases. By sundown the first garden was planted and it looked great! But now what? Were we really going to tear out most of the lawn and convert our front yard to native plant gardens? You can guess the answer. By Friday afternoon, we were in our work clothes ripping out more grass to create the next garden bed. We repeated this process again and again over several weeks until the conversion was completed. And we did all the work ourselves. (except for some help laying down a stone walkway) By September the transition was complete!
Epilogue
What a journey it's been! We never thought that a few pictures of local flowers and a “Wildlife Habitat” sign would lead to a complete transformation of our outdoor environment. We went from having traditional landscaping to a home surrounded by native gardens, which attract and sustain a wide variety of local wildlife. We can’t thank Cindy and Ed enough for their friendship, expertise, and support through the entire process. And there’s still more work to do. We can’t wait to reconnect with them next spring to figure out what to do next!
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