Photo Credit: Steve Hillebrand/ US Fish and Wildlife Service

The white and black fur trim on the robes of fairy-tale royalty are ermine pelts. Ermine are a type of mustelid (member of the weasel family) found in the northern latitudes around the world, especially in the areas of Europe where many fairy tales originated. Like most weasels, ermine are brown in the summer. The white fur with the black tail tips is the ermine’s winter coat. So, your fairy tale king is basically wearing the back end of a weasel! (continue reading…)

ⓒ Janet Harriett

When I first decided to create a native plant garden, I knew nothing. I ogled all the plants in the catalogs, and found a book that showed pictures of different gardens and listed the plants needed. I picked a pretty-looking butterfly garden, and ordered the plants. After I planted everything, the predictable happened: I started noticing the plants all around me because, surprise surprise, they’re native. Suddenly I saw milkweed everywhere, in the field behind my house, on the side of the road, on the side of every road.

Creating a native plant garden is a lesson in humility, and it will also redefine your idea of what a garden is. For most of us, a garden is a specific, unnatural spot on our property in which we plant a range of flowers and grasses in order to create a specific effect or just make things look pretty. A native plant garden is, well, just a little bit wilder, and if it had a mind of its own probably wouldn’t call itself a garden at all. The words landscape, or naturescape, are probably more accurate. Ideally, a native landscape will blend in with the rest of your yard and make you feel like your whole yard is a garden. (continue reading…)

Photo Credit: Steve Hillebrand/ US Fish and Wildlife Service

In April, Green Diva Mom looks at weasels. Throughout history, “weasel” has been a catchall for members of the mustelid family which also includes otters, mink, but is now mostly applied to the Long-tailed, Short-tailed and Least weasel found across North America. Weasels have a reputation as being aggressive animals and, while their sly reputation is somewhat undeserved, their aggression is, if anything, understated.

Weasels are solitary creatures and attack other weasels that venture into their territory except during mating season. A male weasel’s territory may overlap one or more female weasel’s territory, but two male or two female weasels will not share turf. A single weasel may have a territory as large as 40 acres, though they tend to hunt on the same path throughout the territory. (continue reading…)

Photo Credit: Steve Hillebrand/ US Fish and Wildlife Service

Weasels have a reputation for being, well, weasely. Weasels are one of the few animals that are also a verb, which Merriam-Webster defines as “to evade an obligation, duty, or the like; renege” or “be ambiguous; mislead.” Weasel has also entered the popular lexicon as a noun to signify a sneaky person or informer.

The Online Etymology Dictionary attributes the origin of the verb “to weasel” as referring to the weasel’s ability to suck the contents out of an egg and to get in and out of small places. Interestingly, many of the other animal verbs - badger, skunk and ferret - are members of the mustelid family like weasels, and those words aren’t particularly positive, either.

Some of the weasel’s bad reputation may be misapplied guilt. (continue reading…)

©iStockphoto.com - HiDesignGraphics

It’s spring, and the lawns are coming up. Beautiful expanses of green are taking the place of frigid snow or brown slush. But soon, the bane of many a lawn owner will appear: dandelions.

Before you curse its name or mow it down, take a few moments to learn about this persistent plant that coexists with us even in the more difficult of situations. There are many reasons to respect the dandelion, and almost as many reasons to use it, and perhaps even welcome it. Here are five: (continue reading…)

Photo Credit: Steve Hillebrand/ US Fish and Wildlife Service

In April, Green Diva Mom looks at weasels. Throughout history, “weasel” has been a catchall for members of the mustelid family which also includes otters, mink. Weasels are also related to badgers, ferrets, skunks and wolverines.

Weasels are known more in popular imagination than in actual encounters. Although weasels are fairly common, most people haven’t ever seen a weasel, even though a weasel may live nearby. The long-tailed weasel is the most wide-ranging mustelid, found throughout North America. While not found in thickly wooded areas, they are known to live in small stands of trees, grasslands and fields. Least and short-tailed weasels stick to the northern parts of North America and rarely venture farther south than the Great Lakes. Long-tailed weasels range throughout most of the U.S. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - sandsun

You’ve cooked with seaweed, maybe sprinkled it on your rice or put it in your miso soup — but you’re kind of put off by the price of the little bags you can get at your upscale food store. If you’re in the right place, whether on vacation or on a local jaunt, you can easily harvest all the seaweed, kelp specifically, that you could need. Even if you don’t really need to go to that extreme, sometime it’s fun to go out “into the field” and harvest your own food. This is a great way to find out where your food comes from, form a connection to nature, and nurture your body with the work of your own hands.

The kelp that you find in the pricy little bags is Bullwhip kelp. It grows in large beds away from shore, so you’ll have to boat or kayak out past the low tide line. It’s generally found in rocky areas. You’ll want to find a clean area far away from any pollution. Ask around, or contact a local wilderness awareness group; many offer wild harvesting classes or can at least point you to a good place for collecting. You can often find kelp washed onto the shore, but picking this up is like picking up a vegetable you’ve tossed on the ground earlier in the day; they’re already composting, and you’d much rather eat the fresh kelp. (continue reading…)