Guest Speaker on Ask Farmer Phoebe – Creating a Wildlife Habitat

I’m excited to be Ask Farmer Phoebe’s guest for her weekly show, Wednesday April 29, 2009.\’a0 The topic – creating and certifying your home wildlife habitat.\’a0 It would be fun; I hope you can join us!

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What If You Could Certify Your Garden As a Wildlife Habitat? Learn How & Get Your Questions Answered!\

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Sign Up & Submit Your Question
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When I learned that backyard gardens can be certified as wildlife habitats, I couldn’t wait to learn more about how to go about doing it. I can’t think of anybody more qualified to share her love and knowledge of gardening than the Gardening\’a0 with Confidence gal, Helen Yoest.\
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Helen’s organic garden is certified as a wildlife habitat AND a Monarch butterfly watch station. She is going to teach us how to certify our own gardens, as well as answer your general organic gardening questions. Please join us!\
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Next FREE Teleclass: 2 pm CDT (-5 GMT) Wednesday, April 29, 2009

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The FarmerPhoebe Organic Gardening Speaker Series are free* weekly teleclasses with a theme. This week is no exception.

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Helen Yoest is a professional writer and garden coach with a half-acre plot in suburban Raleigh, NC. Through her business, Gardening with Confidence, Helen works with clients to help them reach their full gardening potential.

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In addition to producing articles for publication, Helen serves as a garden scout, field editor and stylist for Meredith Corp., parent company of Better Homes and Gardens. Her name is featured on the masthead of Better Homes and Gardens and their garden Special Interest Media as Country Gardens, Nature\’92s Garden and others.

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Helen\’92s passion for gardening and love of writing has earned her a number of plum assignments. Her work has appeared in Better Homes and Gardens, Country Gardens, Nature\’92s Garden, Fine Gardening, Carolina Gardener, Metro Magazine and many others.

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Helen practices organic, sustainable gardening methods. Her garden, Helen\’92s Haven, is a certified wildlife habitat and Monarch watch station.

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Visit her blog through her Web site: GardeningWithConfidence.com\
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April 29 will be a great time to get your questions answered about growing your own food– organically. Please plan on joining us. Can’t be on the live call? No problem! Sign up anyways and you will have 48 hours to download the audio file and listen any time you want–absolutely free!

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Please consider posting a review of this speaker series on one–or more–of the popular bookmarking sites below. Hover your cursor over the SHARE button and choose StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg…or any of YOUR favorites. Thanks for spreading the word about my fun, free, educational teleclasses!\
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New to FarmerPhoebe’s Organic Gardening Speaker Series?

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Previous Experts Have Shared Gardening Secrets Like…

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  • How to Grow More & Healthier Vegetables with Less Work
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  • Dispelling Myths About Compost (Your Compost Pile Doesn’t Have to Be a Stinky, Sticky Mess)
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  • How to Make Compost Tea that Will Fertilize Your Garden and Your Lawn
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  • Easy-to-Use Tips on How to Control Pests Without Chemicals (The secret is in the soil)
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  • How You Can Have Compost Ready to Use in as Little as 4 Weeks!
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  • How to Extend Your Growing Season with Hoop Houses
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And Much, Much More!

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Did you miss previous events?\
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FarmerPhoebe Organic Gardening Teleclasses Now Meet Weekly!

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Join me at 2 pm CDT (-5 GMT) every Wednesday when, with your questions in hand, I interview a top organic gardening/lifestyle expert who shares tips and tricks that will help you grow bigger, more luscious fruits and vegetables–without chemicals! \

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Register below for an educational hour with my next special guest. After confirming your registration, you will receive an e-mail with a link to the telephone-based conference service. Once registered you will get a weekly invitation to the upcoming teleclass, a periodic FarmerPhoebe Organic Gardening Tip newsletter and an occasional survey–but that’s it! You can opt-out at any time.

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Teleclass Sign-Up Form
Name (First & Last)*:
E-mail Address*:
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*Required

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I don’t like spam any more than you do. I will NOT rent, trade, or release your name to any third party for any reason–ever. I respect YOUR e-mail privacy.\
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AskFarmerPhoebe.com was created by Phoebe King, an organic gardener who, until recently, tended a garden patch behind a Catholic girls school in Chicago USA. She is currently breaking ground on a patch at her new home in Menomonie, WI. She’s been playing in the dirt most of her life.

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Questions? Compliments? Complaints? Drop FarmerPhoebe a line: phoebe@askFarmerPhoebe.com

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You can also track her down at her blog askfarmerphoebe.wordpress.com\
on Twitter http://twitter.com/FarmerPhoebe and on her Facebook FarmerPhoebe Fan page!\
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*Long distance telephone charges may apply.\
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\’a9 2009 MBD Communications. All Rights Reserved.

Nature’s Garden 2009 Spring Issue

I’ve made no secret that Nature’s Garden is one of my favorite magazines.\’a0 Being a nature girl and all, would you expect less?\
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Last summer, I produced a story for James Baggett, then editor of Nature’s Garden (now editor of Country Gardens – yea, James, another of my favorite magazines), called Tweet Treats.\
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My three kids were the muse for this story; they too are a natural working in nature.\
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Jane McKeon, now editor of Nature’s Garden, stepped into some big shoes left vacant by James, but I’m here to tell you, Jane has it going on!\’a0 Jane is Mother Nature’s girl, a kindred spirit of mine, bringing us great tales of nature\’a0 to be explored – as close as our own back yards.\
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For this story, Virginia Weiler was the photographer which is why the photo you see below compared to the one you will see in the magazine with get you saying, “GET OUTTA HERE.”\’a0 Couple Virginia’s talents with Nature’s Garden design director, Jarret Jon Einck, and what you see is art nestled on a page, to comfort the reader, in the special ways we wait to read for a moment of escape.\
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For me this month, that special moment had me curled up on my couch, with a throw over my legs, and a hot\’a0 cup of cocoa.\’a0 First I sigh at knowing I’ve just carved out a moment just for me.\’a0 I then opened the pages, and start my read, first (always first) I read the editor’s note, then slowly begin my journey.\’a0 I cherish these moments.\
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In my mind, magazines make magic moments.\
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On the newsstands now; pick up a copy and take a peak.\’a0 I hope it will inspire you to make Tweet Treats with your kids or grand kids.\’a0 Oh, and there are lots of other great inspiring stories.

Opossum, Oh My!

december-15-2008-0281In the last week or so, the Haveahart traps have caught a raccoon (released in Helen’s Haven), 3 squirrels (released in a nearby park) and now an opossum (released in Helen’s Haven.)

When Aster first told me we caught an opossum, I went to check and sure enough, we caught a one and guess what? he was playing opossum. The only way I could tell he was alive was that he moved his eyes.

I called on my good looking husband to release him. Knowing our catch of the day wouldn’t scurry off as other caught critters do, Daddy Dave had to devise a wire thingy to hold open the trap door until our opossum decided it was safe to leave. I had to go to carpool, but Daddy Dave reported it taking 20 minutes for Mr. Opossum to feel safe enough to leave.   I wonder what tonight will bring…

Tiger Swallowtail Larvae

If you are going out to pick parsley and find this instead – don’t panic.  Plant more. My garden is looking bare of parsley this time of year, but the butterflies are plentiful. We’re happy.  So are the larvae.  Just in case you’re wondering, there are plenty of other parsley plants around for these larvae to finish growing on.

Helen  Yoest is a garden writer, speaker and garden coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook Friend’s page, Helen Yoest; or facebook Like page, Gardening With Confidence™

Helen is a field editor for Better Homes and Gardens and Country Gardens magazine and she also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Butterfly Effect

Aster has been my buddy in the garden this summer – especially when it came to spotting butterflies. We also heard of too many tails of birds eating the larvae, so decided to provide protection. We set up a safe haven for the Tiger Swallowtail.  With $5.00, Aster purchased a mesh trashcan from Target. We added a stick and a parsley plant.  As we found cats on the parsley or fennel in the garden, we transfered them into our haven.  A couple of plants later, several larvae later, we had chrysalis. Today, Aster’s first butterfly emerged. Below is his photo journey.


Aster spying butterfly…

Aster watching butterfly emerge…


Butterfly…


Butterfly sunning…


Butterfly in the garden…


Butterfly Effect…on a little boy!

Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™
Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Fan Page.
Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum