Redneck and all turtles should be in brumation now (hibernation) but because of our warming climate we went from relatively cold, by Florida standards to hot and humid almost overnight first week of January 2018. The hot and humid gets reptiles and amphibians moving again.
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How do we garden in a time of climate change?
Very purposefully. So two weeks ago a big freeze was forecast for Central Florida. For the most part that freeze did not materialize but it was relatively cold for a week. Overnight the winds shifted from the south and the Florida peninsula instantly became warm and humid again. Next week there might be another flip flop of temperatures and humidities. This pattern, along with more frequent droughts, is becoming more prevalent with climate change.
Almost everything I do in the garden is now done in contained spaces with clay-enriched soils to hold moisture as our climate grows hotter and drier. It is impossible to have the expansive tropical gardens that we once enjoyed at this latitude without massive irrigation.
Almost everything I do in the garden is now done in contained spaces with clay-enriched soils to hold moisture as our climate grows hotter and drier. It is impossible to have the expansive tropical gardens that we once enjoyed at this latitude without massive irrigation.
Above: Redneck, waiting for me to put down the camera and get the food out.
Redneck finds his food from below the surface of the water. His eyesight is poor out of water.
The essay intercut in italics with my Redneck-the-Red-eared-Slider-Turtle images was excerpted and paraphrased from James Barilla's
It seemed to me that everything I knew about gardening, and much of what I enjoyed, was based on a set of assumptions about the climate. But it's different now. We have to figure out how to garden with new seasons, such as they are. Extreme gardening for a now extreme climate.
I’m just beginning to figure out the practical implications of this adaptive approach, but the point seems pretty clear to me: keeping things alive that won’t survive otherwise. Climate change is going to force us to work hard at something Homo sapiens have never been very good at: keeping other species around.
An urban garden is a good place to start. It’s the kind of place that already bears little resemblance to what might have existed before humans came along. Nearby parking lots absorb heat, while buildings cast shade, moderating temperature swings. Water flows along curbs and down drains. Even the soil is different; concrete sidewalks neutralize acidity, encouraging plants that wouldn’t grow here otherwise. New communities of species arise in these conditions.
Can you see Redneck in the photo above (hint: Look at bottom right)
One study conducted in Davis, Calif., found that 29 of 32 native butterflies in that city breed on nonnative plants. Thirteen of these butterfly species have no native host plants in the city; they persist there because nonnative plants support them. If we are seeking lessons about ecological resilience in a time of deep and unsettling change, the place to look is right outside our door.
Extreme gardening means making the yard hospitable for as many species as possible, without worrying so much about whether they originally belonged there or not. I used to think that tearing out turf and making room for native species was the best thing I could do. But things aren’t that simple anymore. It doesn’t make sense to think in terms of native and nonnative when the local weather vacillates so abruptly. A resilient garden is a diverse garden.
We face the peculiar irony of species that are disappearing across their native range but flourishing elsewhere. The peregrine falcon, which disappeared from the rugged cliffs of the eastern United States in the mid-1960s because of the effects of the pesticide DDT, is thriving today partly because of its affinity for nesting on bridges and buildings in our cities. This phenomenon of species movement and adaptation is likely to become commonplace as the climate changes.
Creating a resilient garden means paying attention to the life histories of individual species and how they interact with others in the community. What benefits, like nectar or shelter, do they provide? Are they likely to crowd out other species? What kind of help do they need from us to withstand wild fluctuations in temperature and moisture? A gardener who asks these kinds of questions mixes things up, leaving some parts of the yard untouched while weeding and enriching the soil in others.
Fostering localized diversity doesn’t mean ignoring what is happening outside our own neighborhoods. In fact, we can shape our yards to help address these bigger issues. For example, there’s a hot, sandy patch in front of our house that I’ve reserved for introducing sandhill milkweed, a favorite host for monarch butterflies as they migrate. Monarchs are being hammered by extreme weather and habitat loss across their native range.
James Barilla is he author of “My Backyard Jungle: The Adventures of an Urban Wildlife Lover Who Turned His Yard Into Habitat and Learned to Live With It,” and an associate professor of creative writing at the University of South Carolina. A version of these excerpts appeared in print on May 4, 2014, on page SR5 of the New York edition of The New York Times with the headline: Gardening for Climate Change, by James Barilla.
SANDHILL CRANES STRUGGLE
TO SURVIVE
HUMANS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
TO SURVIVE
HUMANS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
The family of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) that nest behind our woods has been reduced by one in recent days. Above and below Mother, Father and two colts (babies) forage for food in our cul-de-sac. The babies were born months before 'normal.' We would not expect Sandhill Crane colts until March in our former climate.
A couple of days later I can only find one colt with the two adults in their nesting area about 500 feet from the berm of our lake. Note that the lake is mostly dry and the cranes are nesting in a swampy area of Sand Weed aka St. Johns Wort (yellow flowers) and swamp grass.
In the image below I've put a large blue arrow to point out the only remaining crane colt I see. While the cranes have excellent camouflage they are no match for hungry raccoons that prowl these areas. The juvenile crane cannot yet fly to flee predators.
The young cranes are vulnerable to many predators most notably raccoons and foxes. I spent a long time watching with long lens trained on the general area of the crane's nest and never saw the second colt.
Raccoons have been particularly troublesome this year. They have lost any real fear of humans and are extremely aggressive. We have taken extreme measures to try and control the raccoons in our area and are starting to see fewer of the menacing mammals.
Due to raccoons adaptability they have extended their range from forests into coastal marshes and urban areas.
Oprah for President
Here is a full transcript of Ms. Winfrey’s spectacular speech:
Ah! Thank you. Thank you all. O.K., O.K. Thank you, Reese. In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother’s house in Milwaukee, watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for best actor at the 36th Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history: “The winner is Sidney Poitier.” Up to the stage came the most elegant man I had ever seen. I remember his tie was white, and of course his skin was black. And I’d never seen a black man being celebrated like that. And I’ve tried many, many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl — a kid watching from the cheap seats, as my mom came through the door bone-tired from cleaning other people’s houses. But all I can do is quote and say that the explanation’s in Sidney’s performance in “Lilies of the Field”: “Amen, amen. Amen, amen.” In 1982, Sidney received the Cecil B. DeMille Award right here at the Golden Globes, and it is not lost on me that at this moment there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award.It is an honor, and it is a privilege to share the evening with all of them, and also with the incredible men and women who’ve inspired me, who’ve challenged me, who’ve sustained me and made my journey to this stage possible. Dennis Swanson, who took a chance on me for “A.M. Chicago”; Quincy Jones, who saw me on that show and said to Steven Spielberg, “Yes, she is Sophia in ‘The Color Purple’”; Gayle, who’s been the definition of what a friend is; and Stedman, who’s been my rock — just a few to name. I’d like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, because we all know that the press is under siege these days.But we also know that it is the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice. To tyrants and victims and secrets and lies. I want to say that I value the press more than ever before, as we try to navigate these complicated times. Which brings me to this: What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. And I’m especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories. Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories that we tell. And this year we became the story. But it’s not just a story affecting the entertainment industry. It’s one that transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics or workplace.So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault, because they — like my mother — had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue. They’re the women whose names we’ll never know. They are domestic workers and farmworkers; they are working in factories and they work in restaurants, and they’re in academia and engineering and medicine and science; they’re part of the world of tech and politics and business; they’re our athletes in the Olympics and they’re our soldiers in the military.And they’re someone else: Recy Taylor, a name I know and I think you should know, too. In 1944, Recy Taylor was a young wife and a mother. She was just walking home from a church service she’d attended in Abbeville, Ala., when she was abducted by six armed white men, raped and left blindfolded by the side of the road, coming home from church. They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone, but her story was reported to the N.A.A.C.P., where a young worker by the name of Rosa Parks became the lead investigator on her case and together they sought justice. But justice wasn’t an option in the era of Jim Crow. The men who tried to destroy her were never persecuted. Recy Taylor died 10 days ago, just shy of her 98th birthday. She lived, as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men. And for too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up. Their time is up.And I just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing that her truth — like the truth of so many other women who were tormented in those years, and even now tormented — goes marching on. It was somewhere in Rosa Parks’s heart almost 11 years later, when she made the decision to stay seated on that bus in Montgomery. And it’s here with every woman who chooses to say, “Me too.” And every man — every man — who chooses to listen. In my career, what I’ve always tried my best to do, whether on television or through film, is to say something about how men and women really behave: to say how we experience shame, how we love and how we rage, how we fail, how we retreat, persevere, and how we overcome. And I’ve interviewed and portrayed people who’ve withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning — even during our darkest nights.So I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say, ‘Me too’ again. Thank you.”
Le barbu musclé
(the bearded muscle)
This 20-something bearded Frenchman has set instagram on fire with his sometimes titillating photo essays, and 350+ thousand followers.
Beillard is a model and personal trainer who is part of Summer Brothers. The group of 20-something French models produce visually-stunning and titillating images that appear in books, magazines and on the internet (link: @pascalpprl to purchase Summer Brothers books or prints)
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PASCALPPRL on the web
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