Upcoming Seminars and Events:
Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee
Native Plant Sale 2007
McHenry College Cafeteria
8900 US Hwy 14
Crystal Lake, ILPraire plants and grasses, woodland species and ferns. Organic heirloom garden vegetables and herbs. For more information, click here: www.theWPPC.org or e-mail wppcplantsale@hotmail.com
Lombard Prairie Day
Sunday, September 23 - 11:00am to 4:00pm
Free event is sponsored by the Park District, Lombard Garden Club and the Lombard Historical Society. Location is Terrace View Park, located at Elizabeth Street and Greenfield Ave in Lombard, IL.
Wildones will have a booth at this event, and we need a few volunteers to help tend our booth for an hour or two. Please contact Pat Clancy if you need help at 630-964-0448.
Directions to Park: Exit Rt. 355 at North Avenue (Rt 64) and proceed east to Main Street. Turn right (south) and go a little less than a mile to Greenfield, and turn right (west) on Greenfield. Go to Elizabeth, then turn right and proceed to the main building parking lot.
Chicago Home and Garden Show
February 29 to March 2, 2008
Plan for the summer in the midst of the winter cold. For more visit: http://www.showtechnologychicago.com
Please visit some of our favorite sites:
Art and Linda's Native Plant Guide
Photographer Mike MacDonald
www.MIKEMACDONALD.comMike MacDonald Photography offers a broad range of landscape photography, wildlife photography, and nature photography products and services including: Stock Photography, Editorial Photography & Writing, Nature Cards & Limited Edition Fine Art Nature Prints available in our online Fine Art Gallery & Nature Store.
Conscious Choice Magazine
www.consciouschoice.comSave the [Wolf Road] Prairie Society
www.SaveThePrairieSociety.orgPreserving and restoring native landscapes for wildlife, education and quality of life.
The Wild Ones
http://www.for-wild.org/
We are a diverse membership interested in landscaping using native species in developing plant communities.
Greater DuPage chapter of The Wild Ones
http://www.for-wild.org/chapters/dupage/The Greater DuPage chapter, covering the western suburbs of metropolitan Chicago, was founded in 1991 by Vicki Nowicki and Pat Armstrong.
We meet the third Thursday of each month, September to April (no December meeting). We meet at Willowbrook Wildlife Haven unless otherwise noted. During the gardening season, many related activities are held throughout the area that are of interest to Wild Ones members. For up-to-date information, call our hotline number, (630) 415-IDIG.
Open Lands Project
www.openlands.orgOpenlands Project, founded in 1963, is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing public open space in northeastern Illinois. To date, Openlands Project has taken leadership roles in securing more than 45,000 acres of land in the Chicago area for public parks, forest preserves, land and water greenway corridors, and urban gardens. We fulfill our mission through four interrelated programs: Urban Greening, Greenways, Policy and Advocacy, and Land Acquisition. During the past decade, Openlands and its land buying affiliate, CorLands, have made dramatic progress towards reaching its goals.
Chicago Wilderness
www.chiwild.orgThe Chicago Wilderness coalition is an unprecedented alliance of more than 160 public and private organizations working together to protect, restore, study and manage the precious natural ecosystems of the Chicago region for the benefit of the public.
National Wildlife Federation's Habitat Project
www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitatNow, more than ever, native wildlife and plant species are dependent upon our choices for their continued existence. As we continue to develop rural and wild lands, to pollute our soil and water with pesticides and fertilizers, and spread the barren suburban lawn from coast to coast, the need to make a place for wildlife in our yards and gardens is all the greater. Get info on how to make your backyard wildlife-friendly here!
The Prairie Directory of North America
by Charlotte Adelman and Bernard L. Schwartzwww.lawndaleenterprises.com or scroll down to the end of our Prairie Gardens page for a description of this excellent book.
.
A Natural History of the Chicago Region by Joel Greenberg
http://www.press.uchicago.edu
E-mail: ckerchmar@earthlink.netIn the sweeping A Natural History of the Chicago Region, Greenberg takes you on a journey that begins with in July of 1673 with Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet--the first Europeans known to have visited the Chicago region--and hasn't ended yet.
Along the way he introduces you to the physical forces that have shaped the area from southeastern Wisconsin to northern Indiana and Berrien County in Michigan; the various habitat types present in the region and how European settlement has affected them; and the insects, reptiles and amphibians, birds, fish, and mammals found in them, then amidst the settlers and now amidst the skyscrapers.
This is a fascinating story of forests battling prairies for dominance; of prairies plowed, wetlands drained, and species driven extinct in the settlement of the Midwest; and of caring conservationists fighting to preserve and restore the native plants and animals. Intermingling period quotes from early settlers and naturalists with current scientific information, Greenberg places the natural history of the region in human context, showing how it affects our everyday existence in even the most urbanized landscapes. (Also available at major bookstores)
The Conservation Foundation
http://www.theconservationfoundation.org/tcf/ch/
Nearly 3,000 members and over 500 volunteers support this mission in DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will Counties.
Conservation @ Home is a new initiative being launched now by The Conservation Foundation. This program encourages and recognizes property owners who protect or create yards that are environmentally friendly and conserve water. This includes planting native vegetation such as prairie and woodland wildflowers as well as trees and shrubs, creating butterfly and rain gardens and removing exotic species of plants.
Conservation @ Home provides conservation education and engages homeowners to "think globally and act locally." Homeowners participating in Conservation @ Home will be provided with "do it yourself" information and be eligible for discounts at local plant nurseries, landscape companies and lawn care services. The Foundation will also supply a list of local consultants who specialize in designing and installing these native landscapes. Each certified yard will be provided with a sign identifying the yard's certification as an environmentally friendly yard.
Butterprint Farm
24936 S. 80th Ave
Monee, IL 60449
708-534-8801Pumpkin picking at Butterprint Farm is designed to give a glimpse of "days gone by" on the farm. Vanishing farmland and the disappearance of early homesteads causes us to lose an appreciation and understanding of early farm life.
From simple pioneer farmsteads to elaborate Victorian homes, these are the jewels amongst the fields of corn and wheat that we cherish so when visiting the countryside.
When the expansion of new development into rural landscape leads to these early structures being torn down, we lose lengthy documented records of our farming past. We hope to instill an appreciation for farm life and hope other area farms consider the protection of their dwellings for their individual histories before it is too late.
The pumpkin patch is open Saturday and Sunday 10AM - 6 PM from October 1st - October 30th. Corn maze, hayrides, puppet shows, snacks and more.
Mother Earth Adventures
Terry Kinsey founded Mother Earth Adventures in 1991 as a result of his experiential spiritual journeys, including sweat lodges, vision quests and a spiritual wilderness canoe journey.
www.motherearthadventures.com
The purpose of Mother Earth Adventures is of offer two technologies of the sacred; the vision quest and earth sauna. It is hoped that these ceremonies of experiential spirituality will assist participants in moving deeper into their own spiritual path.These events are offered within the context of a sacred community of fellow seekers who take their spiritual path seriously. A safe and open atmosphere of kindness and compassion is created so that the sharing of insights and personal stories can occur as we risk sharing at a deeper level than normal. It is only through this deepening that new ways of being can begin to be incorporated into our life journeys and ultimately impact the greater community.
Chicago Botanic Garden
www.chicagobotanic.org.The prairie is alive and well at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois. What all visitors to the Suzanne S. Dixon Prairie there should know is that the Garden actually has six distinct reconstructed prairie communities, which serve as open classrooms of Midwestern history and as reminders of the past. They represent the different native prairies once common to northeastern Illinois, each with its own topography, soil conditions and native plant species. They are the Tallgrass or Mesic Prairie; the Bur Oak Savanna, an open grassland prairie; the Sand Prairie, recreating the type naturally occurring at the southwestern end of Lake Michigan; the Gravel Hill Prairie, a dry, exceptionally well-drained area; the contrasting Wet Prairie; and the Fen Prairie, an unusual wetland where the water contains a high degree of mineral salts.
- top -
