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		The idea behind our community events is simple: to directly engage those closest to us in our mission of promoting environmental stewardship.&nbsp; We ran four events this summer with that goal in mind and we are happy to announce that we plan on doing more community events in the future.&nbsp; Over the course of the last month we have learned a lot about the types of programs that people like best and events that people would like to see more of (if you have some suggestions for program topics and we are all ears!&nbsp; Please shoot me an email <a href="mailto:paul.w@ausable.org">paul.w@ausable.org</a> or leave a comment).&nbsp;&nbsp; We have even had calls for programming during the school year, which is promising.&nbsp; This is all great news and gives us something to think about.</p>
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		You would think that having lived and worked as an environmental educator for the past 5 years I would be a very capable gardener.&nbsp; I spend my days, weeks, months, and years teaching individuals about nature, and yet somehow in the garden I feel as out of place as a nun at a NASCAR race.&nbsp; Which explains but does not excuse my complete oversight of one key detail in taking proper care of our garden; deer.</p>
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		<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}BD4.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 190px; " />Native plants are important for many reasons.&nbsp; They are adapted for the climate and soil, which makes them resistant to regional climatic stresses and disturbance.&nbsp; They attract beneficial pollinators like butterflies and bees.&nbsp; They provide habitat for all sorts of critters, and they are every bit as beautiful as exotic flowers.&nbsp; This far from exhaustive list covers the typical supporting arguments for using native plants in landscaping.&nbsp; What they don&rsquo;t include on the list, and in hindsight maybe they shouldn&rsquo;t have to, is that in bringing in native flora, the native fauna follow close behind, mainly deer and rabbits.&nbsp; In my naivety, I did not pay enough attention to the importance of protecting the garden from hungry animals who when stumbling upon this 400 sq ft. piece of real-estate must have likened the experience to heaven.&nbsp; At any rate all of the deer and their grandparents must have had a ball chewing our garden to scat.&nbsp; With butterfly day looming, we had a serious problem on our hands.</p>
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		Luckily, with the help of several organizations and a couple dedicated folks our garden, which at the time more closely resembled a green palate used by Bob Ross to make &ldquo;happy trees&rdquo;, was transformed into a beautiful mosaic of color.&nbsp; Pine Hill Nursery came up huge for us with a donation of nectar plants that in addition to adding much needed color to the garden also gave our butterflies something sweet to nibble on.&nbsp; Thanks also to Master Gardener Mary Walker and her wonderful husband Dick for tending the flowers, watering them everyday, whispering words of encouragement to them each evening, and standing guard to keep the deer off of them morning and night. Their work, along with several fresh loads of wood-chips delivered by Great Lakes Energy breathed spanking new life into our Butterfly Garden.</p>
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		<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}BD1.jpg" style="width: 250px; " />And with that we were ready for the big day.&nbsp; A smattering of new and familiar faces graced our butterfly house this year. &nbsp;&nbsp;Attendees received information on native plant gardening, toured the butterfly house, and were able to take a look at butterflies up close through a microscope.&nbsp; A super addition to the day was the help from Tim Burkholder&rsquo;s insect ecology class who enthusiastically guided participants on butterfly hunts around Au Sable&rsquo;s campus.&nbsp; Not only was their presence a big help in facilitating activities but also was a terrific opportunity for community members to be introduced to Au Sable&rsquo;s college program directly.</p>
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		<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}BD2.jpg" style="width: 350px; height: 156px; " />In closing I would like to add that over the past month Trish and I have been delighted by the turnout our programs have received. While it is great to see so many new faces, it is also a humbling experience in the realization that we can have so many neighbors that we do not know.&nbsp; In that realization I have come to understand how necessary continuing these events is; if not for helping inspire stewardship, then simply for helping us as neighbors act more neighborly.&nbsp;</p>
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		And finally, each program owes a great deal of its success to the work of many people behind the scenes; from maintenance and cook staff all the way up to our executive director who personally volunteered to hand-deliver event flyers around Big Twin Lake.&nbsp; Of course we also could not have done any of this with out the many wonderful folks who attended our events.&nbsp; Thank you all!&nbsp;</p>
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		Until next time,</p>
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		Paul</p>
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