crystal lake farm & Nursery
“In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water.”
For me, there is nothing better than waking up in the morning to the sound of birdsong. But I’ve noticed there is much less of it in recent years and my life is less joyful because of it.
We have lost over a quarter of the bird population in North America in the past five decades. This is due to many factors, including the loss of native habitat that the birds need to survive. It’s a very delicate balance and humans have disrupted that balance by chopping up and denuding our landscapes, and introducing foreign plant species into our yards and gardens.
A single individual CAN make a difference. One person doing her part to educate people about how that can be done is Sharon Turner, from Crystal Lake Farm and Nursery in Washington, Maine. Sharon runs a farm and nursery, along with her son Eli Berry, that focuses on the propagation and sale of native trees, shrubs and plants.
I took a native landscape design class with Sharon this past Fall and found her, and her simple way of living, extremely inspirational. It was a pleasure working with Sharon to put together this short video piece.
Learn more:
Crystal Lake Farm & Nursery
Doug Tallamy - Homegrown National Park
Nature’s Best Hope - Doug Tallamy