I wanted to take some time and share what I’m learning in the Course that I have been taking called the  Pollinator Stewardship Certification Program, offered by Pollinator Partnership Canada.

I came across this course by happenstance, advertised on Social Media, (thanks to the algorithms, I guess!). The advertisement piqued my interest and I clicked on the link to learn more. As it turns out, this project aligns nearly perfectly with the project that I have in mind already and here is why:

The course consists of:

1. 7 virtual online training sessions
2. One habitat creation action
3. One Outreach or Education Action

The other amazing part of finding this course was the offer for either partial or full grant coverage for the course if you are able to demonstrate financial need and demonstrate how you will use the course. I wasn’t sure if I would qualify for this but I knew it was my only reasonable chance to having the opportunity to take the course. I was also hoping to be able to gain this certification because at this time, without any formal education on native gardenening and insects, I sometimes wonder why anyone would listen to me or take what I say seriously. So I applied for a grant and much to my surprise, not only did I get the course subsidized by Pollinator Partnership Canada, but they covered the entire course for me!

What an incredible privilege and responsibility! Now, it’s not like I have a ton of spare time to take this course, what with my two young kids, full time nursing job, studying for a career-defining national Diabetes Educator exam and trying to get this community project off the ground, but when this is as important as it is, I guess you have to make the time! With that said, I wanted to share some of the key takeaways from each online virtual training because perhaps it will inspire someone else to take the course or even just takeaway the “Cole’s notes” from what I share in this article.

Session#1 – Introduction to Pollinators, Dr. Lora Morandin

As in the title, this was a great introduction to all the creatures that pollinate in North America and learning the big difference between imported honeybees and native bees. My biggest takeaway was the idea that honeybees are essentially like ‘livestock’ and there is a misconception that beekeeping honeybees would somehow help the environment in North America. It would be akin to trying to save the wild birds by keeping backyard chickens. Now, that is not to say that honeybees are necessarily a bad thing. They are crucial for our agricultural needs at this time because of our populations and the need for mass produced crop. There was a very interesting slide that I took a lot away from because a big problem that my project hopes to solve is the problem of habitat fragmentation and I will share that slide below. Essentially, it outlines that native bees have a small range that they travel to collect pollen for food to and from their nesting sites. So if the habitat is so fragmented that their food source is too far away form their nesting sites because of habitat loss and destruction, the populations will fall.

Observe in this slide the foraging range of native bees, bumblebees and then the honeybee. When habitats become fragmented through habitat loss and destruction, the bees that will suffer first are the native bees and bumblebees, which is what experts have found. Not only have the native bee populations dropped, the non-native bee population has actually risen. Click the image to open the Pollinator Partnership website to learn more.

Session #2 – Indigenous Perspectives, Brad Howie & Melanie Kirby

This training was particularly interesting as a way to really open up our minds to the idea of this relationship that we have with all living things. The key takeaway that I felt was important was this idea that in Anishinaabe, the term for insect is translated as “little spirit”. I find this amazing because it really emphasizes the idea that insects are quite important, even in their tiny little bodies. Their was great emphasis on looking at insects as not “gross” or “bad” but as creatures that with whom have a relationship. Melanie Kirby made a great point that she likes to avoid the term ‘managing’ native species, and prefers to use the term stewarding them so as to not denote that they are objects, but rather creatures with spirits that deserve respect. Another perspective that I got from one of the answers to a viewers questions, was that butterflies and bees can become ‘gateway’ insects and allow us to really gain a deep and involved interest into our relationship with nature. The reason this resonates with me, is because this was the case for me. I now have such a keen interest in more and more insects, including beetles. I also have a different relationship with arthropods (spiders, millipedes etc). I was never interested in the ‘yucky’ bugs, only the pretty bugs, so learning about all insects and ‘creepy crawlies’ has opened my mind. In my Own pollinator rain garden, I see tons and tone of millipedes and insects that like to hide under the detritis. The birds absolutely love visiting my garden to hunt for larva, worms, and other detrivores, of which my garden supplies plenty! They also really help turn over and aerate the soil in my garden, as well as provide essential nutrients so I’m always grateful to see tons and tons of these creatures when I’m gardening.

Session #3 – Butterflies and other Pollinators

This was incredibly detailed and informative on the idiosyncrasies on the lepidoptera family of insects (this includes butterflies, moths, and skippers). One thing I never knew was that there was a difference between skipper and a butterfly. There was some fascinating details about not only the importance of the lepidoptera family for nutritional contribution to the rest of the food web. They were referred to as “nature’s hotdogs” but with much more nutrition than an actual hotdog. They also have some very creative and fascinating ways to avoid being eaten, such as consuming toxic plants which causes the larvae (caterpillars) to build up toxic levels of the phytochemical they consume. In addition, many species will mimic looking like an owl or a snake or a wasp, which would be species that most predators which to avoid encountering. Absolutely brilliant! One of my favourite species of butterflies, the Swallowtail (there are many kinds but pick your poison – I LOVE THEM ALL!), has a tail on the hindwings, which is actually a defense against being eaten which in flight. If a predator takes a bite and just gets the tails, the butterfly is able to get away, losing the tail on the hindwing but hopefully surviving another day.

Session #4 – Creating Habitat for Pollinators Overview

I found this module was such a great overview of the fact that we need to consider more than just having flowers that supply pollen and nectar. It was a great review for me of the importance of adding other features to the lawn or garden such as bare ground for our ground nesting bees (70% of all native bees nest in the ground) and leaving old stems for our burrowing bees (the other 30% of our bees nest in burrows, or essentially tunnels). This has really been a focus of my gardening this year to ensure I’m creating not just a ‘pollinator garden’ but an actual ecosystem. Well guess what! For the first time in the 9 years since we moved to out current home, I am seeing chipmunks (a family it seems), I also have a resident mouse. THIS IS OK! They belong outside and it will perhaps be food for something else. As a result of these new residents perhaps, I have also seen a snake in the garden for the very first time! Perhaps this may have freaked me out in past years but this has absolutely made my year! There was SOMETHING about the backyard that invited snake food, which in turn, invited the snake. My children were also able to sit and interact with the snake (from a safe distance) and it was been quite an educational opportunity.

Session #5a – Habitat Creation: Yards, Gardens, and Balconies

I was really excited about this module because this is my approach for my project Huron County Backyard Ecosystems to the public. There was an excellent review of all the tools that are offered by Pollinator Partnership Canada for selecting the right native plants for your space. These include the Find Your Roots tool, which allows you to determine the native species that are native to your specific region so you know which plants from which to select for your space. They then have some amazing Native Pollinator Garden Recipe cards which give you great combinations of plants that compliment each other in their colour, size and texture, but also incorporate a bloom succession. This is going to be crucial for  pollinators to have a source of nectar from early spring, through to late fall. Lastly for this paragraph, though not their last useful resource as they have many others, is the Planting Guide booklets. I have actually printed out two different regions, within which Huron County falls into: Lake Erie Lowlands and  Manitoulin-Lake Simcoe Ecoregions. These books have been printed and bound and I have used them during outreach events at my table as a helpful guide when someone asks me about a particular site and is wondering which plants would fit with their growing conditions. There were actually two other modules offered for large land managers and for agricultural sites that I have not yet watched but still plan to do so once the season slows down!

Session #7 – Expand Your Impact!

This was a particularly helpful Module for my project which was helpful for how to successfully approach the public to get change in motion. It talked about starting small and introducing native gardening with perhaps even just one new plant in someone’s garden. I have actually taken this very seriously and one of my favourite things to say to people who are hoping to see change is “There are approximately 60,000 residents of Huron County, and wouldn’t it be incredible if each one of us added just one new native plant to our lawns each year!”. For the municipality, it has really helped to also add that registering native ecosystems and gardens onto the Homegrown National Park website interactive map would really put Huron County on the map. I also love the idea that “seeing is believing”. I had been reading all about getting started with native planting and gardening for two full years before I mustered up the  courage to give it a try. In the very first growing season, the impact on the populations of pollinators in my local ecosystem was something I will never forget! I could stand in front of that garden in July and watch all the insects flying back and fourth and I’m sure my face was just beaming! I remember thinking “Gosh! I’m sure my neighbours are wondering if I’m ok just standing here staring”. Now that I’m three years into this lifestyle, I don’t get so self-conscious about enjoying this amazing work! I also ensure I have resources for ANY type of garden.

• Don’t have a yard and only have pots for your plants? No problem, I’ve got a printed resource on Native Plants that do well in container gardens.
• Don’t have a large space and worried about native plants being too tall or too big? No problem, I’ve got resources on smaller sites and shorter native plants.
• Have too much shade to plant native plants? No you don’t! I have many print resources on shade-tolerant plants.
• Have walnut trees and can’t grow anything under them? No worries! Most native plants are actually more juglone-tolerant than non-native plants.
• Have an allergy to bee stings? Guess what? Native bees actually don’t sting nearly as often as colony bees such as the non-native honey bees. The reason is that colony bees aren’t afraid to die after they sting you as long as they deterred you from the rest of the hive. A native bee is a solitary bee that needs to not die, because there is no one else to look after their nest (and male native bees don’t’ even have stingers).
• Don’t have access to seeds or plants because of financial or geographic reasons? No problem! You can borrow native seeds for free from any of the 12 branches of the Huron County Library and I have also started many different seeds that are now little seedlings that I regularly post on my Facebook Page as a free giveaway for anyone to get started easy as pie!
• Don’t have the knowledge or are you looking for additional resources on native gardening? No worries! I have partnered with the Huron County Library to assemble a Reader’s Guide to all the best books on the subject, all available at the Huron County Library to be borrowed free of charge. You can also enter into the monthly draw offered through my Facebook page by taking a picture of your newly planted plants added in 2024 for an entry into the photo draw for a free autographed copy of the Globe and Mail’s best-seller book: The Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants of the Southern Great Lakes Region as well as a $50 gift certificate to a relatively local grower who sells native plants. 

Habitat Creation Action – Setting Small Changes in Motion

If you would like to learn more details about my journey building my own pollinator garden check out my Post:

Outreach/Education Action – It Takes a (global) Village

This Section will track some of the many ways that I’ve worked on phase three of working towards my PSC certification. So, I’ve reached out to many like-minded organizations and people who may be able to support or help get the word out there about this project. To say I’ve been overwhelmed with the level of support with the project is an understatement. I expected at least some friction or resistance and I can’t say I’ve experienced any of this. I think one of the reasons for this is because this has become a really “hot topic” and this has really helped with the ‘buy-in’ from the public. Because of the hard work that was done at the beginning of this project with outreach, I’ve been fortunate enough to now have local community organizations reaching out to me to see how I might be able to speak at an event or cater my information for their demographic. This has been incredibly humbling and is such an honor to be invited into their spaces. I will outline the timeline below for your interest. If you are a member of an organization and would like some more information about how you can be involved in adding more ecosystem into your space please feel free to reach out.

• Huron County Library Seedy Saturday – Exeter Branch April 20th, 2024: I ran a table with several print resource that patrons could take with them and I was also one of two speakers at this event.
• Lakeshore Eco-Network Native Plant Sale – May 4th, 2024 in Grand Bend: I ran an outreach table with print resources at this event and advertised the Backyard Ecosystems Movement.
• John Hindmarsh Plant Sale – May 11th, 2024: I ran an outreach table with print resources at this event, I also donated native plants and the majority of the plants being sold were native event though this event is not exclusive to native plants, I was also a resource for those interested in selecting the right native plant for their space.
• Huron County Library Seedy Swap – Goderich Branch May 11th, 2024: I ran an outreach table at this event, where native plants were also given away by the library and many patrons were helped with considering native plants and which native plants to select. I assisted many patrons in picking the best book for them to learn more about native gardening.
• Rural Response for Healthy Children Zoom Meeting for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren – May 15th, 2024: I met with a great group of people and was able to discuss how adding native plants and the ecosystem that comes with it can be a great way to not only ensure a better world for their grandchildren, but can also be a great way of getting involved with the kids, using all of their exploratory and observational skills.
• Huron County Thrive Summit for Youth – Blyth Community Hall May 15th, 2024: I ran an outreach table where I interacted with members of the business community about the importance of this movement and how they can be stewards of this movement within their personal lives as well as in business. I prepared many little seedlings (Butterfly Milkweed and Prairie Smoke) which were given to all those interested to plant in their gardens.
• Maitland Trail Association Loop Site Prep – Goderich May 26th, 2024: I introduced myself/Backyard Ecosystems to the volunteers of the Maitland Trail Association and also volunteered that day to help prep sites for where native plants would be planted two days later when the order arrived. It was a great day and a great group!
• Future events:
• Clinton Horticultural Society Plant Swap – June 19th, 2024: I’ll be bringing in some native plants/seedlings to give away to other gardeners. This group of gardeners is so lovely and inviting, but they are aging and looking for younger members. They have also demonstrated some incredible openness to incorporating more native plants into their gardens. I will be trying to do some one-to-one outreach during the plant swap with these gardeners.
• Huron County Museum Children’s Summer Camp: Exploring the Natural Environment – Goderich Aug 19th-23: I will be speaking with children about the importance of native plants and native gardening on the ecosystem. I hope to be able to bring in a monarch caterpillar for the children to see, though it may be too late by this time, we will have to see.
• RRHC + Huron County Respite Network evening retreat for Caregiver Connection on Sept 17th, 2024: They have reached out to see if I would be interested in speaking with other parents of children with autism, disabilities or mental health struggles. As a mother of an autistic boy, I am particularly excited about the possibility of this and our plan is that my talk focuses on how to build a sensory garden for children, that uses native plants. I have so many ideas for this and am excited to help parents with this concept in any way that I can!