May 2, 2010 at 9:58 pm (Brighter Planet, Climate change, Common buckthorn, DNR, Environment, Fritillary butterfly, Grant, Invasive species, Monarch butterfly, Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary, Native Habitat, Native Wildflower and Butterfly Garden, Polypore birch mushroom, Shell Lake, Wisconsin)
Tags: Blue azure butterfly, Brighter Planet, Climate change, DNR, Environment, Fiddlehead fern, Grant, Happy Tonics, Invasive species common buckthorn, Mary Ellen Ryall, Monarch butterfly, Polypore birch mushroom, Popple tree, spring azure
Brighter Planet is once again sponsoring our grant proposal on their social network. Happy Tonics gained 384 VOTES in earlier rounds and we hope to boost VOTES this round from May 1 – 15. Please log in or sign up to VOTE for Adapt to Climate Change Native Wildflower and Butterfly Habitats in Shell Lake, Wisconsin at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Woodland trail to habitat
Yesterday I went for a walk in the woods. I wanted to check on the Wild Monarch Butterfly Habitat. The DNR did a nice job in the fall of 2009 cutting down forbs and cutting popple trees that were becoming invasive. I noticed two azure butterflies (Celastrina argiolus) flitting about with their lavender colored top wings. This is the second butterfly species I have seen this year. The first was a fritillary spotted earlier in April, well before it should have been in Wisconsin. We will monitor butterfly species on July 4 as part of the national butterfly count sponsored by North American Butterfly Association. The public is invited to help us for a small fee of $5.00 to cover materials. Come for an hour or more, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Fiddlehead fern
Seeing that the fiddlehead ferns were ready for picking, I gathered some and brought them home to cook. They are delicious sautéed in butter with garlic. While exploring I noticed that common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) is taking over a once native birch tree forest. This is an invasive species.
Birch polypore mushrooms
The dead birch are now a haven to a birch fungus (Piptoporus betulinus) that breaks down the wood. This particular polypore is unique in that it lives throughout the year on dead birch trees. It only lives for up to a year but will continue to stay on the tree in its hardened wooden form. It is known as the artist conk and the bottom is felt like and can be carved into art.
One of the side effects of climate change is that invasive species move into an area that once was native habitat. They are hardy and once an invasive species gets a foothold, it is hard to eradicate.
Handmade sign DNR Donation
The DNR has been helping us to manage invasive species in the open field butterfly habitat surrounded by woods.
Your VOTE really matters. It may in fact help fund a book to be published on monitoring species in 2010.
Thank you!
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April 5, 2010 at 10:48 pm (Brighter Planet, Bumble Bee, Climate change, Community gardens, Container Gardens, Environment, Grant, Happy Tonics, Mary Ellen Ryall, Monarch butterfly, Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Monarch Butterfly Host Plant, Native Bees, Native Habitat, Prairie, Shell Lake)
Tags: biodiversity, Brighter Planet, bumblebee, Community gardens, conflower, Environment, Grant, Happy Tonics, Monarch butterfly, Native Crops, organic gardening, VOTE
Happy Tonics has been selected again as a candidate for the April 1 – 15 VOTING PERIOD with Brighter Planet. Our Grant Proposal Native Habitats and Community Gardens in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, needs your VOTE at
We are a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Environmental Education Organization and Public Charity. Officers and board work for free.
Please take a minute to REGISTER on BRIGHTER PLANET and VOTE for our Grant Proposal. Thank you for helping us create a world of beauty for today and the future.
Native Bumblebees on coneflower
Our work is dedicated to helping the littlest of species the pollinating butterflies and native bees that need our help. We grow native habitat and crops to promote biodiversity which pollinators depend upon.
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February 14, 2010 at 2:47 am (Agriculture, Brighter Planet, Climate change, Community gardens, Environment, Grant, Mary Ellen Ryall, Shell Lake)
Tags: Amazon, Awakening the Dreamer, biodiversity, Brighter Planet, Climate change, Community gardens, Dream Time, Grant, Happy Tonics, Misahualli, Napo River, Native Crops, Native Habitat, Shuar, the Pacamama Alliance
Hello Insectamonarca friends,
I just watched a video of the Shuar Indians of Ecuador who knew that their world was disappearing when the outer world started to invade the Rainforest. I lived in the Amazon along the Napo and Misahualli River in the late 1970s. Please learn more here at http://www.pachamama.org/content/view/262/97/
Lady sitting in Guadamala copyright by Sue Sill
I am asking for your VOTE so that we can adapt to climate change with native habitat and community garden in Shell Lake, WI, USA. It is not that far away from Ecuador in the dream time. The Shuar say, “The North needs to change its dream.” Materialism is causing all kinds of harm to Mother Earth known as ”Pachamama” in South America. We need to start to grow our own local and organic food and protect and plant native habitat for all species be it plant or animals. Man cannot live without the natural world.
Please Sign Up and Vote for our Grant Proposal with Brighter Planet at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
I won’t be blogging tomorrow so I am wishing you a Happy Sunday. Thank you for being part of our dream.
Mary Ellen
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February 12, 2010 at 3:37 am (Agriculture, Brighter Planet, Climate change, Community gardens, Container Gardens, Environment, Friendship Commons Senior Center, Girl Scouts, Grant, Leopold Education Project, Mary Ellen Ryall, Monarch butterfly, Native Bees, Native Habitat, Pheasants Forever, Ross Gelbspan, Shell Lake, The Heat is On)
Tags: Andrew Eiche, Girl Scouts, Jeff Parker, Lakeland Manor, Mother Earth, News from Indian Country, Rain Barrels, Ross Gelbspan, The Heat is On
I am awed that we have reached so many VOTERS through Brighter Planet. As of 9:30 p.m., 193 conscientous citizens have voted for our grant proposal. Thank you. We are still plugging for VOTES for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden in Shell Lake. For those of you signing up and VOTING now please click on http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100 and give us your support.
Happy Tonics hopes you will listen to testimony about climate change by Ross Gelbspan, author of “The Heat Is On,” on his Web site at http://www.heatisonline.org/ It is no longer about when. It is about how we are going to adapt to Climate Change.
native tomatoes raised in containers at Lakeland Manor
All of us need to bring the message home that we need to protect biodiversity and plant native grasses, wildflowers and crops to withstand climate change. I am hopeful of seeing many rain barrels in place this year in Shell Lake. Andrew Eiche, Executive Director of HUD Housing, told me he plans to grant our request for a rain barrel for resident container gardens at Lakeland Manor, senior housing, in Shell Lake in 2010.
I called Jeff Parker, Director of Public Works, Shell Lake, today about donating a rain barrel for Friendship Commons where the girl scouts are going to plant a container garden with an Aldo Leopold Education and Pheasants Forever Grant. The seniors are pleased that the younger generation will be involved in beautifying outside the center. The educational garden will teach others about growing bee pollinator, butterfly (second more important pollinator), herb, flower and veggie gardens.
Happy Tonics is thrilled that Shell Lake is starting to get the message that we need to grow local and organic food.
Borage a taste of cucumber and bee plant
We need native plants for pollinators. It has taken Happy Tonics a few years of teaching environmental education to reach the public on a deep and profound level. Protecting Mother Earth comes natural to Happy Tonics. Nick Vander Puy, reporter at News from Indian Country, wrote on his Facebook blog recently something to the effect, “Our grandchildren will ask what did you do during the Great War for the Earth?”
It is all about the baby steps and teaching others how to grow their own food in sustainable ways to adapt to Climate Change.
Be happy Voters where ever you are.
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February 11, 2010 at 4:43 am (Climate change, Community gardens, Grant, Happy Tonics, Honey Bees, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College, Meadow, Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Morph Your Mind Environmental Education, Native Bees, Native Habitat, Prairie, Shell Lake)
Tags: Bees, Brighter Planet, Butterfly meadow, Climate change, Daisy, Environmental Eduation Intern, Environmental Stress, Happy Tonics, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College, MySpace, Native Crops, Native Plants, Pollen, Restored Remnant Tallgrass Prairie, Tabitha Brown
http://vimeo.com/7327532 Check out Brighter Planent’s short video of a bee and a daisy.
Happy Tonics Environmental Education Intern Tabitha Brown is a student at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College. She took the initiative to email the entire student body with permission from the college staff. Tabitha is also getting out the word out on her MySpace Blog So what’s up? She is recruiting for friends and students to Sign Up and Vote for Happy Tonics grant proposal at Brighter Planet for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden in Shell Lake, WI. We need your votes at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Our Morph Your Mind Environmental Education Program teaches about Colony Collapse Disorder and importance of native wildflowers as pollen sources for bees that need our help. Seeing Beyond Ourselves, we hope you too will help our friends the native plants, bees and butterflies and the crops that feed us. All these species are experiencing stress because of climate change. Help us make a difference in our hometown. We are a sustainable city but to plant gardens and maintain a Restored Remnant Tallgrass Prairie and butterfly meadow, we need funds to do so. We are grateful to Brighter Planet for this opportunity.
You are voting for species that cannot speak for themselves. Bless your hearts.
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February 10, 2010 at 3:12 am (Brighter Planet, Climate change, Community gardens, Environment, EVENTS, Grant, Happy Tonics, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College, Mary Ellen Ryall, Morph Your Mind Environmental Education, Native Habitat, Sustainable Agriculture)
Tags: corn fed animals, corn-based processed foods, Curt Ellis, Environmental Advocacy to Action, Environmental Education Prrogram, High fructose corn syrup, Ian Cheney, Iowa, King Corn, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College, Morph Your Mind Environmental Education Program, Native Corn, Pollinators, State Farm Insurance
A special thank you to Tim Reedy, State Farm Insurance, of Spooner, WI, for voting for our cause. To the countless anonymous voters, we are grateful that you are supporting our grant proposal.
Happy Tonics collaborates with Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College to teach that we need to grow local and native crops to support biodiversity of plants and pollinators during climate change. Please Sign up and VOTE for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Gardens Shell Lake grant proposal at Brighter Planet at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100 Your votes may help decide if we are able to secure funding for the Morph Your Mind Environmental Education Program that reaches far and wide to bring Indigenous wisdom of sustainability to the public.
Beautiful corn silks that add flavoring and nutrients to soup.
The Lac Courte Oreilles OJibwe Community College (LCOOCC) Sustainable Living Institute in partnership with the LCO Green Team, Happy Tonics Butterfly Sanctuary, and LCOOCC Library are bringing an Environmental Film Festival to LCO!
February 18th Event in the Auditorium includes:
Luncheon: Prepared by LCO Elders Association, Student Center $5 – serving starts at 11:30 a.m.
Noon: Speaker: Mary Ellen Ryall, Happy Tonics Butterfly Sanctuary Executive Director.
Topic: Role of biodiversity of native corn and reasons why native crops best survive climate change.
12:15pm Film: “King Corn”
1:45pm Community Discussion: Advocacy to Action!
Native dent, flour, flint, popcorn and sweet corn
Almost everything Americans eat contains corn: high fructose corn syrup, corn-fed meat, and corn-based processed foods are the staples of the modern diet. Ready for an adventure and alarmed by signs of their generation’s bulging waistlines, college friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis know where to go investigate.
Eighty years ago, Ian and Curt’s great-grandfathers lived just a few miles apart, in the same rural county in northern Iowa. Now their great-grandsons are returning with a mission: they will plant an acre of corn, follow their harvest into the world, and attempt to understand what they—and all of us—are really made of. Visit the movie link to learn more at http://www.kingcorn.net/
Good night dear voters where ever you are.
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February 9, 2010 at 3:34 am (Brighter Planet, Climate change, Community gardens, Girl Scouts, Grant, Happy Tonics, Leopold Education Project, Monarch butterfly, Morph Your Mind Environmental Education, Pheasants Forever)
Tags: Brighter Planet, Community gardens, Friendship Commons, Grant, Happy Tonics, Leopold Education Project, local food supply, Monarch butterfly, Morph Your Mind Environmental Education, Native Crops, Pheasants Forever, Raised bed garden, Washburn County Public Property and Land Sale
And on the Seventh Day They Rested.
What a great weekend. Thank you one and all for voting on our grant proposal at Brighter Planet. Happy Tonics now qualifies for another chance at the brass ring in the future because we got 100 VOTES. The nonprofit realizes that we are up against some pretty stiff competition. New Orleans is in the lead with their grant proposal. Winning the Super Bowl Sunday was a wonderful success. Well done Saints.
Be sure to Sign up and VOTE at Brighter Planet for Climate Change for Native Habitat and Community Garden Shell Lake at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Good news! February 8, the Washburn County Public Property and Land Sales Committee granted Happy Tonics permission to plant a raised bed garden at Friendship Commons, the senior center, in the summer of 2010.
Libby loves being a butterfly
Girl Scout Troop Number 4392 (MN, WI Lakes and Pines) will plant, grow and maintain the garden. Seniors will be partners in this intergenerational activity. A grant from Leopold Education Project and Pheasants Forever are funding the project. Happy Tonics believes that all sustainability projects are accomplished from the ground up. A community that can feed itself is sustainable.
The garden will be a teaching garden. We teach through the monarch butterfly who is the canary in the coal mine. What happens to the butterfly can happen to us.
Even a little grant is a big thing to a small nonprofit. We volunteer for Happy Tonics. Won’t you help us spread our wings to teach others to adapt to climate change?
We offer the Morph Your Mind Environmental Education Program. Our classes, events and two native wildflower and butterfly gardens are nature’s outdoor classrooms where we teach others about the importance of native crops and plants as native host and nectar sources for the monarch butterfly and other pollinators. The natural landscape supports life. Monoculture and invasive species are replacing native habitat. Native habitat is the only habitat can withstands drought conditions and climate change.
Taking Environmental Education to the Classroom
Thank you for your kindness.
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February 6, 2010 at 1:15 am (Brighter Planet, Climate change, Community gardens, Grant, Happy Tonics, Happy Tonics online store, Kathy Maas Artist, Monarch butterfly, Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Salt of the Earth Press, water)
Tags: Art wear, Brighter Planet, Climate change, earth friendly water containers, Grant, Happy Tonics, hats, Kathy Maas, Lindy Casey, Monarch butterfly, organic cotton tees, Salt of the Earth Press, water contamination
We are only 14 VOTES away from 100 VOTES. I know we can do it with your help. Please REGISTER AND VOTE for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden Shell Lake at Brighter Planet at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Wear your passion and show others you care.
We want to thank Salt of the Earth Press at
http://www.saltpress.com/
for voting today. Be sure to check out our beautiful butterfly art wear created by Lindy Casey, owner of Salt of the Earth Press.
Lindy was kind enough to create butterfly product designed by artist and Happy Tonics former member Kathy Maas at CafePress. All sales support Happy Tonics’ Monarch Butterfly Habitat and Morph Your Mind Environmental Education Programs.
Earth Friendly Water Bottle art by K. Maas
We will campaign over the weekend on the blogs to recruit, recruit, and recruit for your VOTES. Be happy voters where ever you are.
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February 2, 2010 at 2:58 am (Brighter Planet, Climate change, Community gardens, Grant, Happy Tonics, Monarch butterfly, Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Native Habitat, Prairie)
Tags: Brighter Planet, Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden Shell lake, Dean, Grant, Gus Speth, Happy Tonics, local food supply, Monarch butterfly, Native Crops, native prairie, Native Wildflowers, Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment, Worlds Apart: Globalization and the Environment, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Happy Tonics is running fourth at 8:10 p.m. in the Feb. 1 – 15 VOTING period for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden Shell Lake grant proposal with Brighter Planet at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Butterfly week host plant for monarch copyright Anna Martineau Merritt
Let’s face it some folks have big guns with bigger networks in larger cities with a bigger VOTER base. We’re in Northern Wisconsin with a population base in Shell Lake of little over 1,300 souls. Is it any wonder we are falling behind? Those of you who are watching the process can make a BIG DIFFERENCE. Please REGISTER and VOTE for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden Shell Lake.
I feel honored when I learn who is a member of the Project Selection Team. To even think that our grant proposal is being considered makes me humble.
Gus Speth Member Project Selection Team Copyright Brighter Planet
Meet Gus Speth, Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. From 1993 to 1999, Gus Speth served as administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chair of the UN Development Group. Prior to this, he was founder and president of the World Resources Institute; professor of law at Georgetown University; chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality; and senior attorney and co-founder, Natural Resources Defense Council.
Dean Speth’s publications include “Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment”; “Worlds Apart: Globalization and the Environment”; and other journals and books.
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January 31, 2010 at 4:07 pm (Agriculture, Brighter Planet, Bumble Bee, Climate change, Community gardens, Environment, Food Safety, Grant, Happy Tonics, Honey Bees, Monarch butterfly, Monarch Butterfly Habitat, National Geographic, Native Bees, Soil, Sustainable Agriculture)
Tags: Bumble Bee, Climate change, Community gardens, Happy Tonics, Insects, local food supply, Mary Ellen Ryall, Monarch butterfly, Native Bees, Native Crops, Native Wildflowers, organic gardening
Please take a minute to REGISTER AND VOTE at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Happy Tonics needs your VOTE to help us do our work. Officers and Board Members give of their time to educate and implement programs to adapt to Climate Change by promoting Sustainability of Native Plants, Monarch Butterfly and other pollinator habitat. Our mission is: Sanctuary for the Monarch Butterfly and Food Safety Issues.
Native bumble bee on autumn sedum
small square foot garden
We are a small grassroots nonprofit that needs your help to WIN our Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden Shell Lake grant proposal.
This is not Happy Tonics first attempt to bring Adapting to Climate Change into national awareness.
We were honored to participate in the Green Effect grant process with National Geographic sponsored by Sun Chips in 2009. Although other worthy causes won, we believe that each of us must do our part to bring the message of adapting to climate change home. (National Geographic, Green Effect Winning Ideas for a Better World, November 2009, insert after pg. 6.)
Plant native wildflowers for drought conditions
Won’t you help us now? Please SIGN UP AND VOTE at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Thank you.
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