Nutritional Needs

03/14/2026

03/14/2026

Begin your day with an expression of gratitude…deep breath in and exhale!

03/14/2026

Sometimes what we call “weeds” are actually lifelines for nature.
In early spring, when flowers are still rare and the world is just waking up, tiny pollinators like bees search desperately for food. Those bright yellow dandelions we often pull out or destroy are not useless weeds — they are one of the first and most important sources of nectar and pollen.
Every small flower can mean survival for a hungry bee.
So before removing them, remember that these little blooms are helping keep nature alive, supporting pollinators, and protecting the balance of our planet.
Let the flowers grow. Let the bees eat. Let nature breathe. 🌍🌼🐝

03/08/2026

THAT'S NOT A LADYBUG.

The swarm covering your window frame right now is the Asian Lady Beetle — Harmonia axyridis. It was imported in the 1960s and 70s for agricultural pest control. It worked. Then it spread. Now it's the dominant species in most of North America, and it's actively displacing native ladybugs.

Here's how to tell them apart.

The Asian Lady Beetle has a black M-shaped marking on the white area behind its head. Native ladybugs don't. That's the fastest identification — flip it over in your mind next time you see one. White area behind the head. M or W shape. Asian.

The swarming itself is the giveaway. Native ladybugs don't cluster on buildings in spring. They overwinter under bark, in leaf litter, in natural cavities. The Asian Lady Beetle seeks heated structures — your house, specifically the south and west walls.

When disturbed, it secretes a yellow-orange fluid from its leg joints. The fluid stains fabric, stains paint, and smells acrid. It can also bite — not dangerously, but enough to startle you. Native ladybugs do none of this.

Meanwhile, your actual native ladybug — the Convergent Lady Beetle, the Seven-spotted, the Nine-spotted — is outside in your garden right now. Each one will eat 5,000 aphids this season. The Nine-spotted Ladybug hasn't been reliably documented in the northeast since the 1990s. The Asian import helped push it there.

The one on your wall is the invasive. The one you want is already in the garden.

They're not the same animal. Look for the M.

03/08/2026

That turtle on the log at the park pond — the one basking in the weak March sun with her legs stretched out like she hasn't moved in months.

She hasn't.

I'm the Painted Turtle. I just survived five months underwater without surfacing to breathe.

In October, when the water dropped below fifty degrees, I sank to the bottom and buried myself in the mud. Stopped eating. My heart rate dropped from forty beats per minute to roughly one beat every ten minutes.

But I still needed oxygen.

My body solved it. I have specialized tissue that absorbs dissolved oxygen directly from the water — through my cloaca. For five months I've been breathing very slowly through my rear end, buried in mud, without moving, in water just above freezing.

As oxygen ran low, my body switched to producing energy without it — like a sprinter in the final stretch of a race. The byproduct is lactic acid. To buffer it, my shell dissolved calcium carbonate into my bloodstream. My skeleton was neutralizing my own blood chemistry to keep me alive.

I used my bones to survive not breathing.

Right now I'm on this log because I need sunlight. My vitamin D is depleted. My muscles haven't fired in five months. I'm slow because I'm relearning how to be a land animal after being a submarine all winter.

🐢 If you see a turtle on a log in March:

- Don't approach, touch, or throw anything to see if it's alive — it's alive, and it's recovering from something harder than anything else in your neighborhood went through
- Basking is critical right now — every minute of sun restores body temperature, vitamin D, and muscle function
- If you see one crossing a road, help it across in the direction it was heading — but carry it low to the ground and never by the tail
- Painted turtles return to the same pond year after year — the one on that log has probably been wintering there longer than you've been visiting

Five months underwater. No air. No food. No movement.

And the first thing she did when the ice melted was climb onto a log and face the sun 🌿

03/08/2026

Hello. I’m Lichen. Sorry I’m growing all over your favorite Japanese Maple.

I know I look like a scaly fungus or a disease, but I’m actually a partnership between an alga and a fungus. I’m not "feeding" on your tree; I’m just using it as a chair. I get my food from the air.

I only grow in areas with high air quality.

I absorb everything from the atmosphere—including pollutants. If you see me thriving, it means your local air is low in sulfur dioxide and high in oxygen. I’m your backyard’s health report.

What to do:
Nothing! Please don't scrub me off or spray me. I’m harmless to the tree and a vital nesting material for hummingbirds and songbirds.

I’m sorry I look like a "skin condition" for trees.
But you know your air is clean because of me.

03/08/2026

Real strength isn’t domination.
It’s compassion.

The world teaches us that power comes from control, force, or influence.

But the truth is… love moves mountains in ways power never could.

Lead with love. It’s stronger than you think. ✨

03/08/2026

Hello. I’m the Sapsucker. Sorry for the "drill bit" rows of holes I left in your pine tree.

I know it looks like I’m a carpenter with a grudge, but I’m an "ecosystem engineer." I drill those holes to sip sap, but I’m not the only one who's hungry.

Over 40 species of birds and insects rely on the 'sap wells' I create.

Hummingbirds, especially, use my wells as a critical energy source in early March before the flowers bloom. Without me, many early migrants would starve during a late spring frost.

What to do:
Don't wrap the tree or try to stop me. Most healthy trees can easily handle the "sap well" holes without any long-term damage. I’m just the neighborhood bartender.

I’m sorry I’m a bit of a vandal.
But the hummingbirds are alive this March because of me.

03/08/2026

03/08/2026

03/08/2026

Gratitude is the currency of abundance. Drop a YES to attract abundance in your life.✨

"Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty."