Rewilding Your Yard, with Dr. Doug Tallamy
For the sake of the planet, an entomologist asks you to adopt a bug's eye view of your own backyard—and then tear out your lawn.
Dear Friends,
To wrap up our May theme on sustainable gardening, we’re diving into a subject that affects not just our own backyard bioregions, but the very future of our planet.
In this new episode of “The Secrets of Mastery,” you’ll hear from Dr. Doug Tallamy, entomologist, author, professor at the University of Delaware, and co-founder of a movement called Homegrown National Park. Not surprisingly, Tallamy has a great passion for insects, and unusually deep knowledge about their overlooked significance. This has led him to offer homeowners a revolutionary idea: Tear out your lawn and plant native species instead. After rewilding his own property, and seeing the outsized fertility that created, Tallamy envisions a future where the 44 million acres of lawn across the U.S. are transformed into thriving ecosystems. With Tallamy’s tips, you too can become a home-based steward of biodiversity, and “start a new habit(at).”
I hope you’ll enjoy listening to “Rewilding Your Yard, with Dr. Doug Tallamy.” It’s available only here on Substack. As a reader-supported publication, Craftsmanship needs your help to keep bringing you new, ad-free stories like these, which delve into the nature of mastery and excellence itself in various fields. We will continue to offer the occasional free article, but we hope you’ll consider supporting this work with a paid subscription, if you haven’t done so already.
Coming up in June, we’ll have a new collection of stories and podcasts on how artisans build financially successful businesses, along with other topics. So please, stay tuned.
We always welcome your thoughts and suggestions, which you can offer in a comment, by tagging us in Substack Notes, or via email. Thank you for reading and sharing our stories, for supporting our work with a paid subscription if you can, and for being such a loyal part of the Craftsmanship community.
Sincerely,
Todd Oppenheimer
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Craftsmanship Magazine
“The Secrets of Mastery” is a series of brief, intimate conversations with artisans, innovators, and other pioneers about what it takes to master their craft, and why handmade matters. It’s available for paid subscribers here on Substack.
Previous episodes include:
Designing a Climate-Resilient Garden, with Cricket Riley
A Conversation with Mark Sturges, the 'Compost King'
How Does Greece Keep Producing the World's Best Honey? with Dr. Paschalis Harizanis
Our environment is very encouraging! Howard Johnson