Charlotte Ekker Wiggins / beekeeper / author /gardener
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PictureROLLA Mo. -- Charlotte Ekker Wiggins at a local floriculture club discussing how planting for pollinators impacts us all.
Bluebird Gardens Blogs
 
How do I show you what our custom quilts and gifts look like if I can't share examples with you once in awhile? That was the inspiration behind Made Just for U, my blog on handmade quilts, personalized gifts and easy home decor. 

Bluebird Gardens, my custom gift business started in 1998, was inspired by my Missouri limestone hillside garden. I enjoy making, and giving gifts out of my garden starting with simple bouquets of flowers. I soon realized, though, everything is connected so Gardening Charlotte.com is my blog on gardening linked to other blogs: on beekeeping and cooking. I include new gardening tips to adjust to our climate emergency; feature simple, healthy recipes, especially when I cook what I grow, and introduce you to the amazing world of pollinators, native bees and honeybees. One out of every three bites of healthy food we eat are courtesy of bees.

The stories are a combination of how-to, who-did and what happened. This is not your traditional North American gardening. My vegetables co-mingle scattered in flower borders or in pots, my ornamental trees tend to be natives or dwarf fruit trees and there is no grass to be mowed. If it isn't easy, effective and low maintenance, I skip it. 

Sometimes, in spite of myself, I find a thriving certified wildlife garden and Monarch Way Station on my hillside, and maybe that's the biggest lesson of all. Our gardens are living, changing environments. If you have never sat under a tree in spring and listened to all of the wonderful sounds of nature, mark your calendar this year to do so. Studies show our spending time outside in nature and away from all of the constantly-demanding technology, is healthy for us. I know that because, even before we were all electronically connected, I recharged my emotional and spiritual batteries in my garden.

We all know our home, Earth, is struggling because of our bad habits. The good news is that there are three things we can all do, and I have been doing in my garden for decades now, to contribute to a healthier world. More at my April 2019 TEDx talk at Missouri S&T. 

Now don't confuse me with any gourmet cook or high brown horticulture specialist, I don't claim to be either one. What I want to show you is that there are some easy things we can all do, from what to cook what you can easily grow at home, and simply add beauty to where we all live. In doing so, you are also being kind to nature, to our home planet, and ultimately, to ourselves.  Charlotte
 

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