You’re busy, right? If you’re nodding your head, then the answer is yes and we have something in common: not enough time. And perhaps the sense that large things can’t be created or conquered because we don’t have the big time they require.

I offer a simple solution: Make intentional ten-minute efforts every day.

This idea was born out of necessity in my life. During a recent summer, I was still in the labor-intensive phase of raising my young son. I longed to put in a flower garden, but as a single parent with neither partner nor family nearby, time for such endeavors did not exist. Still, I wanted that garden.

In recent years, human development has threatened or eliminated many species that were once prevalent in the landscape.  As our society continues to expand into previously unmaintained wild areas, increasing pressure is placed on native wildlife.  For this reason, there is no better time than the present for gardeners to recognize the important role they play in the future of land management and conservation.  

Gardeners, and the general public alike, need to begin to think of their backyards as living entities, made up of millions of interdependent parts.  Gardeners hoping to create real habitat that will help to restore critical pieces of our ecosystem need to plant the species that support all wildlife:  bees, flies, grasshoppers, bugs, butterflies, beetles, spiders and wasps.  While it is easy to overlook many of the smaller creepy crawlies, we must remind ourselves that in absence of these smaller creatures the complex ecosystem crumbles.