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Invite Them In

To get rid of destructive bugs in your garden, create habitat for the "good ones" and leave the pest control to the birds. More >

Perk Up Your Plants

A cup of joe will chase away that "slug"-ish morning by giving your garden a wake up call. More >

Make It Official

If you've been having a life-long love affair with wildlife, it's time to take the next step. More >

Stomping through mud puddles, sporting chocolate moustaches and grinding in grass stains is all in a day's work for kids — they love to get dirty. Nationally recognized Longstreth Elementary School kindergarteners are particularly proud of their soiled knees because that means the butterflies will come.

Watching a group of his five-year old students sit quietly under a butterfly bush, anticipating the return of a fritillary recently departed from the shoulder of a classmate, Chuck Lafferty was pleased. "The goal of the "kinder-garden wildlife habitat project" is to have our students become comfortable and at ease in their environment and to begin to see themselves as the stewards of their environment. We want our children to get close with the Earth."

Seven years ago the kindergarten class of Longstreth Elementary collected $122 in pennies and started what has since become Philadelphia's first schoolyard habitat to be certified by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). The once vacant city lot on the corner of 57th and Pewmont in Southwest Philadelphia is now brimming with colorful native plants, local wildlife and migratory birds. It has also become a favorite community gathering place, affording a sense of "being out in the country."

Under the insightful guidance of their teacher, the children use organic gardening practices to maintain this lush, urban oasis. Lunch scraps and breakfast leftovers are among the 137 pounds of organic waste composted by the children last year. The resulting nutritious blend of mulch mixed with a layer of wood chips is enough to keep the plants healthy and free of weeds. Chemicals aren't needed to eliminate pests either. A wide variety of birds attracted to those lovely native plants helps to keep the insect population under control — not that the students mind a few bugs. Their philosophy on bugs on vegetables, "We plant extra so we can have some and so they can have some."

In addition to strengthening connections between children and the environment and instilling an appreciation of wildlife at an early age, another goal of this schoolyard wildlife project is to raise awareness and spread the word about the value of natural habitat and balanced ecosystems. In the hopes that others would follow suit and create backyard habitats of their own, the Kinder-Garden Seed Company was born. Featuring flowers that are hand-drawn by the kindergarteners, the "by kids, for kids" one-of-a-kind labels are the perfect eye-catcher for the packets of seeds collected by the students from the very flowers they've cultivated in their classroom, then planted and cared for in their garden. Dwarf sunflowers and marigolds are just two examples of the types of seeds given to those in the local community and sold for $1 at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum.

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