Writings

Discussion Guide

Our Wild Ones chapter provides monthly educational programs, and this Our Habitat Garden website provides more in-depth information about habitat gardening.

But exploring a new relationship with your own piece of the earth is most powerful when you discuss it with others.

Discussion course

So I created a six-session discussion guide available FREE to anyone.

This course Caring for Our Piece of the Earth is patterned on the EcoChallenge.org (formerly known as the Northwest Earth Institute) discussion guides, designed for small groups of 8-12 people. Smaller groups would work as well.

Individuals are welcome to download and study this guide (though it’s more fun in a group!)

Download these free materials as PDFs or on the HGCNY website or from Apple’s iBook store.

Wild Ones Journal

Wild Ones Journal

Janet has written a number of articles for the Journal over the years.

It has been an honor to have these articles published here because I’ve read the Wild Ones Journal almost from the beginning of our habitat gardening journey.

NOTE:  If you become a Wild Ones member, you’ll receive this bimonthly journal, which is now produced in digital form.

Wild Ones Journal article

One of my first articles in the Wild Ones Journal was about how I could experience “the whole world in my back yard.”

I hope I can share as much useful information with other gardeners as I’ve learned myself from other Wild Ones Journal authors.

Here are some of the articles that have appeared in the Wild Ones Journal:

Upstate Gardeners’ Journal

Upstate Gardeners’ Journal is a guide to gardening in Upstate New York that features event listings and calendar items, seasonal tips and articles about local gardens and gardeners.

Here are my articles that have appeared in Upstate Gardeners’ Journal:

  • Touring my habitat garden – July/August 2024 Issue 29, No. 4
  • The Godzilla of the Plant World: Japanese Knotweed – July/August 2014 p. 17-18
  • Book Review: Attracting Native Pollinators – July/August 2011 Vol. 17, Issue 3, p. 18
  • Book Review: Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East – March/April 2011 Vol. 17, Issue 2, pp. 66-67
  • Here a Bradford, there a Bradford – July/August 2010 Vol. 16, Issue 4
  • Become a citizen scientist…In your own yard – March/ April 2009 Vol. 15, Issue 2
  • Book Review: Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens – March-April 2008 Vol. 14, Issue 2
  • On the Wings of Pollinators: Where Our Future Lies – May-June 2007 Vol. 13, Issue 3
  • Monarchs and Our Gardens – November/December 2006 Vol. 12 Issue 6
  • What Will the Neighbors Think? – July/August 2006 Vol. 12, Issue 4

Woodlands and Prairies

Woodlands and Prairies Magazine with Mrs. Woods is a grassroots maagzine published four times a year. It’s full of stories of people being good stewards of their land—both woodlands and prairies/meadows. Its tagline is “About caring for your piece of this Good Earth.” Gorgeous photography, too!

Here are my articles that have appeared in Woodlands & Prairies:

  • Gardening for Life: The Journey of Janet Allen – Summer 2011 Vol. 8, No. 2
  • Pollinators A to Z – Summer 2011 Vol. 8, No. 2
  • The Killer Bamboo: My husband’s battle against Japanese knotweed – Summer 2010 Vol. 7, No. 2

Country’s Best Cabins

Sierra Atlantic

The Sierra Atlantic is a newsletter sent to Sierra Club members in the New York Atlantic region.

  • Let Wildlife’s Simple Needs Transform Your Yard – Summer 2003 (p. 8)

Iroquois Messenger

The Iroquois Messenger is a newsletter sent to the Iroquois Chapter members of the Sierra Club members in the New York Atlantic region.

  • Three Shocking Facts  (about non-native worms) – 2017
  • Symphony of Life – 2017
  • I’m Elderly: Time to play? – 2017
  • Book Review: Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket – September-November 2006
  • Creation Stewardship – May-June 2000
  • Your Own Backyard – September-October 2001
  • The Only Good Bug … – June – August 2003
  • Everyone Thinks of Changing the World … – November 2003-January 2004

Westchester Environment

  • Wildlife in Your Own Backyard – Summer 2006, Vol. 2006 No. 3

CNY Home & Garden

  • Our Gardens Can SAVE the Monarch Butterfly – April 2009 Vol. 1 Number 2

National Wildlife Federation’s Volunteer Spirit

  • Create a habitat for people, too! – May/June 2007 Vol. 15, Issue 3

National Wildlife Federation’s Habitats Newsletter

  • Habitat Stewards in Action – Spring/Summer 2002 Vol. 5, No. 3
  • The Whole World in My Backyard – Winter 2003 Vol. 6, No. 1

Organic Farms, Folks, & Foods

  • Make a Home for Wildlife in Your Yard – Mid-Summer 2007 Vol. 25, No. 3

Central New York Environment

  • Learning how to create an eco-friendly yard – Feb.-March 2003 Vol. 28, No. 1
  • Gardening that trades lawn for habitat – December 2002-January 2003
  • Worms turn food scraps into black gold – April-May 2001 Vol. 26, No. 2

Reflections

Write without pay until someone offers pay. If nobody offers within three years, the candidate may look upon this as a sign that sawing wood is what he was intended for.
~ Mark Twain