Natural history podcast enthusiasts will be very pleased to learn that Timber Press, the acclaimed Portland, Oregon based publisher of books on gardening, ornamental and edible horticulture, garden design, sustainability, natural history, and the Pacific Northwest in general, has begun a regularly updated podcast. Inaugurated with a four part interview of Tracy DiSabato-Aust, author of The Well-designed Mixed Garden, the discussion topic has now shifted to a fascinating interview with Douglas Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, about the importance of cultivating  truly healthy landscapes at all levels of the biome through the use of native plants and developing a more holistic understanding of the role insects play in the ecological health of an area. Read the rest of this entry »

Of all the different styles of modern photography, the one that seems to elicit the most reticence from both amateurs and professionals alike is that of macro photography. This is indeed quite unfortunate, for it is through the practice of macro photography that so much of the ordinarily unseen details in our world become discoverable. Add to this the increasingly common availability to the average amateur photographer of at least “close-up” if not actually true macro photographic capability in even the most affordable of digital cameras and there is no reason whatsoever that everyone, particularly naturalists, possessing a recent model digital camera, a healthy sense of curiosity, and a copy of Alan L. Detrick’s Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers should not feel themselves entirely capable of exploring the minute yet endlessly fascinating corners of the natural world. Read the rest of this entry »