IT'S
FINISHED!
Professor Buttonbush and the Shoreline Rescue was created using colored pencils, needlepoint ink pens, watercolors and number two pencils.
Over the past five years or so, this book took shape, sketch by hand-sketch. The title changed, the colors changed, the words... as it grew into the final story. Then it rested and simmered on the back burner for a while... until reappearing this year for the finish line! Thanks to "My Book Printer" of Madison Heights, Michigan for support in the final stretch!
Copies are now available at:
Schuler Books, West Bloomfield, MI
Road Less Traveled Books, Farmington, MI
Art Reach of Mid Michigan, Mt. Pleasant, MI
West Bloomfield Public Library, Main Branch and Westacres Branch
Amidst the dark, gnarled roots, mud, moss and flower shoots lives a green frog reading a book.
Explore the world of a natural shoreline populated by lush foliage and colorful flowers from the Great Lakes Region. This is the home of Professor Buttonbush, a native green frog who, along with his friends, is tasked with defending this critical habitat which provides essential food and shelter. When unexpected visitors show up with axes and saws threatening to cut the shoreline down, a powerful environmental message is revealed and resolved.
This story offers moral lessons of cooperation, environmental awareness and friendship. The addition of a glossary of native plants and animals with thumbnail picture snippets from the text further educates the reader and takes them deeper into the relationship that native plants and animals have with each other in this beautiful shoreline habitat.
For All Ages!
Explore over 50 hand-sketched wildflowers, pollinators, sedges, grasses, trees and shrubs from the Great Lakes Region in a fun, color by number workbook. Each biologically accurate plant sketch is accompanied by a description of specific growing conditions and habitat.
Many host plants are featured with their pollinator companions in this informative, close up look at beautiful relationships and co-evolution. Also included are tips for where to find native plants for your yard and why native plants are so important for the health of our environment.
Available at:
- SCHULER BOOKS WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI
- Art Reach of Mid Michigan, Mt. Pleasant, MI
- Falling Rock Cafe, Munising, MI
- Gateway Farms Market Stand, Plymouth, MI
Here's a peek inside:
Hand Sculpted & Painted
Garden Gnomes!
Named after unique, native plants from the Great Lakes Region, each gnome comes with an identification card and garden tool of your choice.
Check/Cash $8 Credit $9
Height: 2 inches, Material: polymer clay
Scroll down and message me to special order
Wild Ginger: Grows in rich, moist,
deciduous forests. Blooms in spring
with flowers hiding at ground level.
Fox Sedge: Loves wet soil of shores, river and stream margins,
ditches, meadows or your garden!
Columbine: A versatile flower that
grows in full sun to almost full shade. Find it along riverbanks.
Lupine: Karner Blue Butterfly larvae
feed exclusively on native lupine. Look for it in sandy prairies.
Butterfly Milkweed: If you plant it,
they will come! Add this beautiful flower to your butterfly garden.
Trout Lily: The average age of a
trout lily colony is 150 years old! Find them in maple-beech forests.
Choose your GARDEN TOOL/ACCESSORY:
Flower
Watering Can
Mushroom
Hoe
Broom
Shovel
April 1, 2024, West Bloomfield
Civic Center TV Interview:
LET'S BUILD A RAIN GARDEN!
In this text, children will get a close up look at the creatures and plants that thrive inside a rain garden. I wrote it for children, with rhythmic verse and colorful illustrations, yet I hope to reach adult hearts with the environmental message as well. Every little bit helps when it comes to watershed health. Embrace the rain before it hits the drain!
Available at West Bloomfield Township Library and Bloomfield Township Library, Michigan for checkout, or to purchase on Amazon.com or Friends of the Rouge online store.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
I love spreading the word about the benefits of native plants and harvesting stormwater for flooding prevention, wildlife habitat and watershed health. I've presented my book with local schools and organizations, croaking wooden frog and rain stick included:) I have also participated in larger community events like the Dearborn, Michigan Homecoming Festival, pictured to the right.
Bonus! I received my MASTER RAIN GARDENER certification in spring 2023!
Media Coverage:
Let's Build a Rain Garden! review:
"Must-Read Books by Southeast Michigan Authors"
Let's Build a Rain Garden! Newspaper coverage
"West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation commissioner writes book on protecting local watersheds"
Author Interview With Civic Center TV
A conversation about Let's Build a Rain Garden!, Freedom Lawns, Harmful Algal Blooms, Native Plants and our precious environment!
My EFS poster is hanging up
in West Bloomfield Town Hall!
Black and white print on some hard to find document didn't cut it for me.
I wanted to express our Environmental Features Setback Ordinance in pictures, so our residents could have a better understanding.
from the 2022 Michigan Inland Lakes Convention!
And now, it's a CLASS!
called "Your Natural, Edible Yard: Un-Lawning"
Find it in the West Bloomfield Parks
spring course catalogue (click here to register).
Last year, all participants sampled foraged spring rolls and
left with a jar of dandelion jelly!
Past FREELANCE writing:
-Traverse City Business News
-Ehow.com
-Ferndale Friends
-Garden Design Magazine
-The Chaldean News
--
2019 - The Chaldean News
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AWARD
I am so honored to be the recipient of the 2021 Environmental Stewardship Award for “Greater West Bloomfield Michigan Week.” As an English major it’s pretty cool to receive a medal with symbols of science on it;)
Part of the award recognized environmental education and my children’s book Let's Build a Rain Garden! It feels awesome to be acknowledged by the governor of our beautiful state.
"A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule."