Taste of Cyn

If You Want The Butterflies…

By Cynthia Sax on July 2, 2025

(The chicken wire ‘domes’ over these marigolds stop the squirrels from happily digging up the plants. The Mafia Squirrels do that for ‘funsies’, taking out entire rows in one session and leaving the dying plants beside their trenches so I can see their handiwork. – eye roll)

I often repeat the saying, “If you want the butterflies, you have to feed the caterpillars.”

This is true for bees also, all types of bees, and other beneficial insects.

We have to create homes and supply food sources for them.

We do a few easy things in the Sax household to help facilitate this.

We leave some leaves on the ground for bees and other insects to overwinter in.

We have some perennial plants we try not to disturb very much. This allows bees to create safe homes around these plants.

(The yellow jackets, for example, build homes around the raspberry bushes.)

We also don’t plant or dig close to fences and other structures as these are great homes for bees also.

We don’t use herbicides or pesticides (these are outlawed in Toronto).

We plant extra vegetables and allow the caterpillars to eat some of those plants (or bits of the rose bushes).

We allow the dandelions to bloom. In our part of the universe, these are usually the first flowers to appear and the bumblebees LOVE them.

We also plant a lot of other bee and butterfly-friendly flowers like marigolds, zinnias and clover.

We’re having our best bee year ever in our neighborhood and I like to think all these actions contributed a little bit toward that.

(smiles)

Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on If You Want The Butterflies…

Pulling Dandelions

By Cynthia Sax on May 24, 2021

The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I spent an enjoyable hour or two removing dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) in our front and back yard. We don’t pull them out of the ground in the early spring as dandelions are often the first flowers in our corner of the universe and are an essential source of nectar for the honey bees.

We remove the dandelions manually because herbicides and pesticides aren’t allowed in our city. I LOVE this restriction. It means, in a pinch, we can eat the dandelions.

The entire plant (leaves, stems, flowers, and roots) is edible. When I was a kid, we ate dandelion leaves in salads. They were a bit bitter. Often we’d eat them blanched the same way we’d eat spinach. One of my aunties would make a potent dandelion wine.

I joke with the Dear Wonderful Hubby that, if the apocalypse happens, we’ll be eating dandelions…and I suspect dandelions would survive any disaster. The happy yellow blooms are tenacious, often growing between patches of pavement.

We pull the dandelions so the clover and other ground covering has a chance to grow also. The variety provides better dining options for bunnies and other creatures.

***

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Under Strain

A damaged cyborg warrior is hunted by a peace-loving human female.

***

Strain is severely malfunctioning. The D Model cyborg was the sole survivor after a horrific decision was made by his cruel manufacturers. He hates all humans, and when he attacks one who is under his cyborg leader’s protection, he is reprimanded, stripped of his weapons, and told to watch and not actively participate in the next mission.

That mission takes place on a small remote planet. Its lush terrain should only be inhabited by the cyborgs they were sent to rescue, but Strain senses another presence on the surface. She is watching him, tracking him, hunting him.

A fully operational cyborg would end her lifespan.

Strain wants to claim her. Forever.

Kamyelle is the only one left of her kind. Warriors have killed the other nonviolent human inhabitants of her planet. She survived…barely…by hiding in the trees, observing her enemies, and covering herself with lifeform scan-concealing mud.

When a handsome, gray-skinned, brilliant-blue-eyed male arrives, surrounded by weapon-carrying warriors, she has to save him. Warriors harm and they kill. That is what they do.

She won’t allow them to hurt Strain.

***

Under Strain is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.

It features a broken warrior, a human female who thinks he’s perfect, and velociraptor-like dinosaurs who view them both as light, tasty snacks.

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