About

Our mission is to help you create your dream pollinator and wildlife habitat so you can use your property in the way you wish and also care for the pollinators and wildlife that call your land home. We do this by listening to you, helping you clarify and focus your goals, and offering a variety of products and services to help you achieve your goals.

Busy Bee Nursery and Consulting grew out of our own desire to manage our property for pollinators and wildlife and a need to grow native plants for that purpose. Soon friends began asking for help identifying what they already had on their property and guidance for how to create better pollinator and wildlife habitat on their land. And, like us, they needed a source of native plants to make those pollinator and wildlife habitat dreams a reality. So, once again, they turned to us, because they knew we were already growing the plants for ourselves.

Many people believe that nature is only “out there” – in national parks, other large chunks of pristine land, or some far-off exotic place. For a long time, I did too. I grew up camping, hiking, and exploring the fields and woods around our home. I’ve always loved nature and wildlife, but for a long time I thought that all the “really good stuff” was somewhere else.

I took for granted my local pollinators and wildlife, because they were familiar. I don’t do that anymore, but I’ve also learned that many people have that same mindset – sometimes without even recognizing it. I think it is almost human nature to be blind to what’s right in front of us.

My mission is to help people in the eastern U.S. discover their local pollinators and wildlife so they can appreciate and create space for the nature in their own yards and communities. I have a Bachelors degree in wildlife biology and a Masters degree in biology with an emphasis in ecology. Busy Bee Nursery and Consulting is one of the ways I accomplish my mission.

My interest in the outdoors started at an early age. I was always catching bugs, toads, turtles, and any other critter I could get my hands on. This lifelong interest in nature led me to pursue a degree in wildlife biology at Murray State University and later a master’s degree in agriculture from Western Kentucky University.

These degrees allowed me to work on a wide variety of projects dealing with critters such as cottonmouths, Indiana bats, bald eagles, waterfowl, and gopher tortoises. My role on many of those projects was walking through areas and identifying and evaluating plant communities and inventorying plant species.

Every time I step in the woods my mind still goes through this process – what is here, is this what should be here, and how can it be made better? I enjoy helping landowners meet their habitat management needs whether it is a one-acre property inside the city limits or a 1,000 acre property that is used mainly for deer and turkey hunting.

Hopefully we all have someone in our lives who is always there for us and is willing to jump in and help whenever they can. Mom is one of those people for us.

It takes A LOT of work to keep up with all the transplanting and other tasks in the nursery. There is no way we could do it all, and do everything else that we do. Mom is always willing to lend a hand with transplanting or whatever else we need, including helping to staff our table when we set up at special events. Her help is invaluable, and we greatly appreciate it.

(No, Mom is not a butterfly. Mom hates having her picture taken, and because we love her and want her to keep helping us, we’re respecting her wishes and not posting a picture of her.)