Paula Whyman
@paulawhyman.bsky.social
Author, BAD NATURALIST: One Woman's Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop, Jan 2025 from Timber Press/Hachette. Website: https://paulawhyman.com Newsletter: https://badnaturalistnewsletter.beehiiv.com/
My contribution to Secular Pie Thursday-- rustic classic apple pie. @duchessgoldblatt.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 2:18 PM
My contribution to Secular Pie Thursday-- rustic classic apple pie. @duchessgoldblatt.bsky.social
Reposted by Paula Whyman
I loved this book...so funny and I learned a lot about native plants (but not in a learn-y way).
Books make great gifts! Maybe you know someone who'd enjoy Bad Naturalist, a tale of my attempts to bring native meadows back to a 200-acre mountaintop when I didn't know anything about plants, plus I'm a terrible gardener--but other than that it went great!
🌿 #books (thx @lollardfish.bsky.social!)
🌿 #books (thx @lollardfish.bsky.social!)
November 26, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I loved this book...so funny and I learned a lot about native plants (but not in a learn-y way).
Books make great gifts! Maybe you know someone who'd enjoy Bad Naturalist, a tale of my attempts to bring native meadows back to a 200-acre mountaintop when I didn't know anything about plants, plus I'm a terrible gardener--but other than that it went great!
🌿 #books (thx @lollardfish.bsky.social!)
🌿 #books (thx @lollardfish.bsky.social!)
November 26, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Books make great gifts! Maybe you know someone who'd enjoy Bad Naturalist, a tale of my attempts to bring native meadows back to a 200-acre mountaintop when I didn't know anything about plants, plus I'm a terrible gardener--but other than that it went great!
🌿 #books (thx @lollardfish.bsky.social!)
🌿 #books (thx @lollardfish.bsky.social!)
There is no Thanksgiving without the Tacky Turkey.
November 26, 2025 at 8:50 PM
There is no Thanksgiving without the Tacky Turkey.
This yellow garden spider sits on my package box day and night like a sentry. I wonder how the UPS guy feels about it.
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November 24, 2025 at 2:11 PM
This yellow garden spider sits on my package box day and night like a sentry. I wonder how the UPS guy feels about it.
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Reposted by Paula Whyman
Warning! This colorful chart is censored by IPCC - mailchi.mp/caa/warning-...
Also available on Substack: jimehansen.substack.com/p/warning-th...
Also available on Substack: jimehansen.substack.com/p/warning-th...
November 21, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Warning! This colorful chart is censored by IPCC - mailchi.mp/caa/warning-...
Also available on Substack: jimehansen.substack.com/p/warning-th...
Also available on Substack: jimehansen.substack.com/p/warning-th...
I'm thrilled to say that Bad Naturalist has been named a finalist for the Reed Environmental Writing Award! A nonfiction book & a journalism winner will be chosen for "literary excellence & extraordinary insight into the South’s natural treasures & environmental challenges."
🌿 @selc.bsky.social
🌿 @selc.bsky.social
Meet the 2026 Phil Reed Environmental Writing Award finalists
The Southern Environmental Law Center is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2026 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award. Presented each year, the Reed Award celebrates writers who achieve ...
www.selc.org
November 19, 2025 at 2:19 PM
I'm thrilled to say that Bad Naturalist has been named a finalist for the Reed Environmental Writing Award! A nonfiction book & a journalism winner will be chosen for "literary excellence & extraordinary insight into the South’s natural treasures & environmental challenges."
🌿 @selc.bsky.social
🌿 @selc.bsky.social
Oh, just picking invasive ladybugs out of the bathtub. As one does.
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November 17, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Oh, just picking invasive ladybugs out of the bathtub. As one does.
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Reposted by Paula Whyman
Looking for examples of important national parks research that's been paused during the shutdown — especially long-term monitoring or projects with big stakes that now must contend w data gaps. Any ideas/examples? 🌲⛰️🐟
November 10, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Looking for examples of important national parks research that's been paused during the shutdown — especially long-term monitoring or projects with big stakes that now must contend w data gaps. Any ideas/examples? 🌲⛰️🐟
Do this!
You can rake the leaves to the edges of the lawn if you want, or rake them into a bed where you have other plants or trees. Larvae of pollinators overwinter in those leaves. If you remove the leaves, you will also be removing the pollinators that help your plants reproduce.
You can rake the leaves to the edges of the lawn if you want, or rake them into a bed where you have other plants or trees. Larvae of pollinators overwinter in those leaves. If you remove the leaves, you will also be removing the pollinators that help your plants reproduce.
Alternatively you can leave the leaves. They provide habitat for ground dwelling pollinators
November 9, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Do this!
You can rake the leaves to the edges of the lawn if you want, or rake them into a bed where you have other plants or trees. Larvae of pollinators overwinter in those leaves. If you remove the leaves, you will also be removing the pollinators that help your plants reproduce.
You can rake the leaves to the edges of the lawn if you want, or rake them into a bed where you have other plants or trees. Larvae of pollinators overwinter in those leaves. If you remove the leaves, you will also be removing the pollinators that help your plants reproduce.
Just fixed up my late uncle's old banjo uke. Now I just have to figure out how to play it.
November 8, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Just fixed up my late uncle's old banjo uke. Now I just have to figure out how to play it.
Joshua Tree in Joshua Tree NP
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November 6, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Joshua Tree in Joshua Tree NP
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Reposted by Paula Whyman
Spanberger: My fellow Virginians, tonight we sent a message…
November 5, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Spanberger: My fellow Virginians, tonight we sent a message…
Happy Halloween, quoth the raven
November 1, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Happy Halloween, quoth the raven
The new issue of the Bad Naturalist newsletter is here, and it has goats! And sheep! And monarchs! And hoverflies! And a poodle!
🌿 #nature
🌿 #nature
Mountain Goated
badnaturalistnewsletter.beehiiv.com
October 25, 2025 at 1:43 PM
The new issue of the Bad Naturalist newsletter is here, and it has goats! And sheep! And monarchs! And hoverflies! And a poodle!
🌿 #nature
🌿 #nature
"Honey, does this Ring camera make me look fat?" I definitely did not say
October 24, 2025 at 7:27 PM
"Honey, does this Ring camera make me look fat?" I definitely did not say
Small town near me is putting on The Emperor's New Clothes for their holiday play this year. Wouldn't it be a shame if small towns and cities across the country all decided to put on that same play in December? A propos of nothing.
October 24, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Small town near me is putting on The Emperor's New Clothes for their holiday play this year. Wouldn't it be a shame if small towns and cities across the country all decided to put on that same play in December? A propos of nothing.
A poodle face for you.
October 24, 2025 at 12:07 AM
A poodle face for you.
Just sitting on the sofa trying to read while stinkbugs helicopter above my head. As one does.
#autumninVirginia #ahthewondersofnature
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#autumninVirginia #ahthewondersofnature
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October 17, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Just sitting on the sofa trying to read while stinkbugs helicopter above my head. As one does.
#autumninVirginia #ahthewondersofnature
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#autumninVirginia #ahthewondersofnature
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If you're in rural Virginia, I highly recommend The Rural Angle.
newruralvirginia.substack.com?utm_campaign...
newruralvirginia.substack.com?utm_campaign...
The Rural Angle | New Rural Virginia | Substack
New Rural Virginia is a 501(c)(4) that analyzes and advocates for prosperity and economic freedom in the rural communities of Virginia. Click to read The Rural Angle, by New Rural Virginia, a Substack...
newruralvirginia.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:41 PM
If you're in rural Virginia, I highly recommend The Rural Angle.
newruralvirginia.substack.com?utm_campaign...
newruralvirginia.substack.com?utm_campaign...
Reposted by Paula Whyman
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
October 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
Reposted by Paula Whyman
“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”
@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
October 7, 2025 at 11:47 AM
“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”
@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
“When we talk about ecological restoration, ‘restore’ isn’t really the right word,” says Whyman. “It implies going backwards to some earlier condition. And we can really only go forward."
Check out this story from @aldoleopoldfdn.bsky.social about my work on the mountain!
Check out this story from @aldoleopoldfdn.bsky.social about my work on the mountain!
The latest #LandEthic in Action story is all about community. First, we share how a group of Wisconsinites came together to protect a threatened watershed; then we ask Paula Whyman more about her growing relationship to the land.
Check out the story here ➡️ https://ow.ly/Jpe950X5PHO
Check out the story here ➡️ https://ow.ly/Jpe950X5PHO
October 7, 2025 at 4:17 PM
“When we talk about ecological restoration, ‘restore’ isn’t really the right word,” says Whyman. “It implies going backwards to some earlier condition. And we can really only go forward."
Check out this story from @aldoleopoldfdn.bsky.social about my work on the mountain!
Check out this story from @aldoleopoldfdn.bsky.social about my work on the mountain!