We’re back!

We’re back! I am so excited to be relaunching the Backyard Ecology podcast!

When I paused it at the end of 2023, I thought it would only be for a month or two. I never dreamed that it would be on hold for a year.

I also want to say that I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who reached out during that time to see if we were ok or to ask if I was planning to continue the podcast. It really meant a lot to me that you cared enough to check in.

Although the break didn’t go quite how I expected it to go, it was much needed and served its purpose. I’m happy to report that the podcast is in a much better place, Backyard Ecology as a whole is in a much better place, and I’m in a much better place because of the break.

Going forward, new episodes will be released every other week. The episodes will alternate between a solo episode, where I’m the only one talking, and a guest episode. For the guest episodes, we’ll be primarily talking with researchers, educators, and other professionals.

Occasionally, we’ll also talk with busy homeowners, just like you, who are creating pollinator and wildlife habitat on their property. I’m looking forward to hearing their stories because it can be encouraging to know you’re not the only person out there who’s trying to create a thriving backyard ecosystem.

Something else that we’re doing differently with the relaunch is that the Backyard Ecology YouTube channel will play a more prominent role with the podcast. So, the audio version of the podcast will be available on all your favorite podcast listening apps, just like always.

However, for each of the guest episodes, we’ll also have the video available on the Backyard Ecology YouTube channel. You’ll be able to watch the whole conversation, just like you were sitting in the room with us.

We’re also planning to pull out shorter segments or clips of the conversations that focus on a specific topic. That way, even if you don’t want to watch the whole episode, you can still get some of the highlights. We’ve already started going back through the old podcast episodes, pulling segments out of them, adding images, and turning them into videos so that more people can benefit from them.

I’ll have a link in the show notes to the Backyard Ecology YouTube channel if you want to check it out. If you haven’t already done so, I highly encourage you to join the over 20,000 viewers who have liked and subscribed to the channel.

Our first new episode with a guest will go live on January 23. I’ll be talking with a private homeowner who shares how she and her husband have turned their small, suburban yard into an oasis for songbirds. Then in February, we’ll learn about ground nesting bees and a related community science project that anyone can participate in.

And that’s just the start. I have lots of other exciting episodes planned and am so happy to be back!

As always, I want to thank our amazing Patrons who go above and beyond every month to provide financial support. That financial support helps us create so much free content for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks! And don’t forget to take some time to explore the nature in your backyard!