Judy Paschalis: at home with a budding backyard naturalist
A different kind of neighborhood
Judy Paschalis lived for years surrounded by houses and neighbors, but two years ago she and her husband found a new place to call home. After the move she realized that she was sitting on twelve acres of the Oak Openings Region. This piece of knowledge sent her on an educational journey that is still making every day a day of discovering her new nature neighbors.
A rare ribbon of land
According to the Nature Conservancy, the Oak Openings Region is one of the 200 last great places in the world and has a biodiversity as expansive as the Florida Everglades. On a map, this 130 square mile region of large oak trees and prairie grasses stretches like a 5 mile wide ribbon from Liberty Center, OH to just above Monroe, Mi. People living in the Oak Openings Region are encouraged to be Green Ribbon Partners and fellow conservators of this habitat by avoiding invasive species and cultivating native plants. The reward, as Judy has found, is the thrill of watching a native landscape thrive right outside your window.
After following recommendations by the Nature Conservancy Judy is already seeing an uptick in the number of butterflies on her property. This is due to the dozens if not hundreds of milkweed plants popping up in her back field. She explains, “Monarch butterflies cannot survive without milkweed.” As Judy has witnessed, if you allow this native plant to thrive on your property the monarchs will happily be your neighbors.
Once Judy started learning about why the Oak Openings should be protected and how landowners can do their part, she has become way more interested in nature in general. “I was born on a small farm in Kansas and this has taken me back to my roots”, Judy explains as she walks around her yard using her Picture This and INaturalist apps on her phone to identify the different plants she finds. It is like solving a puzzle to figure out which plants are native and which are not. Slowly and methodically she is doing her part to make sure her piece of land, in the heart of the Green Ribbon, thrives.
The pursuit of many paths
Judy’s newfound interest in the Oak Openings Region is one example of the many paths she has walked throughout her lifetime. She started her career in Toledo as a reporter for WTOL and has worked in the communications and public relations field for several social service agencies. She has helped with marketing for her husband’s restaurant, Manos, and is passionate about the redevelopment of the Uptown area. Her last full time position was as the Communications Director of the Kinship Navigator Program for the Northwest Ohio Area Office on Aging which is a resource for grandparents raising grandchildren.
In retirement Judy became interested in quilting and calls herself a quiltoonist. The walls of her home are covered with many of the small scale quilts she has made throughout the years. all of them intriguing, all of them telling a story. “I consider myself a textile folk artist, because the only art training I have is in photojournalism.” Still, her art speaks.
Judy is a family woman. She has three daughters from her first marriage. Years later she couldn’t get the idea of adoption out of her head and she and second husband, Manos adopted an eight year old son when she was in her mid fifties. They are currently raising their grandchild. About her many years of parenting Judy laughs and says, “We like to have a kid in the backseat.”
The path leads to home
From communications careers to motherhood to folk artist to backyard naturalist, Judy is a wonderful example of a person who allows her interests to guide her down different pathways as she traverses through life. While many of us look to our backyards as a source of relaxation or a yard to mow, Judy sees hers as her own personal classroom as she revels in the rare and wondrous world right outside her window.
For more information about the Oak Openings Region and the Green Ribbon Initiative go to https://www.oakopenings.org/
-
Well it definitely starts with coffee! I watch the news, do a little bit of housework, go out to the yard to check on my plants and my chickens and enjoy my daily call with my sister in Colorado.
-
Unpacking all the boxes from our move two years ago!
-
Communication and creativity
-
Always be honest
-
A camera
-
When I am doing something creative