GREENFIELD — After transforming their lawn into a meadow by mowing less and adding some native plants, Northfield residents and naturalists Charley Eiseman and Julia Blyth are sharing their story with others during a Greening Greenfield talk.

The program, called “Turning a Barren Lawn Into Thriving Habitat,” will be held Thursday, April 13, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom.

“I wanted to learn exactly how they did that,” Nancy Hazard, a member of Greening Greenfield’s pollinator group, said of Blyth and Eiseman’s lawn transformation. “I’ve also seen some of Charley’s stunning photos and heard his fascinating stories about the tiny animals that are going about their lives right under our noses.”

Blyth and Eiseman will introduce their yard, which they describe as having been a totally un-landscaped, barren lawn when they moved to Northfield 10 years ago. They will explain how they transformed it into a habitat that is now packed with fruit and nut trees, berry bushes and vegetable gardens, interspersed with wild meadow.

Blyth is an avid gardener who is interested in native and edible plants. She works for a permaculture firm supporting farmers’ efforts to transition toward diversified native plantings, and curating natural history museums’ collections from birds to lichens.

Eiseman, who keeps a blog called “BugTracks,” is fascinated by insect lives and the relationship of native plants and insects. By sharing photos, he will introduce some of the insects that now share their yard, and provide advice on how to find and see them.

“Each native plant species has a suite of host-specific insects that depend on it for food,” Eiseman explained. “Even allowing a single weed to grow in your garden can significantly increase its habitat value, and choosing to plant native trees, shrubs and wildflowers will cause your yard to teem with life.”

In addition to his blog, Eiseman has been conducting plant and wildlife surveys and natural resource inventories for more than 20 years, and teaching courses and workshops on interpreting vertebrate and invertebrate tracks. Eiseman has also written two books and published more than 60 scientific papers on insect natural history.

Before Thursday’s talk, Greening Greenfield’s Mary Westervelt and Elizabeth Erickson will introduce Greening Greenfield’s new online resource about pollinator gardens in Greenfield called “Park-by-Park and Yard-by-Yard: Building a Pollinator Corridor in Greenfield.”

To register for the talk, visit greeninggreenfieldma.org/events.

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