Weekly Challenges

Over 12 expert-led weekly challenges, transform your lawn into a vibrant ecosystem teeming with life. Discover simple techniques to create habitat that butterflies, birds, and beneficial insects can't resist. Ready to turn your patch of earth into something extraordinary?

And so we begin! See below for your first micro-challenge of the series. This one only takes 5 minutes. You’ll be taking a self-assessment on the current ecological health of your property. This is a no judgement zone so don’t stress and have fun! In fact, the lower you score, the more satisfying to see it improve at the end of the challenge!

This weeks challenge is hosted by our D-I-Wilder coach, Zoe Evans. Zoe is offering challenge participants a special workshop to go more in depth! You’ll learn how to sketch your space, think through what you need and love, and start laying out a yard that supports both you and wildlife.

The Week 3 Challenge is here: Plant some native plants! We’re here with Plan It Wild co-founder and COO Dave Baker as he breaks it down!

This week's challenge: Plant a native tree or shrub. Rebecca Rodomsky-Bish, project leader at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, shares why native trees and shrubs are vital to your local ecosystem. Not only do they support pollinators and biodiversity, but they also host native caterpillars—the primary food source for baby birds. By planting natives, you're helping to sustain the entire food web right in your own yard.

In this weeks Challenge, Dr. Mhairi McFarlane shares how to spot the telltale signs that reveal which plants are invasive and how to identify them.

See what wildlife you attract with native plants! The more you observe, the more beauty, color, and complexity you’ll uncover. 1. Use iNaturalist (the new app, not classic) to document your rewilding journey and the biodiversity in your lawn. It’s the best app for identifying all species — birds, insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and plants. 2. Join the Less Lawn More Life 2025 project on iNaturalist: Go to the menu → Projects → search for Less Lawn More Life and click Join. To add an observation, open the observation → scroll down to More → Projects → select Less Lawn More Life. 3. Set up a project page for your own backyard to track what you’re seeing over time. 4. Make observations! Every observation helps — and can even boost your Wildr Score!

This week’s Less Lawn, More Life challenge: **NO PESTICIDES!**⁠ We’re teaming up with @rewildyourcampus to spread the word—because what we put on our lawns doesn’t just stay there.⁠ Pesticides harm pollinators, poison soil life, and wash into waterways, affecting far more than just weeds.⁠ There’s a better way: Choose native plants Welcome beneficial bugs Feed your soil, not your grass⁠

Survivor's Les Stroud discusses the importance of adding a water feature on your property to support wildlife. This could be a pond, stream, bird bath, rain garden, or any other source of water that supports wildlife. Let’s bring on the frogs, dragonflies, and birds!

This week, the brilliant Edwina von Gal of @perfectearthproject joins us to talk about designing your yard as a self-sustaining ecosystem. The "close the loop" approach mimics the natural forest where nothing goes to waste, creating more resilient ecosystems. And it saves you money in removal costs! Nothing wasted. Everything returned to the earth.

In this week’s challenge, we’re excited to welcome Leigh Ann Henion, author of "Night Magic" as she shares her journey of learning to embrace the beauty of darkness. Leigh Ann shares not only how light pollution affects our environment but how magical things can be found when we learn to appreciate the dark. "Night Magic" reveals the wonders of glowworms, fireflies, and how we can protect these creatures by making our surroundings more eco-friendly and embracing natural darkness. Discover why the dark holds so much more than meets the eye.