Lives & Landscapes Magazine
Spring/Summer 2025
For centuries, humans all over the world have used natural dyes from plants to color fibers, textiles and food. With the discovery and increasing useof synthetic dyes in the 1850s, a move away from natural colorants to cheaper and easily available dye options spread throughout the clothing industry.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), often referred to as bird flu, is a virus that results in high mortality rates in domestic poultry and some wild birds. While low pathogenic variants are more common, lead to less severe disease or no clinical disease and are easily managed, the current highly pathogenic strain of bird flu has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of birds since 2022.
The term “electrolytes” refers to substances that have either a natural positive or negative charge when dissolved in water. The average adult’s body is about 60 percent water, with every fluid and cell utilizing electrolytes for chemical reactions, fluid balance, and helping the heart, brain, muscles, and nerves to function.
Ninety percent of American homes are underinsulated, drafty and unevenly heated. If a home has these problems, it may be time to conduct an energy audit.
Turfgrass refers to grasses that grow in a uniform manner to form dense and even coverage in a landscape, and are primarily used for lawns, athletic fields, and golf courses. Of the 11,000 species of grasses worldwide, only a few fit the characteristics of ideal “turfgrass.”
The Eastern Heath Snail (Xerolenta obvia) is a tiny invasive land snail that’s gaining a foothold in Montana that could result in big impacts to the state.
