Karen Keninger, Author at Heartland Safari

A stand of Jerusalem Artichokes blooms in August. 4- to 6-ft-tall stalks, bristling with rough hairs and alternating leaves. A 3-inch blossom with yellow radiating petals tops each stalk. Plants were seeded two years ago when we established our little prairie garden.

Pillar of the Community: Jerusalem Artichoke

Updated November 11, 2024

Several Jerusalem artichokes have taken root in our little prairie garden. They’re sharing the space with false sunflowers and other prairie plants. Blooming in August and September, their yellow flowers with yellow centers are buzzing with a whole constellation of critters. The story of the Jerusalem artichoke is that of an invasive that moved across […]

Plants

View looking toward the east fencerow in late October. The red maple in the foreground has dropped its leaves, forming a litter for the cleanup crew to start their work.

Falling Leaves

Updated November 4, 2024

On a late October day, the wind has blown most of the leaves off the trees. They crunch underfoot, reminding me of childhood. The ancient elms near our school dormitory used to provide vast quantities of leaves to play in. We would jump and roll in them, relishing that autumn crunch. I’m sure the grounds […]

Trees

Alt text: Horror on the porch. A bright green caterpillar hangs from the defoliated stem of a tomato plant, which the animal has been feeding on. Its back bristles with more than 70, tiny white cocoons, each housing a wasp pupa. The tomato hornworm is still alive, but is doomed. It has been successfully hijacked as host for the little parasitic wasps and will not complete its own life cycle, to become a five-spotted hawk moth.

Hollowed Out for Halloween

Updated October 28, 2024

We’ve heard a lot about viruses these past few years, with the corona virus front and center. We’ve all been scared at some level about getting COVID. We worried about how sick it would make us and whether we might spread it to someone else. So when I think of a virus, I think of […]

Insects and Spiders

The Aurora Borealis over Iowa in May. The sky is all green and purple light, shot through with vertical shafts, the whole hanging over black silhouettes of trees, yard lights and the horizon of Owl Acres at night.

Merry Dancers: Aurora Borealis

Updated October 21, 2024

Owl Acres occupies about eight acres of Iowa land, and most of our exploration has been on that land, that dirt that we walk on. We’ve taken a few excursions into the vertical, wondering what’s going on beneath our feet, hidden in the vertical depths of the place. And now, let’s look up. The universe […]

Weather

Minute pirate bug feeding on baby flies on a green leaf, according to the Wikimedia caption. Small, oval-shape insect with a bold crossing pattern on its folded wings. Its stylet (straw-shape mouth structure) is extended and working on dinner.

No-See-Ums: Minute Pirate Bug and Biting Midge

Updated October 14, 2024

On one of those glorious fall days recently, I took Dave and Clancy for a walk. As we strolled along the road, the breeze from the south ruffled my hair and extinguished the sound of the interstate a mile to the north. It carried the scent of ripening corn. Close by the crickets and katydids […]

Insects and Spiders

Small mounds of fresh dirt appear in the yard near the Owl Acres tree sculpture.

Digging Machines: Plains Pocket Gophers

Updated October 7, 2024

We don’t have a lawn per se on Owl Acres. We have a yard. The difference I suppose is that we aren’t trying to create that lush green uniform and aesthetically pleasing golf-course monoculture. Instead, we are celebrating the diversity of creatures and plants that live in that space. To that end, Bryan set the […]

Mammals

Snow-white, trumpet-shaped, 5-petaled blossom of Hedge Bindweed shines forth from atop a tangle of foliage. In this case, the invasive has climbed up a hemp plant, aka “Iowa Ditchweed,” to get the view from on high.

Pretty Flowers, Noxious Invaders: Bindweed

Updated September 30, 2024

The weather these September days has been glorious. The air is dry, the temps in the 70s, the sun shining happily. Perfect weather for a bike ride on one of our favorite trails. Along the way we stopped a few times to inspect some of the foliage growing along the trail. Amid the various shades […]

Plants

Dozens of aphids, all head down, stud the stem of a Jerusalem Artichoke in the prairie garden. A lone black ant patrols the herd.

Miniature Farmers: Ants and Aphids

Updated September 23, 2024

Raising cattle for milk and beef has been an important part of the activities on Owl Acres for over 150 years. Another kind of animal husbandry has been going on here for millions of years. We noticed it recently when we were inspecting a Jerusalem artichoke plant in our prairie garden. Ants were tending a […]

Insects and Spiders

Life and death and life in the garden. Orange, black-spotted ladybird beetle hunts blue-green aphids on a leaf stem

Mice of the Insect World: Aphids

Updated September 16, 2024

Aphids. They’re crawling all over the leaves of my Jerusalem artichokes. They’re tiny, only about a sixteenth to an eighth inch long. They are soft-bodied, and they are shaped rather like a pear. They’re usually green, although specific species may be other colors such as yellow, black or orange. Aphids have their own family, Aphididae […]

Insects and Spiders

Karen holds a green sprig in front of her red shirt. The two intensely blue petals of today's Asiatic Dayflower peek out from the terminal bud. Yesterday's flower has set its seed capsule at the next node down.

Ephemeral Beauty: Asiatic Dayflower

Updated September 10, 2024

We’ve had plenty of rain this year, so while we were gone on vacation, the plants around the house continued to grow. One of them, the Asiatic dayflower, has been particularly busy. The plants have sprawled across the ground and climbed over their neighbors. Bryan pulled bales of it out. It’s another of the many […]

Plants