History Archives - Heartland Safari

A male Prairie Chicken displays at a lek. Tightly spaced brown and white stripes mark his wings and body. Large orange air sacs inflated to the shape and size of a hen’s egg stand out on both sides of his neck. Two tall feather tufts are erect over the top of his head, looking like rabbit ears. His short fan-shaped tail points straight up.

Lek Dancers: Prairie Chickens

Updated April 7, 2025

There’s a place in southwest Iowa where a most unusual display occurs each year between March and May. It’s the mating dance of the greater prairie chicken (AKA pinnated grouse (Tympanuchus cupido). Rather than pair-bonding like many birds do, prairie chickens have a lek form of mating. The females choose who to breed with, and […]

A century-old, two row corn planter in the woods behind the house on Owl Acres. The derriere-shaped metal seat pan and frame emerge from the underbrush each fall. The implement is drawn by horses. The farmer rides on the metal seat and has a full workload, controlling the machine with levers and foot pedals, while also driving the team.

More Innovation on the Prairie: Corn Planters

Updated March 10, 2025

Back in grade school, I learned that the native Americans took pity on the starving colonists and taught them how to plant and harvest corn. The instructions included making little hills of dirt with a digging stick, placing four kernels of corn in the hill so they were not touching, adding a fish for fertilizer […]

History

More archaeology behind the house. The winnowing body of a threshing machine lies on its side, discarded but not forgotten, in the woods on Owl Acres. At its most basic, the threshing machine is a wind box. It blows air upward though an agitated mass of plant materials: straw, chaff, and grain. The grain falls to the bottom and the lighter materials are carried up and away, to be blown into a straw stack on the ground. Moving arms called straw walkers, visible in the photo, work the stems toward the back where they’re blown out. The “shoe,” a shaking frame which carries the sieves, is also visible below the straw walkers. Barely visible through the tangle of brush is the drum-shaped blower housing, source of the wind that makes it all happen. The grain is collected at the bottom of the machine and fed into an elevator for loading to a wagon.

Labor Saver: Threshing Machine

Updated February 17, 2025

Out in the woods on Owl Acres, along with several other pieces of once-valuable farm equipment, lies part of a threshing machine. The inhabitants of Owl Acres most likely used it to thresh oats which were then fed to the cattle and horses. The first step in harvesting the grain—oats or wheat or barley—was to […]

History

Steel cut oats in a white glass dish shine in the afternoon sun. Cook ‘em. Yum.

Food for All: Oats

Updated February 10, 2025

Just about my favorite breakfast is oatmeal. Steel-cut oats cooked on the stove with sorghum, raisins, black walnuts and maybe an apple mixed in. Add a pat of butter and a few sprinkles of salt for that little extra. I make up a batch on the weekend and then warm up servings throughout the week. […]

Unlovely photo of a derelict piece of farm machinery, discarded into the woods. A tree limb fell across it years ago and is there today. It emerges from the dense understory each fall. Called a “section of harrow” by old timers, it’s a frame holding four parallel bars, each studded with 5-inch-long teeth, spaced every 8 inches along its length and staggered. Bars are pivoted like axles to bring their teeth into more or less aggressive contact with the soil following primary and secondary tillage (plowing and disking). Pulled behind a team or a tractor to break up clods and prepare a smooth seedbed for planting.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Harrows

Updated February 3, 2025

What do you do with a piece of farm equipment when you have no more use for it? The ideal answer is probably to load it up and take it to a disposal site such as a landfill or a recycling center. That’s not what farmers have done for generations though. The standard practice, carried […]

History

A discarded, ground-driven manure spreader emerges from the tangle of forest floor vegetation every fall. The implement is a horse- or tractor-drawn wagon with a moving floor and whirling beaters attached at the rear. When operating, chains and bars scrape along the bottom of the wagon box and deliver material to the spinning spreaders, which pulverize the manure and fling it wide and far onto the ground behind. Power comes from the team (or tractor) through gears driven by the rear wheels. Angled lugs stud the wheel rims. The lugs grip the soil and transfer power to run the machinery.

Innovation in the Heartland: Manure spreader

Updated January 27, 2025

When I was about ten years old, I had a vacation from school that my sisters didn’t have. So I was home with Mom and Dad without competition for attention. I wanted to help Dad outside instead of practicing my ironing, which I hated. It was spring, and Dad’s job for the day was cleaning […]

History

This land record in the Jasper County, Iowa, Recorder's Office, completes the chain of custody that connects previous owners to the current tenant upon the 8 acres that today are Owl Acres. "Owner" seems a bit less less appropriate these days. "Steward," perhaps.

The Dammeiers Come to Stay

Updated July 15, 2024

Henry F. Dammeier, the son of Sophia Prasse and Henry Dammeier was born somewhere in Germany on August 4, 1827. At some time before his 28th birthday, he emigrated from Germany to the United States, settling in Shannon, Carroll county, Illinois. Dorothea Marie Brockmayer, was also born in Germany in 1830. She, too, emigrated to […]

History

Photo from Jasper County, Iowa Recorder's Book 156, Page 180. Feb. 9, 1888 purchase by Frank S. and William Carrier and their wives of the 2, half-quarter sections (163 acres) that contain the future Owl Acres.

Prosperous Farmers: Abraham and Sarah Carrier

Updated July 8, 2024

The Carrier family was prominent in Jasper County during the last half of the 19th century, and for a short time, two Carrier brothers owned the land around Owl Acres. Abraham Carrier was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, on Christmas Day, 1825. When he was ten years old, his parents, Salamon Carrier and Elizabeth Halvia […]

History

Photo from Jasper County, Iowa Recorder's Book 31, Page 78. May 20, 1865 Purchase by Lewis A. and Esther Woodruff of the quarter section (167 acres) that contains the future Owl Acres.

Pluck and Perseverance: Lewis Woodruff

Updated April 21, 2024

Jesse Reeves purchased the land that includes Owl Acres from the Government in 1854 for $1.25 per acre. He may have bought the land to establish a homestead on it. Or he may have bought the land as an investment. Little factual information is known about his intentions. We do know, however, that he sold […]

History

Photo from Jasper County, Iowa Recorder's Abstract of Original Entries. Jesse Reeves' May 17, 1854 purchase of 167 acres of Iowa prairie is on the highlighted line.

Redux: Jesse Reeves

Updated April 15, 2024

Earlier in this blog, I identified the first person to buy the land containing Owl Acres. Further research confirmed the name but discovered that it was a completely different person. That put a different spin on his life. So, meet Jesse Reeves—again. Jesse Reeves and his wife Sybil were the first settlers to own the […]

History