Discovering the world around me.
When I was growing up, we took our vacations in August. And we usually went north. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, Michigan. Dad would load up the car top carriers with tents, sleeping bags and camping gear. Then he’d load up Mom and all seven of us kids into the station wagon and off we’d go. The […]
Continue reading Ambrosia, really?: Ragweed
There’s a clump of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in the ditch on Owl Acres. This is a happy place for those beautiful and amazing monarch butterflies. The milkweed has hosted their larvae and now they’re getting ready to undertake that long and convoluted migration of theirs. But the milkweed they leave behind has its own […]
Continue reading Milkweed
It’s late summer now and the world is turning tan. Grasses are tired. Crops are drying, and three species of foxtails are waving their bottlebrush heads and dropping their seeds. The smallest are the green foxtails (Setaria viridis), also known as green bristle grass, bottle grass, pigeon grass and wild millet. They stand about two […]
Continue reading Weed or grain: Foxtail
The little field across the road from Owl Acres is planted in soybeans this year. Last year it was corn. It’s late summer now, and the soybeans (Glycine max) are beginning to dry and change color. Green leaves and stems are turning yellow, and the pods hanging from the plants are darkening to brown. When […]
Continue reading Farmer’s Fixation: Soybeans
The air is full of that sweet, fresh scent of ripening corn. You can almost hear it growing. It’s been a staple on and around Owl Acres for 170 years. Today the fields across the fence are lush, with ten-foot-tall stalks in neat rows. Broad green leaves ripple in the breeze, sending waves undulating across […]
Continue reading Magnificent Monoculture: Corn
Throughout the winter, we kept the bird feeder full of seed. We had a seed mix for the larger birds and another for the finch feeder. The finch mix was said to be niger thistle seed. So when thistly plants promising yellow flowers popped up at the base of the bird feeder, our first guess […]
Continue reading Ouch!: Thistles
There’s a space on Owl Acres shaped like a piece of pie between the garage and the study. Years ago I planted it in a wildly disorganized garden. It had day lilies, iris, tall individual lilies, yellow coneflowers, black-eyed susans, purple coneflowers, some hostas and anything anybody gave me to plant. This garden has been […]
Continue reading Greens, Anyone? Lamb’s Quarters
One summer day, I took some letters down to the mailbox to be mailed. The mailbox sits on the edge of the ditch on the far side of the road. Around it grasses and weeds had grown up thick and healthy. I put the flag up to alert the rural mail carrier that there was […]
Continue reading Queen or Killer: Queen Anne’s Lace
When I first bought Owl Acres, raspberries and blackberries were growing in wild, unfettered profusion. They dominated the fence rows, covered over the old storm cellar, and edged the woods with brambles that reminded me of Sleeping Beauty’s bramble-covered castle. I thought I’d try harvesting some of the raspberries at the edge of the woods, […]
Continue reading Summer Sunshine: Berries
Spring is finally showing itself here on Owl Acres. The cherry trees and the apple tree are in bloom. Catkins hang from other, less showy trees like the elms. We haven’t mowed yet, so the yard is loaded with little flowers. Yellow dandelions, purple henbit, and bluish-purple violets. There are at least 600 species of […]
Continue reading Another Yard Flower: Common Blue Violet