Discovering the world around me.
Lichens—they’re everywhere. I recently traveled to the temperate rainforest of the Oregon coast and was intrigued with the profusion of lichens that grace this area. But you don’t need a rainforest to support lichens. Some 478 species of lichens live in Iowa, lots of them on Owl Acres. Lichens are often mistaken for moss, but […]
Continue reading Productive Partnerships: Lichens
There’s a large branch from a walnut tree hanging down from thirty feet high in the tree on Owl Acres. The other end is resting on the ground, bracing it from falling completely. It will take a professional tree service to finish disconnecting it from the tree and drop it to the ground. It is […]
Continue reading A Matter of Chance: Tornadoes
A gray catbird added his song to the chorus on Owl Acres on May 5 of this year. He sat high in a tree in the “catbird seat” and called to all and sundry that he was here and ready to start courting. His repertoire of songs includes the mewing sound that gets him his […]
Continue reading Sitting Pretty: Gray Catbird
There’s a little square cut out of the sidewalk near the front porch that was intended to hold flowers. It’s had tomatoes, herbs and other things in it, and just now it is full of Aunt Lucy. I’ve never heard of Aunt Lucy until my garden app (Picture This) identified it as such. Aunt Lucy […]
Continue reading Brown Thumb Gardening: Aunt Lucy and Bedstraw
Last year in early May, a Baltimore oriole landed on the car in the driveway. He had just come back from the south and was looking for a place to call his own. He started singing to his reflection in the car window. His reflection didn’t sing back. He tried pecking at it, but something […]
Continue reading Lordly Livery: Baltimore Oriole
One of my very favorite signs of spring is the chorus of spring peepers coming from the ditches along the road in front of Owl Acres. When the weather gets warm enough, and we’ve had some rain, they start their choruses, calling to prospective mates. When the dogs and I go for a walk, we […]
Continue reading Frog Magic—Spring Peepers
One of the earliest plants we see in the spring is known as garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). It is a member of the mustard family. It gets its name because all parts of the plant taste like garlic. Deer won’t eat it, and other native herbivores such as rabbits, geese, opossums and native insects don’t […]
Continue reading Invader’s Arsenal: Garlic Mustard
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 […]
Continue reading Pluck and Perseverance: Lewis Woodruff
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 […]
Continue reading Redux: Jesse Reeves
On a windy day in early April, we took a walk-about in the yard on Owl Acres to see what was happening. The weather had been erratic, getting warm, then cold, then warm again. It rained, snowed, and blew a gale for several days. For the most part, winter was hanging on, with last year’s […]
Continue reading Medicine for Moms: Motherwort