Discovering the world around me.
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 […]
Continue reading Merry Dancers: Aurora Borealis
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 […]
Continue reading No-See-Ums: Minute Pirate Bug and Biting Midge
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 […]
Continue reading Digging Machines: Plains Pocket Gophers
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 […]
Continue reading Pretty Flowers, Noxious Invaders: Bindweed
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 […]
Continue reading Miniature Farmers: Ants and Aphids
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 […]
Continue reading Mice of the Insect World: Aphids
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 […]
Continue reading Ephemeral Beauty: Asiatic Dayflower
I love this time of year. The world is thrumming with life. The crickets and grasshoppers, the cicadas and tree crickets all taking their turns to sing. The symphony will go on until that first hard frost when it shuts down all at once. But today is not that day. The weather is beautiful; the […]
Continue reading Late Summer Symphony: Fork-Tailed Bush Katydid
We don’t see many snakes on Owl Acres, but occasionally one gets flushed from the grass, or unfortunately done in by the mower. This happened recently, much to Bryan’s chagrin. Our snakes are an active and integral part of the ecosystem, and since the snakes on Owl Acres are not harmful to humans, we hate […]
Continue reading Common Garter Snake
About three years ago, we decided to plant a prairie garden. Bryan designed it as an elongated S. The goal was to make it easy to mow alongside it and also to make it easy to reach into the middle of it without stepping on the plants. We followed the prescribed process of tilling up […]
Continue reading Fireworks in the Garden: Wild Bergamot