Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

True prairie was not a matter of location, but of composition. The lie of the land had nothing to do with whether it was prairie or not; if it was tallgrass prairie it included the tallgrass communities. Some prairie was flat, but much of it was rolling, and some was broken and rocky. But it needed tallgrasses if it was to qualify as true prairie—the most easterly of the great American grassland societies that sprawled between the Rockies and the eastern forests.

John Madson, Out Home

Interested in living off the land?

Today's post comes to us from Housekeeping: Knock Out Dirt and Clutter For Good.

As grocery stores continue to raise food prices, more people are turning to their own land to produce food instead of purchasing it at the store.  Whether you want to grow your own herbs, harvest your own fruits or vegetables or raise cattle, there are many ways you can maximize your land as a food source. These 25 blog articles will dig into how you can live off the land.

How to Do It

There’s no way that one blog could give you all of the information that you need to live off the land, but combining these five blog entries can give you some ideas on how to go about starting the adventure.

• Live Off Your Land—Fifteen Steps You Can Take to Get Out of the Cubicle and Onto Self-Reliance
• Infographic: How Much Backyard Do You Need to Live Off the Land?
• The Floyd Eco-Village: Living Off the Land with an Economic Plan
• Tough (and Valuable) Lessons from the Homestead
• Rural Free Delivery: Living Off the Land, Almost

Meat

Hunting isn’t the only way to have meat on your dinner table if you are living off the land.  Many folks choose to raise their own livestock to butcher for food.  A family of four can eat for several different meals from the meat that comes from a whole pig or cow.  If you live by water, you can add fish or other seafood to your diet.  These five blog posts will share some of their insights with you.

• Living Off the Land
• The Year in Oysters
• Living Off the Land
• Abandon the Office: Be a Hunter-Gatherer
• Living Off the Land – And Sea—In Kotzebue

Vegetables

Probably one of the easiest ways to start saving money and living off the land is by growing your own garden.  For instance, one tomato plant will yield about one bushel of tomatoes. These tomatoes will allow you to make and can your own tomato sauce, stew tomatoes and make salsa, in addition to eating them fresh.  Just think of all that you could do if you had more than one plant.  Making your own salsa is a snap when you grow your own onions, jalapenos and cilantro, and you don’t have to step foot into a grocery store.  These five blog posts will give you some ideas for getting started.

• A British Town Relearns How to Live Off the Land [Video]
• Garden Prep [What I’m Doing to Prepare for Spring Gardening in DECEMBER]
• Gardening in November?
• The Progressive Garden—Living Off the Land
• Living Off the Land

Off the Grid

Some people have taken ‘living off the land’ one step further and have decided that they are going to live off the grid as well.  Living off the grid means that you don’t pay for electricity from a company; instead, you create your own by using solar, wind or water power.  Or you could go completely electricity free.  Take a look at these five blog entries to see what others are doing to get off the grid.

• Living Off the Grid, Urban-Homesteading Style, With the Dervaes Family
• 16×9—Off the Grid: Living Off Land Hour from Vancouver
• Living Off the Grid—In a Bus
• Living Off the Grid: Could Decreasing Energy Dependence Ultimately Make Life Easier?  (Video)
• Living Off the Grid

Little House on the Prairie Living

When you were a kid you may have read the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder or watched the spin-off TV show.  If you did, you may remember how hard life was on the prairie and how the Ingalls family survived by living off the land for the most part.  Read these five blog posts to learn a bit more about living like they did back then.

• It’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Up In Here
• The Meteorology of Little House on the Prairie
• In Search of Little House on the Prairie
• The “Historical Pa” (Little House on the Prairie, Controlling Love Etc…)
• Little House on the Prairie and Djibouti

Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

In some of the quiet places, where leaf mold is heavy and old logs decay on the forest floor, lives the world's most savage mammal. It's a ravening little beast seldom seen by man; an irascible, twittering phantom that kills incessantly. Even the weasels and great cats can't match its talent for bloodletting, for each day it must devour its own weight in food or starve.

But the same nature that grants a genius for death always stops short of fatal perfection. This terrible hunter--the shrew--may weigh no more than a dime.

John Madon, Stories from Under the Sky

Butterfly of the Week: Peck's Skipper

Peck's Skipper

Polites peckius (Kirby 1837)
Status: Common breeding resident

Flight: Two distinct broods in Iowa. Adults are most commonly seen from late April to October. A single early October collection suggests that a partial third brood may fly in some years.

Distinguishing features: This small skipper has a distinctive patchwork of light yellow on the underside of the hind wing, unlike any other skipper in the state. Wingspan: 2.5 cm. (males), 2.7 cm. (females).

Distribution and habitat: Map 180. One of Iowa's most abundant skippers, found in a wide variety of human-altered and natural open habitats across the state. It is often seen along creeks and in permanent pastures.

Natural history: Peck's Skipper exhibits some degree of phenotypic variability in its markings. For instance, the hind-wing undersurfaces on some specimens do not have clear-cut spots but instead form a large yellow patch reminiscent of the Whirlabout (Polites vibex [Geyer 1832]). In fact, the few records of the Whirlabout from the state likely represent this form. While Peck's Skipper has been reared on a number of different grasses in the laboratory, it apparently commonly feeds on rice cut-grass and panic grass in nature.

Questions: What food plants are utilized by the larvae in Iowa? Is the variability in wing appearance (spot pattern, size, etc.) more controlled by genetic or by environmental factors? Are adults preferentially attracted to particular flower colors or shapes?

The Butterflies of Iowa, by Dennis W. Schlicht, John C. Downey, and Jeffrey C. Nekola

Butterfly of the Week: Tawny-edged Skipper

Tawny-Edged Skipper

Polites themistocles (Latrielle [1824])

Status: Common breeding resident. 

Flight: Essentially flies continuously from mid May through September. Probably three overlapping broods: adults are more frequently encountered from late May to early June, from late June to mid July, and from early August to early September. 

Distinguishing Features: This small brown skipper is very similar to the Crossline Skipper (Polites Origenes). It differs by having a small, sharp, sinuous sigma on the upper fore wing in males and an orange patch along the upper fore wing costa in females. Females also lack faint light spots on the upper hind wing. Adults of both sexes tend to be smaller than Crossline Skipper adults. Wingspan: about 2.8 cm. 

Distribution and Habitat: Map 184. Abundant throughout the state in a wide variety of native and human-modified open habitats. Although commonly found in native prairies, it is also often seen in old fields and city parks. 

Natural History: Larvae probably use panic grasses as their Iowa food plants, although other hosts have been reported from other states.

Questions: How far do adults travel from their site of emergence? Does this species avoid competition with other panic grass-eating skippers by feeding at different locations on the plant or at different times of the year? 

The Butterflies of Iowa, by Dennis W. Schlicht, John C. Downey, and Jeffrey C. Nekola

Be sure to see Robert & Linda Scarth's photography show at the Des Moines Botanical Center March 1-April 30. 

Hoverfly on fringed gentian at Becky's Fen

Fly agaric

Buckeye on New England aster

Jack-o'-lanterns

Deep Nature, photographers Robert & Linda Scarth

For more from Robert & Linda Scarth visit their website!

Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

We spent our tallgrass prairie with a prodigal hand, and it probably had to be that way, for these are the richest farm soils in the world. There were certain wilderness things that were fated to be spent almost to the vanishing point: bison in shortgrass plains, lobos and grizzlies in settled cattle country—and the vistas of true prairie.

But spending is one thing; bankruptcy is another.

John Madson, Out Home.

Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

Crows are members of the clan Corvidae, of course, a tribe that includes all manner of scamps: the jays, jackdaws, rooks, magpies, and ravens. The common crow’s full name, Corvus brachyrhynchos, may not flow off the tongue as do some scientific names, but it somehow fits the owner. Next time you hit your thumb with a hammer, try saying it fast several times. It’s good substitute profanity and doesn’t corrupt listening kids.


John Madson, Out Home

How to Re-Pot a Plant that is Root Bound

Has your plant reached the point that it’s outgrowing its current pot? If so, it is root bound. A plant that has become root bound has outgrown its pot and needs to be moved into a bigger one. Repotting your plant is not complicated and it will give you several more years with your plant – if you take good care of it.

Here’s what you’ll need:       

• Potting soil
• A pot that is 1 to 2 inches larger than the old pot
• Gravel
• Slow release fertilizer
• Water

Prepare the pot

Fill the bottom of a pot that is 1 to 2 inches larger than your old pot with about a ½ inch of gravel. You will not want to choose a much bigger pot than that because it will cause the plant to expend all of its energy creating new roots to fill it.  The gravel will allow for drainage and prevent the soil from running out of the hole in the bottom of the pot.  Fill the pot up to about halfway with potting soil.

Prepare the plant for repotting

A day or two before repotting you will need to water the plant thoroughly.  The plant will take to its new environment better if it is freshly watered and the potting mix is damp.

Planting

Gently tap the sides of the pot to loosen up the soil.  Tap your way around the pot and then gently try to tip the plant out.  Grip the plant close to dirt level and on the main stem if possible. Look at the root ball and assess any damaged roots.  With a knife cut away any dead roots.  Dead roots will be brown and dried up.  Try to break apart the root ball a little.  If the roots are growing around in a tight circle and you do not pull them apart and spread them out, they will continue to grow in the same circle in the new pot.  If there are thick roots circling the pot you will need to take the knife and make some vertical cuts through the roots.  This will allow new roots to form and stretch into the fresh soil.  This cutting will not hurt the plant.  You can cut away up to a third of the roots without harming the plant.

Next, knock off a quarter to a third of the old potting soil if possible.  The plant will do better in fresh healthy soil, as old soil can have a lot of mineral deposits from watering that can actually poison the soil.  Fresh soil has the nutrients that your plant needs to thrive.

Set the plant into the new pot and adjust the soil level so that the surface of the root ball is even with the top of the pot.  Fill in around the root ball with more soil until the pot is completely full.  Use your fingers or a pencil to poke around the root ball, work the new soil all the way down, and get rid of any air pockets.  Press down on the soil firmly, but don’t pack the soil.

Water

Water the plant.  Place the pot in the sink and give it a good soaking.  Allow the plant to stay in the sink for 10 minutes or so and then drain off any excess water.  Be sure that the new pot has a way to capture excess water or set it on a saucer to protect your furniture.

Tips

Keep a newly repotted plant out of direct sunlight for the first week and then move it back to its usual spot.

Many potting mixes contain a slow fertilizer, but it’s usually not a good idea to fertilize for the first 4 to 6 weeks after repotting.  The plant will be putting on new roots and fertilizer could burn them.  After the first 6 weeks you should be able to safely fertilize your plant.  The most common method of fertilizing house plants is to add the liquid fertilizer to your watering can according to package directions.

Repotting a root bound plant will encourage new growth both in the roots and in the rest of the plant because the plant will now be getting the nutrients that it needs to thrive.  The process doesn’t take a lot of time and you will love what it does for your plant.

Credit to Jeralyn Nelson at House Sitting Jobs.

November Gardening

Mowers and other large power garden tools should be taken in to be serviced. Have the mower blade sharpened to prevent browning of the grass tips next spring. Check out the snowblower, too, to make sure it's in shape for the first snow.


Excerpt from Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas by author Veronica Lorson Fowler

Excerpt from OF MEN AND MARSHES

The lesser creatures under the marsh ice--the numerous kinds of water bugs and water beetles, the dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, the small crustaceans, the leeches, the mollusks--gradually approach states in which an observer may hardly judge whether they are alive or dead. A motionless specimen from oxygen-deficient water may move when transferred to tap water or it may never move again. Masses of invertebrates may, like fishes, collect at strategic places under the ice. Once, after chopping ice that covered a water hole at a trapping camp, I dipped out several pails of the misnamed water scorpions--harmless but bizarre in appearance and something to see when looked at by the pailful.


From OF MEN AND MARSHES by Paul L. Errington

Excerpt from OF MEN AND MARSHES

In cutting through ice, the muskrats are adept if they work from below, and they may work well at this in water. They may gnaw upward through the ice in the middle of a marsh, and then heap up the vegetation for  a new lodge around the new hole. I happened to be walking across the care ice of a marsh center when a muskrat cut through ahead of me. It pulled its wet body out, and there it sat amid ice splinters beside a hole leading down through a foot or so of ice. A muskrat may similarly gnaw from below the ice over the plunge hole of a solidly frozen, abandoned lodge and rehabilitate the lodge in a few hours.

From OF MEN AND MARSHES by Paul L. Errington

Excerpt from OF MEN AND MARSHES

My memories of marshes in fall are so loaded with nostalgia that I often find myself enjoying Iowa or Minnesota or Nebraska marshes largely to the extent that they remind me of my youth and early manhood in South Dakota. I find old copper bases of shotgun shells working out of an Iowa beach, read the "U.M.C.," "New Rival," "Referee," "Premier," along with older trademarks that long ago disappeared from hardware shelves, and visualize the distinctive colors of the cartridges as they came out of the cardboard boxes. I remember wet shells so swollen that I could not push them into the chamber of a gun, shells that would not always fire if I did get them in, the bellow and smoke of a heavy charge of black powder, the smell of a freshly fired case, the feel of a jolted shoulder, the picking up of game.

From Of Men and Marshes by Paul L. Errington

October Gardening

Happy Halloween!

In October, everything seems to be dying. But in a carefully planned garden, you can expect a final burst of bloom in the autumn before the first snows hit.

Burning bush is a fall favorite because of its seemingly flaming red leaves. Mums, asters, and sedum "Autumn Joy" are also commonly planted for their fall color. Some plants produce beautiful fruits in the fall. Bittersweet, which is a vine, is a prime example.

There are many other less commonly grown plants that do very well in Iowa. Autumn crocus, for example, provides a surprising bit of color poking through the fallen leaves.


Excerpt from Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas by author Veronica Lorson Fowler

Thomas Rosburg Interview Part 3

With the changing climate, are you seeing new species moving into Iowa?

Not with any certainty. In my research I have documented new plant species for Iowa and range expansion northward, but it was due to seeding in a reconstruction. There has been so much moving around of species by people planting seeds of species outside of their range that it is impossible to attribute changes in range to natural migration. One thing that does seem to be sure is that more and more nonnative and invasive plant species are being observed in Iowa (meaning higher abundances). That may be in part an indirect result of climate change, because if native species are being stressed by climate change, this could be helping to open the door for nonnative species already in the state to expand.

Besides teaching, what other projects are you involved with right now?

Research that is aimed at investigating the effects of goat browsing on savanna restoration (do goats make good partners in conservation and restoration work?). Similarly two projects are assessing the effects of cattle grazing on prairie (both reconstructed and native remnant). Do cattle make a good surrogate for bison? Another project is providing ecological data relevant to building 25 miles of new trail at Whiterock Conservancy. One part of this project involves setting up long-term monitoring plots to assess the impacts of trail use by horses and mountain bikers on plants, small mammals, butterflies, and ground-dwelling invertebrates. I am also finishing up a natural resource inventory of all the land in the Des Moines park system. This is mostly focused on mapping and delineating the plant communities present and describing their plant species composition, their structure, and their successional status.

How do you balance your teaching and writing with your hands-on research and fieldwork?

I certainly have to prioritize tasks. And that is often determined in part by the amount of funding provided. Somehow most tasks get done in a timely manner, albeit with long work days and not very many days off. My research agenda has been expanding quite a bit over the last few years, which has put a damper on some other pocket guide projects (ferns and sedges). However, I do anticipate making significant progress on them next field season. Unfortunately some of the things I most would like to work on – Field Guide to the Loess Hills and a revision of the Checklist of Iowa Vascular Plants – seem to constantly be out of reach due to the lack of funding they need in order to raise their priority.

Thomas Rosburg, author of Trees in Your Pocket: A Guide to Trees of the Upper Midwest

Picture Perfect Iowa

Come see Linda and Robert Scarth, photographers of Deep Nature: Photographs from Iowa, on Sunday at the WOW! Wonder of Words Author Fair. They will be giving a background of their books and reading selections, and speaking about why they write and their writing processes.

What: "Picture Perfect Iowa"
When: Sunday, October 28
Where: Capital Square Downtown Des Moines (400 Locust Street), in the ISU classroom on the ground level of Capital Square
Time: 1:30pm - 2:50pm

Interactive Des Moines Parking Map

Other WOW! Events

Deep Nature, photographers: Linda and Robert Scarth

UI Press Gardens update

The rain and wind of the last few days and the frost earlier in the month have pretty much finished the blooming season; fall is definitely here. We are determined to rein in the exuberance of the cup plants and the brown-eyed Susans next year and try to keep them from taking over the sidewalk; UPS and Fed Ex deliveries are now in constant danger of being snagged by overgrown prairie plants. If possible we will add another layer of mulch to the rain and the prairie gardens, and we need to clip the dead flower stalks, but otherwise there is little to do to prepare the plants for the winter ahead. After three and four summers respectively, the rain and prairie gardens are well established, healthy, and lovely. We need to increase their diversity next season, and we need to continue to fill in areas where plants are not thriving, but overall we are very pleased with the rain garden's design and with the ability of the long roots of its plants to keep water out of our basement.