Mourning the Loss of Curtis Harnack

Saratoga Springs, NY (July 8, 2013) - It is with great sadness that we note the passing on July 5, 2013 of former Yaddo Executive Director Curtis Harnack.

Born in Le Mars, Iowa, Curt wrote three novels on life in rural, small-town Iowa: The Work of an Ancient Hand, Love and Be Silent, and Limits of the Land. His titles We Have All Gone Away and The Attic: A Memoir are widely acclaimed non-fiction accounts of his Iowa childhood. We Have All Gone Away has been continuously in print for three decades. He also authoredUnder My Wings Everything Prospers, a collection of six short stories and a novella, and two nonfiction works – Persian Lions, Persian Lambs, a description of the year he spent teaching in Tabriz, Iran, as a Fulbright professor of American Literature, and Gentlemen on the Prairie, which relates the history of a colony of wealthy British settlers who attempted to recreate Victorian England on the Midwestern prairie.

 

Curt graduated from and was also an English instructor at Grinnell College and received his M.A. from Columbia. His first adult job was at the United Nations Secretariat as a collator of documents, 1951-1952. He also was an instructor and visiting lecturer with the Iowa Writers Workshop in the late 1950s and early 1960s and was on the literature faculty of Sarah Lawrence College, where he co-founded the American Studies program. With Paul Engle he co-edited the O. Henry Collection, Prize Stories 1958 and 1959. He served as president of the School of American Ballet from 1992 to 1997. In 1979 Curt toured Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Romania under the auspices of the U.S. State Department to lecture on American literature and he traveled to China in 1986 on a U.S./China Arts Exchange program. He lived for periods in England, France, Italy, and Iran.

In 1971, Curt was appointed executive director of Yaddo, succeeding the venerable Elizabeth Ames, who had welcomed Yaddo’s first artist guests in 1926 and remained in the position for nearly 50 years. However, Curt was well
acquainted with Yaddo before assuming the job of executive director, having been a Yaddo guest artist seven times between 1957 and 1970. Curt retired from Yaddo in 1987 and lived in New York City and upstate New York, and continued for some time to own part of his family farm in Iowa. He and his late wife, fellow Yaddo writer Hortense Calisher, were married for 50 years at the time of her death in 2009. Curt returned to Yaddo as a guest artist in 2010.

Obit from Yaddo.org

Biographical Dictionary of Iowa: Ellison James Orr

Orr, Ellison James
(June 14, 1857 - January 25, 1951)
--farmer, teacher, businessman, naturalist, and archaeologist--is considered, in partnership with Charles R. Keyes, as a founding figure in Iowa archaeology. Orr's careful and prolific documentation of archaeological sites and collections bequeathed a legacy of indispensable descriptive data that continues to inform modern studies.

A self-described "pioneer boy," Orr, a first-generation Iowan, was born in 1857 in his uncle's log house three miles west of McGresloughs, and streams of the family farm near Postville fueled a natural curiosity and kindled a memory for detail about the natural world and pioneer life that stayed with Orr his entire life. Early recollections were documented in various newspaper features, occasionally in publication such as Iowa Bird Life, but most fully in his engaging "Reminiscences of a Pioneer Boy" (1933).

The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, edited by David Hudson, Marvin Bergman, Loren Horton

Protecting yourself from tics this summer!

This could be the most important thing that you see me post! Its an epidemic this year, and these things are as lethal as a venomous snake in the wrong senerio! Please not only read it, but share it! Make sure we get the word out about these tics and the disease they carry!

It's summer! Time for camping, hiking and getting outside to play. Don't let those pesky annoying ticks stop you. Here's how with a simple homemade solution!

Repellent for your pets:

For pets, add 1 cup of water to a spray bottle, followed by 2 cups of distilled white vinegar. Ticks hate the smell and taste of vinegar, and will be easily be repelled by this ingredient alone. Then, add two spoonfuls of vegetable or almond oil, which both contain sulfur (another natural tick repellent).

To make a repellent that will also deter fleas, mix in a few spoonfuls of lemon juice, citrus oil, or peppermint oil, any of which will repel ticks and fleas while also creating a nicely scented repellent. Spray onto the pet's dry coat, staying away from sensitive areas including eyes, nose, mouth, and genitals. When outdoors for an extended period, spray this solution on two to three times per day.

For you and your family:

In a spray bottle, mix 2 cups of distilled white vinegar and 1 cup of water. To make a scented solution so you do not smell like bitter vinegar all day, add 20 drops of your favorite essential oil.

Eucalyptus oil is a calm, soothing scent that also works as a tick repellent, while peppermint and citrus oils give off a strong crisp scent that also repel ticks.

After mixing the solution, spray onto clothing, skin, and hair before going outdoors. Reapply every four hours to keep ticks at bay, and examine your skin and hair when back inside to make sure no ticks are on the body.

If you have ever shared anything, please click share on this! WE must get the word spread about the dangers of Ticks and how to avoid them! ~share~share~share~share~share
find more like this at Weight...No Longer!
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Raptor of the Week: Sharp-Shinned Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk
Accipiter striatus


This exciting accipiter is a common migrant, seen in Iowa from mid March
to mid May. It is an uncommon winter resident and apparently a very rare
nester, with newly fledged young being seen in western Iowa and in Hardin
and Lucas counties in recent years. It may have been a fairly common nester
prior to the twentieth century.

The Raptors of Iowa , paintings by James F. Landenberger

Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

I have spent forty years in the basin of the Upper Iowa, a stream that winds from the flat farm fields of southern Minnesota through the wooded valleys of northeastern Iowa to the Mississippi. As a child I fished and swam in the river. As an adult I cross the river every day. My office overlooks the river, winding out of sight in two directions; with my windows open on warm days, I hear the raspy crowing of pheasant cocks in tall grasses along the river’s bank. On the map, the Upper Iowa is a blue line that, together with the crossing of two state highways, explains the position of the town I call home.

David S. Faldet, Oneota Flow: The Upper Iowa River and Its People

4th of July Dinner Recipe Ideas #3

Peach Shortcake

2 cups flour                                            2/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt                                    fruit or berries (for filling)
4 teaspoons baking power                     whipping cream (for topping)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar                 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, cut in pieces

Sift all dry ingredients, including sugar, together and put into a large mixing bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk all at once and stir with a pastry fork until dough just follows fork around the bowl. Pat the dough firmly into a buttered 8-inch round cake pan. Bake in a hot oven (425 to 450 degrees) for 15-18 minutes or until dough is a lovely golden brown on top. Turn out on rack to cool. While still a little warm, split shortcake in half, lengthwise, spread between the layers fresh, sweetened peaches (or raspberries, strawberries, etc.) and top each serving liberally with freshly whipped cream that has been sweetened with a little sugar and vanilla.
Serves 6.

Banana Bread

4 medium bananas, mashed (2 cups)                   1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil                                            2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar                                    1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar                                      1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs                                                                   1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

Combine bananas, oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until smooth. Sift dry ingredients together and add, mixing well with a spoon. Add nuts. Pour batter into two approximately 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch well-buttered loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out dry. (If baking in glass, lower heat to 325 degrees.) Turn out on racks to cool and serve sliced, with plenty of soft butter.
Makes 2 loaves.

Prairie Cooks, by Carrie Young with Felicia Young

4th of July Dinner Recipe Ideas #2

Annette's Zucchini Casserole

1/2 large or 1 medium zucchini, chopped or cubed (unpeeled)
2 cups whole-wheat bread cubes                               Dash garlic powder
1 stick butter or margarine                                         1 1/2 teaspoons dill weed
1 large onion, chopped                                               1 cup cubed cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons parsley                                                 1 cup cubed mozzarella or Colby cheese
Salt and pepper

Brown bread cubes and onion in butter until bread is toasted. Mix all ingredients together. Put in casserole and top with grated cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until all cheese melts.

Oven-Fried Chicken with Honey Butter Sauce

1 frying chicken, cut up                          1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup flour                                               2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt                                      1/2 cup butter or margarine

Honey Butter Sauce
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup honey

Melt the 1/2 cup butter in a shallow baking pan. Combine flour, salt, pepper, and paprika; dip chicken into flour mix and then in the butter, turning each piece. Arrange, skin side down, in a single layer; bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn and pour honey butter sauce over all; bake another 30 minutes at 350 degrees until chicken is tender. To make sauce, melt the 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan; blend in honey and lemon juice. Do not boil.

Neighboring on the Air: Cooking with the KMA Radio Homemakers, by Evelyn Birkby