It’s March and I’ve been thinking about our gardens. We have a fairly big yard – 3+ acres – and quite a few large perennial beds. The perennial plants that were left for winter interest as well as food for the birds and hiding places for pollinators as well as moles, voles, and other hibernators,…
Today is a day we wait for all year! Today is the day we will pick our apples! We’re a little late this year, by about a week, but the time has come. The weather is mild, partly sunny, and calm with a temperature in the low 70’s. By mid-morning, my husband had cleaned our…
Today, my son and I walked the trails at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge on Brice Prairie. It is a designated site of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It’s pollinator week and I’m participating in Miles for Monarchs, through Monarch Joint Venture, trying to get in 25 miles of walking…
Late yesterday, I posed several questions about a plant that is special to me. Today, the answers will be provided! The first question was: Do you know the common name for this plant? The answer is this plant Wild Blue Lupine. The scientific name is Lupinus perennis. This photo shows an example of a mature…
Yesterday was my last day of work at a job I’ve only had a little more than 8 months. It was a job I wanted, a job I was given the opportunity to have, and a job in what I was educated to do – be an environmental educator. But, alas, the job was not…
Current Day & Lessons From being a Volunteer Today, I am reposting a blog I wrote two years ago after something happened to me as a long-time volunteer. Luckily, the garden and monarch habitat persists, but I have moved on. In hindsight, despite the difficulty I had leaving this group of students who attended an…
Today is Poetry Friday. Early this morning my sister-in-law contacted me to make sure we were okay. She keeps tabs on us from afar, partially through reading my daily blog posts. I have not posted in two days! You have to go all the way back to July to see another block of time void…
Seed-spiration My seed buying for next year has already started! I’m only five or six months ahead of time! We are planning a prairie garden for a space behind our barn where we used to plant pumpkins, melons, and one year, even corn! My husband and I found that although we both like to plant,…
For the first time ever, I got to teach a class during a summer school session today. It sounds kind of crazy but I have always wanted to teach summer school. For many years, I asked. For many years, nothing came of it. But, being at a different school this year, in a different district,…