The Honeybees Come Home
This spring a swarm of honeybees showed up and took over this aging hive in the edge of the woods at my neighbor’s farm. It’s been several years since the previous inhabitants abandoned it. They left for no clear...
Read MoreCategory: Wild Things
Some Favorite Blossoms
Now blooming out here in the boonies . . . Jackamanii clematis (above) in the perennial garden, transplanted in 2005 from its spot by the front porch at our last house. Bearded Iris in the front yard, transplanted from a large,...
Read MoreEagle Spotting
I’ve know of two Bald Eagle nesting spots in our area, and I had a few private landowners tell me of other locations along local rivers where eagles are frequently spotted. This is, however, the first time I’ve...
Read MoreOzark Sundrops
aka Missouri Evening Primrose
The Missouri Evening Primrose (Oenthera macrocarpa) is my current favorite wildflower, partly because the blossoms are large, showy, and just plain beautiful. The other reason is I’m just excited about finding a nice...
Read MoreWisteria Blossoms & Bees
This isn’t my wisteria, although I wish it did belong to me. Lovely and fragrant, this dramatic display of blossoms disguises a signpost and some less than attractive cable supports for a telephone pole. The vine clearly...
Read MoreThe Promises of Spring
The wild strawberries are in full bloom in the pastures and forest fringes. I’m finding them in places I haven’t noticed them before. The patches I watch each year seem larger, and I’m hopeful that this year...
Read MoreSave the turtles
A few weeks ago, the box turtles emerged from their long winter’s nap underground. I found this ornate box turtle not long after it had dragged itself out into the bright spring sunlight. The mud hadn’t yet dried...
Read MoreFinally, it’s spring
We’re weeks past the Vernal Equinox, but it’s only in the last few days that I’ve been convinced that spring truly has arrived. I’ve learned not to trust calendar dates or average frost dates. Instead,...
Read MoreTrumpeter Swan Sighting
There I was, driving down a blacktop road on the way home to the farm — and driving too fast, too. The sun had sunk low in the sky, and in the glare I nearly missed seeing them. My brain first registered ‘Canada...
Read MoreGulls at play
Gulls aren’t what usually comes to mind when I think of Missouri birds. We have lots this time of year though. I took a half hour off for birdwatching earlier this week on a return trip from a family visit near Truman...
Read MoreBird in the corn
This morning I found this brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) in the corn barrel in the feed room. It stared at me, but didn’t move. My father says that’s typical thrasher behavior. ‘They’re weird...
Read MoreViolets in the sand
The common violet is one of my favorite spring flowers. It’s fragrant, pretty, tough and prolific. What’s not to love? This particularly sturdy violet pushed its way through a layer of sand deposited a couple weeks...
Read More