Winter Solstice and a Merry Christmas!

Today is the first day of winter!  Sound excited?  Well sort of...at least from here the days will slowly (agonizingly) begin to get longer and spring will be on the distant horizon to look forward to.  

OK, I don't really want winter to go away entirely, we all need a rest from spring/summer/fall chores, plus it is a great time to get work done here in the studio!  Besides, one gets really fired up during the winter, thinking about those wonderful things we have to look forward to...getting into the garden, or here, the prairie....being able to spend time outside in the warm sunshine.  These things are more precious when you have to wait for them I guess.

My studio time since I last blogged (sorry its been awhile) has been spent filling client orders, framing and painting commission work.  I have several paintings waiting on the back-burner here and hope I can get to them after Christmas has passed.

I did manage one feat of final fall work in the south pasture here about two weeks ago.  As some of you may know, the north pasture is a native remnant, and there are some native grasses in the south pasture but overall the south pasture has been degraded to the extreme by years of constant grazing.  

Georgie and I had been collecting seed from the north pasture this fall and the first week of December had our first winter storm front of "real" consequence coming in, so I seeded as much of the top of the south pasture slope as I had seed for.  We'll continue doing this each year until we have a good native stand of grasses and forbs...it should look great eventually!

One great thing that happened this year on the prairies here down the valley was the Prairie Heritage Center was able to put together a Federal grant, and a REAP (Iowa) grant, to purchase the riparian and prairie area along the Little Sioux River in the valley below the center!  This was done with a great deal of help from various local organizations and the expertise of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.  But we still have loose financial ends to finalize the purchase and land exchange.  

Last year we sold a local calendar through the Prairie Heritage Center to raise funds towards this effort.  This year we are doing this again and the fun thing about the calendar is each month the PHC will draw names of calendar purchasers for prizes.  You'll be eligible for drawings 12 times throughout the year!  We're kicking off the first month with a $150.00 gift certificate toward any purchase here at the studio - drawings, paintings, prints or cards...whatever strikes your fancy!  Each month will be other great prizes too such as Tablets, Digital Cameras, Cabin stays, and more!

The calendar can be purchase for $50 by calling the Prairie Heritage Center at 712 295-2700.

Take advantage of this fun opportunity to support the new land purchase and not only have the reward of  neat new place to walk, fish, or hunt...but to support saving a wonderful piece of habitat and maybe get a prize on top of that!  Hey its Christmas after all!

Speaking of Christmas - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone out there!

See you next year!

A Tallgrass Year

Cope's Gray Tree Frog at Prairie Hill farm

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

Thank you to those folks who came to the Prairie Heritage Center for the Prairie program Thursday evening...although my voice gave out early on, you hung in there!

If you weren't able to make it to the center, I'm going to post the first part of the program which was a media program, recorded with images and audio from our prairie here at Prairie Hill Farm.  I should state "most" of the images were from here; they were all shot within a 35 mile radius of here but at least 90% were here on our property.  The music soundtrack was licensed through CSS Music, Inc.

The web address for "A Tallgrass Year" is -

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjlGSSd_0Uw

We're very busy here at the studio, with the Christmas season upon us, but if you're in the area and want to stop by, please feel free!

Stay warm!

Prairie On My Mind

 Joe Pye Weed with Painted Lady

Photo © Bruce A. Morrison

I've mentioned the Prairie Heritage Center before...it is a gem in the extreme SE corner of our county (O'Brien).  There is an exhibit of the tallgrass prairie at the center, running now and through January 6, 2011.  The exhibit is a state traveling exhibit entitled "Tallgrass Prairie - Past, Present, and Future", and is a great exhibit for all ages to see, enjoy and walk through!

With this exhibit, the host organization is responsible for putting on a program in conjunction with the exhibit theme.  I was asked if I'd be willing to do so and agreed...prairie is near and very dear to my heart and I'm always happy to speak on this subject!

The Prairie Heritage Center is calling the program "Colors of the Prairie".  I've put together a short media program which will be followed by "colors of the prairie" and a discussion of my experiences and personal viewpoint of the Tallgrass Prairie.  The program will take place at the Prairie Heritage Center on December 2nd at 7 p.m - that's this coming Thursday night, so if you have an opportunity to get away for a short evening event - be sure and stop by!

For those of you who may not have been to the Prairie Heritage Center, directions are "east" of Sutherland, Iowa on HY 10, or "west" of Peterson, Iowa on Hwy 10...or 4931 Yellow Avenue, Peterson, Iowa.  You can also call for more information at (712) 295-7200!

See you on the Tallgrass!

Pioneer?

Bison near the Prairie Heritage Center

Would I have ever made it as a pioneer 150 years ago? I'm not convinced.

Now, I would have really liked to have seen the tallgrass prairie before the plains were explored or settled by non-native Americans! It must have been an amazing sight to behold...an incredible world of flora and fauna!

I watched a program the other night on PBS...it was about the Donner Party. Well, I knew where that would lead and I wasn't sure I was up to it. But against my better judgment went ahead and watched. It was such an incredibly horrific tale, but also one of cues not followed...advise not heeded...many mistakes leading to an unbearable winter under several feet of never ending snow!

I know what we've been having is not bad at all compared to that story. We are only past the 50 inch mark for this winter...by a few inches at least. This winter makes one wonder though, we have so much snow to remove and I'd been getting along just fine with a 27" 8 hp snow blower, however two days ago it broke down. The blower's 10 years old so I guess it's due, doesn't make it easier to cope with though.

We tried a fix yesterday, didn't work...we tried a couple more ways to fix today...didn't work. Going to have to haul it to town I guess.

We shoveled out the lane, the turn-arounds, and the parking spots today. I spent some time (while shoveling) pondering what this could be compared to and came up with the thought that we had (if we still lived in town) shoveled out 7 neighbor's drive ways and sidewalks...by hand. I think I have all the incentive now that I need to get the old blower to town for repair!

What did the pioneers do? They shoveled by hand if they had to move snow...that simple. Guess I'll stop whining and just be grateful!

Bison don't let the snow slow them down either...they dig through it and find what's underneath...ask cows to do that and you have dead cows...don't have the wild instinct to survive without us pandering to them.

The Bison in the heading photo is one of the cows (female Bison) at the Prairie Heritage Center south of here. They seem to be taking winter in stride just fine. Hmmm..of course they don't have a driveway to clear out either! I kept the far farmstead in view with the Bison; I thought it was a good juxtaposition comparing the new world of the prairie with the symbol of the once wild prairie.

Speaking of the Prairie Heritage Center, you might want to put them on your blog radar...they now have their own blog going...great to see!

Other good friends, Bev and Dwight Rutter of The Prairie Flower, also have a new blog going!

Winter and loads of snow...a good time to blog don't you think?!

Prairie Autumn

Big Bluestem stalks in Autumn at Prairie Hill Farm

It hit 24 degrees farenhiet this morning at Prairie Hill Farm...I think autumn has really arrived and will be here to stay. It's really not too early for a hard frost here, it just seems like it should still be August!

Most people don't realize how beautiful the prairie can be in the fall. Even Big Bluestem covered hillsides have a wonderful amber or bronze blush from a distance. Little Bluestem and Indian grass also add to the mix, creating an forgetful patina.

Stiff Goldenrod are never a dissapointment on the autumn prairie!

The forbs (wildflowers) are richly multicolored too in the fall. Probably the best examples are the Stiff Goldenrods...they're kind of like the "hard maples" of pairie autumn color makers! But all the goldenrod family celebrate fall in similar ways, so even the most docile CRP or pasture will yeild a show worth stopping and looking.

There are even asters still blooming at this time and despite the frost, their stems and leaves are ablaze with reds, burgundy, rusts, orange and yellow. Another late bloomer is the Downy Gentian...a flower of deep blue sky, a bloom to be jealus of.

We have been nearly overwhelmed with chores in the garden, yard and pasture since the A.R.T. weekend event, so there has only been minor work going on in the studio at present. Today we're off to Waterman Prairie south of here to help the Prairie Heritage Center pick seed for their prairie work. That's fun work, especially on a crisp sunny fall day like today!

Hope you can get out and enjoy this day as well!

Exploring The River

Leaving Ranney Knob - Little Sioux River
Oil on mounted canvas - 9X12"

A week ago last Saturday I spent some time down on the Little Sioux River in the morning. I was taking pictures and video taping the first annual Prairie Heritage Center's Inkpaduta Canoe Race. It started a bit foggy but turned into a beautiful day. Race participants seemed to have had a great time too.

I scouted around a bit for picture ideas and think I may have some nice things tucked away for this winter or some other studio time...or revisit for plein air. Today though I took time to paint the Little Sioux River at Ranney Knob...a park Georgie and I first visited in Cherokee County a few weeks ago in mid summer. I revisited the river in the studio today...I liked the material I had from this summer and wanted to strike while the iron was hot. I hate mulling things over too long...the embers in my mind go cold and that's that.

The pressure is on around here and I'm scrambling to get things ready for the upcoming Artisans Road Trip up here in NW Iowa. I hope if you have any time during the first weekend in October free, that you'll stop in and say hello!

Have a great last 3 weeks of Summer!

Now That's Neat...

Tropical weather (it's 26 F "above" zero this morning!) is bringing on a celebratory feeling here at Prairie Hill Farm! I can almost feel the spring breeze and see the first bumblebees of the season seeking out the early flowers on the prairie remnant in our north pasture. Sure it's a stretch, but without these bouts of spring fever we'd almost never make it this early in the winter! Something always triggers a spat of spring fever for me, in this instance it was a phone call.

Georgie and I had spent about 3 months afield late in 2007, visiting natural and cultural sites in NW Iowa...this was for a grant project called Watchable Wildlife of NW Iowa. Our job was to spend each day, or several days, visiting specific sites and videotaping and photographing. Poor us! HA! We loved every minute of it!

Other folks were working on the scripting and idea of the project. The project was administered through the Iowa Lakes RC&D, overseen by Jeff Kestel; the creative folks were two area naturalists - one stationed at the Prairie Heritage Center (Charlene Elyea), and the other at the Lost Island Prairie Wetland Nature Center (Miriam Patton).

The project was worked into a web site of 39 natural and cultural areas, divided into 3 categories - a Glacial Trail loop, a Prairie Pot-hole Birding loop, and a Pioneer History loop. I was asked to design a web site around these loops, to video tape each site and to photograph the sites and flora, fauna, or whatever other characteristics the sites contained. A typical page on the site would introduce a specific site, give the history of the site, a description of the location, and driving directions (pop-up google maps and GPS). There may also be an "Educational Box" that can be used by teachers to explore more facets of the particular site, and there is also a video of the site.

The site's video could be one of two types. We had individuals that were experienced with the site and it's specifics - they were taped on camera talking about the site's characteristics. Or we would just do a composite editing of an overview of the site that would give the viewer a "flavor" of what the site was like, and what may be there.

A good example of a "site" page, this one from the Glacial Trail loop, is the Freda Haffner Kettlehole site page. Scott Moats of the Iowa Nature Conservancy speaks on camera and shows the kettlehole, speaks about the glacial/geological aspects and the wildlife. The text of the page also has pop-up images highlighted to illustrate plants at this location.

There is also a photo gallery page, a "Tip" page (tips on viewing wildlife), and a links page. The links page is loaded with stuff, even a separate video page and a wildlife joke page...OK that one was my idea, I have a silly sense of humor I guess.

I've briefly mentioned this website in this blog before and I guess the only reason I'm mentioning it again is because of the phone call. The web site creator (me) and the agency administering it (Iowa Lakes RC&D) have been given an "Outstanding Media Award" for our work through the Iowa Association of Naturalists and the Iowa Conservation Education Council! Now that's neat! Of course this whole thing would have never happened if Charlene and Miriam hadn't had the original idea in the first place!

Another neat thing (the one that really brings on the bouts with spring fever) is that the website project has just recently received another grant to continue the work and expand to more places in NW Iowa! Hopefully Georgie and I will get to go out and have more fun this summer!

If you're stuck inside and want to kick around the timber or prairies, or just see what's out there, try checking out Watchable Wildlife in NW Iowa and enjoy yourself...who knows maybe you'll find some spots that really peak your interest and can look forward to visiting in person when the mood strikes you!