I listened to Dr. Don Waller, UW-Madison professor of botany and environmental studies and editor of “The Vanishing Present: Wisconsin’s Changing Lands, Waters, and Wildlife” give a presentation on long-term changes in Wisconsin forests last week as part of the UW-Arboretum Winter Lecture Series. He shifted my forest focus from […]
My street is only two short blocks with 8 houses. There are many more trees than houses on these blocks. Mighty oaks, a big black walnut and a massive maple. All but one of the houses are two stories tall with attics, and they are dwarfed by the trees. The […]
I have come upon fawns lying still as statues in a stand of grass on our land. Their survival strategy seems to be to freeze, allowing me to walk right up and study their perfect ears, finely chiseled hooves and delicately dappled camo patterns. Baby animals always bring out our […]
Saturday was workout for the windshield wipers as I drove through fog and rain to Weston’s Antique Apple Orchards in the Prospect Hill Settlement Historic District of New Berlin, Wisconsin. I went to learn how to graft antique apple trees onto modern, semi-dwarf root stock. Weston’s Orchards is one of […]
When we first bought our 44 acres, our friends asked when we would build a house on it. They were surprised to here us say at least 5 years. It’s now going on 7, and we are planning to build in 2012. This time frame is being a great chance […]
Geography is destiny, and I got both my geography and my destiny defined a little more clearly yesterday at the University of Wisconsin-Arboretum’s Winter Enrichment Lecture Series. Naturalist extraordinaire Rich Henderson shared his insights about the past, present and future ecology of prairies in Wisconsin. He was speaking from 34 […]
This week UW-Madison ethnobotanist Eve Emshwiller taught me to care deeply about oca, a funky little tuber that I will probably never see. Botany seems like a conflicted field to me. Some researchers are working to develop “perfect” varieties of plants that can be grown in vast monocultures, while other […]
Shortly after we had taken charge of our 44 acres, I asked my husband what was his favorite thing about our land. Doug said, “That young red oak across from the house site.” I knew immediately which one he meant. It was about 15 years old — a robust, teenage […]
Our prairie remnant on a sunny, south-facing slope just off the top of a ridge had been farmed for years and then planted by the owner before us in rows of pine and spruce. Some of the trees were 5 years old. Some were nearer 15. The older trees were […]
By now, five years into the relationship, I no longer feel it necessary to call my land Ms. Forty-four Acres. Sometimes I feel it’s perfectly appropriate to call her Forty-four, or even Dear old Double F – but that doesn’t mean I actually know her really well yet. Whenever I […]
Digging in the Driftless 