Renaissance Naturalist
Environmental Memory – Water in the Wash
In perusing a recent volume of the journal Environmental History, I became interested in a paper about how water was used, both practically and rhetorically, by laundresses over the turn-of-the-century period. And as I went into my laundry room off the kitchen, threw...Catsteps in the Loess Hills: Read the Art
Catsteps, a regional term for a staircase-like feature in the landscape of the Loess Hills of Iowa, elsewhere known as terracettes. They are parallel to elevation contours much like agricultural terraces. These step-like sequences of small ridges are formed when the...
Gardening under the Paschal Moon
By Barbi Hayes The Pink Full Moon arrives on April 16th. Pink – not for its pale color – rather for the pink moss phlox that blooms in early spring. This diminutive flowering ground cover provides valuable early season nectar for swallowtail butterflies, day...
RIME Ice – dense fog – Geese
By Barbi Hayes Even at mid-morning, the fog was so dense the road disappeared into a cloud bank – and the bridge at Lake Flanagan sensed of the Mists of Avalon. The morning was hovering below freezing in the 20s with a brisk wind from the north – the...
RIGHTs: chinook salmon to manoomin (wild rice)
By Barbi Hayes In the latest Rights of Nature case, Salmon are suing the City of Seattle in Sauk-Suiattle tribal court, seeking recognition of their legal rights to exist, flourish and regenerate. They are being represented by the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe...
are we DUNEd?
By Barbi Hayes By 10191 people across the galaxy are addicted to MELANGE, the cinnamon-like SPICE DRUG that acts as both a mystical substance and an energy source. It enhances perceptions and allows interstellar travel through bending of space. Once addicted,...
LANDBACK gaining momentum
Above right image by Nathaniel Ruleaux Blog post by Barbi Hayes #LandBack. A movement by Indigenous people to reclaim their lands – to protect and restore ancestral lands to their care. Each battle is unique. Reclamation is about identity: ceremonies,...
Read the Clouds – Read the Art
By Barbi Hayes Read the Clouds – Thermal inversions and ice fishing On Sunday morning last we went “eagle watching” visiting locations where they have been observed. We drove up to the public fishing entrance of Bennington Lake off Hwy 36, on the...