Plant geek: coneflowers for days!

 When we first bought our house, the landscaping was virtually a blank slate. We were lucky enough to have established trees, but the rest of the place was taken back to almost nothing because of the reported overgrowth of the yard when the renovation started. We tackled the chance to plan what we would plant in the existing beds and where we might install additional flower beds.

One idea I really valued was incorporating plants native to Kansas. This ideas was part sentimental and mostly practical. I grew up in the country and we rarely watered our flowers and plants, let alone our lawn. If you were plant, in order to survive, you needed to be hardy.

I carried that same philosophy forward. We have little time to water plants frequently and it seems like a waste of money to constantly water.

I had this dream of planting the native flowers and Jeremy really wanted something that would add some color to the south side of the driveway. The answer - a mix of native plants that have morphed over the years. Remember, only the strong survive. More accurately, only the plants that were planted in a place with the right amount of sunlight and moisture survived. Gardener's error or luck plays a large part in the failure (or success) of anything we have done.

 The coneflowers this year have been spectacular! I am not sure we have had blooms in this deep purple color.

 A perk of these native plants is their ability to attract insects and birds. We usually have bees and butterflies surrounding this bed. On day last fall, I saw a small bird picking the seeds of out the center of blooms.

This summer, we have been overrun with iridescent insects. They are strangely beautiful and also unnerving because they like to dive bomb you when walking through the yard.

Other than the occasional weeding and thinning out of the beds, these native plants are low maintenance and offer a lot of beauty.

I heart old barns

I heart old barns...and old houses...and apparently old churches and school houses, too.

Many of you know that we have a passion for antique and vintage everything. Give us something that is rustic, rusty, patina-ed, and chipped and we'll consider it well loved and find it a place to be enjoyed.

We have made a very fun and successful small business out of connecting people with vintage and repurposed items. To further support our obsession, you should know that we live in an late 1800's limestone school house and we bought a historic church. And, I have been known to pull over to the side of the road to take a picture of an old place that has character. I love making up stories about the history and the people who lived in or used the space.

For this old barn, I don't need to make up much of the story. It used to stand on my grandparent's place. My dad owns the property now.

This old red barn always had a commanding presence in the farm yard and was used until the quonset was built.

This photo was taken on the weekend of my grandparent's sale. Even then, we knew that the barn's days were numbered.

And, it did fall down. My husband took this photo this summer. We didn't want to see the barn go to waste, so my dad and husband put some effort into salvaging some of the wood.

From the pile, they pulled some of the best boards and worked to get some of the flooring recovered.

A work in progress. We'll be back to try to recover some more.

And, the load for the trip home. This wood is now being repurposed into signs, benches and table tops.

For those of you who enjoy a beautiful, old building, here are a few images to enjoy.

 This is a lovely old barn that used to sit on Highway 24. I took this photo shortly before it fell down.

 This limestone barn was on Flush Road near our house. It was pushed over by the owners. I loved it in the background of the purple carpet of blooms. I think the purple blooms were actually weeds, but still really lovely. This photo was taken in early spring.

This might be one of my favorite photos...taken in Morris County near a camp where some of my student leaders held a retreat one spring. This is exactly the kind of place that I adore for the history and at the same time it haunts me. Why was it abandoned? Who lived there? How did they live?

Celebrating Independence Day

 My husband and I celebrated Independence Day with a morning run on the Konza Prairie.  Earlier this summer we made a list of activities we wanted to check off the list before the end of the summer, and running at the Konza was near the top.  We felt like we had been taking this really beautiful place for granted.

The last time we hiked at the Konza, we accidentally got off the trail and ended up putting in a few extra miles.  This time around, we decided to run the 4.4 mile trail and we studied the map before we left.

 The views were beautiful.  We were blessed with cloud cover and a slight breeze which made for really nice temperatures.  It was just past peak wildflower season, but there were a few blooms here and there.

We actually put in nearly five miles when it was all said and done.  Even with our advance study session on the maps, we still had a wrong turn or two, which meant a little back tracking.  We also ran the trail "backwards," which meant the hills were a little less kind.  Who says Kansas is flat?

After the storm

 We had a wonderful thunderstorm tonight - amazing lightening, rumbling thunder, and a lot of rain.  We had a few pieces of hail, but nothing too severe and no wind.

After the rain stopped, we were amazed at how light it was outside, though it was nearly 9 p.m.  We decided to get a better look by venturing out.

The entire yard was washed in this amazing light.  I did nothing to edit these photos, just tried to capture what we were seeing.  Unfortunately, my photography skills are inadequate to get great photos, but you get the idea.  Coupled with the sunset, the sky made for a really pretty backdrop.

 Our backyard and the hill beyond looked so lovely.

 

Our wildflowers in the bed next to the driveway were especially striking in the light.  I enjoy seeing these flowers this time of year and appreciate that they are so hardy.  We get to appreciate their beauty without having to fuss over them - a must with our busy life.

So, tonight, we are thankful for the rain to keep our yard and garden growing, a beautiful thunderstorm that was powerful, but not damaging, and the lovely light to help us appreciate our little acre.

Kansas Day

Tuesday was Kansas Day, our state's 152nd birthday.

I am not aware of another state that makes a big thing out of their state's birthday.  It seems like this is another unique characteristic of Kansans.  We are all sort of bound together by many things, and one of which is that each January, we tell everyone that our state was founded 150 plus years ago.  And, we do so with a lot of pride.

One of my friends posted the following quote on Facebook.  I love it.  It speaks to this indescribable love of a landscape - the prairie - and a place - Kansas.

You can never really escape. It goes with you, wherever you go. Somehow, the prairie dust gets in your blood, and it flows through your veins until it becomes a part of you. The vast stretches of empty fields, the flat horizons of treeless plains. The simplicity of the people—good, earnest people. The way they talk and the way they live. The lack of occurrence, lack of attention, lack of everything. All that—it’s etched into your soul and it colors the way you see everything and it becomes a part of you.

- P.S. Baber

Here are some views of our beautiful state.

 This photo was taken near Living Water Ranch, north of Manhattan.

 We love this little piece of land just west of our home.  We have tried to purchase it a couple of times, but it just hasn't worked out.  Someday.

 Directly across the road from our home is this lovely little creek.

 Another view of the land west of our home.

This road is several miles west of our home.  While my husband has run it several times, I first discovered it on a very long walk we took about two years ago.  This picture makes me long for spring.

Flint Hills Discovery Center

 Last week, I finally had the chance to spend some time at the Flint Hills Discovery Center.  The Center officially opened last spring and is part of a larger redevelopment project.

I was hosting a mini event for students one afternoon  this week and was really excited to finally check things out for myself.

The Center is really striking.  I loved the lobby and meeting spaces and the views were really spectacular.  We did get the chance to sit in on the 4-D movie which was nice.  The 4-D elements of the movie included smoke, wind, and bubbles that felt like snow.  I am in love with the prairie, so it was neat to see prairie presented as important and beautiful.

There were some amazing voices telling the story of the prairie throughout the movie.  A quote stayed with me, "...it is beautifully irrational to love a landscape." Love this.  It perfectly captures how I feel about the prairie.

The outdoor meeting space is well designed with an outdoor fireplace and some water features.  I could imagine having groups of all ages use this space and having a great time.

It's fall

Fall has arrived in Kansas and I am so very happy for so many reasons.

The temperatures are cooler. (Finally!)

Fall favorites like pumpkin inspired foods (bread, lattes, everything!), hot cocoa, and layers are returning.

Our state fair is held in September.  I love the state fair - in small doses.

It's football season!

And, in Kansas, we have wild sunflowers everywhere.

I traveled for work and had a week out of state.  I was so excited when our plane landed and I saw that the sunflowers were still in bloom.  It was a treat to see these giant sprays of flowers along the roads, sometimes filling entire expanses of land and other times, just a lone plant anchored between the cracks of the pavement.

This Kansas girl loves her sunflowers.

Relic of the Kansas prairie

My weekend started with a Friday night and Saturday morning retreat with some student leaders. The retreat site was at White Memorial Camp near Council Grove, Kansas.

The drive to the camp was amazing.  The prairie views were really incredible and everything looked refreshed after we (finally) got some rain.  The only down side was the gravel roads to the camp had some serious mud in the low areas. My car really needs a car wash!

At the corner where you turn south to take the final road to the camp, there was this awesome old house.  I feel in love with it on Friday night and promised myself that I would get a picture today.

I love this relic of the Kansas prairie.

Dirt, Denim & Diamonds - Day two

Saturday was the second day of the very successful Dirt, Denim & Diamonds conference.

There were so many things that I loved about this conference.  At the top of the list was the location.  Living Water Ranch is located northwest of Manhattan, KS and is nestled in the Flint Hills.  It is a gorgeous site with beautiful vistas in every direction.

The drive to Living Water Ranch is one of my top five in Kansas.  It is amazing that you are close to town and yet, you feel like you are really getting away. 

 If anyone ever tells you that Kansas is flat, you only have to take them on this drive.  Love these rolling hills.

When you turn south to travel to Living Water Ranch, you cross a cattle guard. If you are new to this, you might think that it is for drainage or some other purpose.  It actually keeps cattle (or other livestock) in a fenced area - in this case, the pasture.  There is a fence around the pasture, but to allow cars and other vehicles to come and go without opening and closing a gate, the cattle guard can stand in the place of a gate. The animals are not able to walk over it, yet people and cars can move across it easily.

I always feel this great sense of "getting away" when I drive across the cattle guard.

It also puts me on alert in the event a cow or calf are hanging out on the road.

I loved the views of the grasslands and the lake beyond.

 The cows along the drive and in the pasture just completed the whole setting.

Once at the conference, I found myself surrounded by awesome women across many generations, representing may different connections to agriculture, and from locations all around the region.

The sessions were educational and interesting.  The conversations between sessions and over meals were very, very special.

I spent some time today sorting through my stack of business cards and session handouts.  I have plans to reach out to several of the women who attended.

Congratulations to my friend for an excellent conference full of sisterhood, learning, and fun!

I am not a...5-star Horticulturalist

Sometimes, you just have to share something that makes you laugh, even if you don't know what to make of it!

My husband is really good at finding awesome things on Craigslist.  He's great about scanning the listings and discovering some item that we just have to add to our collection of collections.  And, every once in awhile, he will stumble on a particularly creative, funny or weird post.  I am not exactly sure how to classify this post, but it made me laugh!

Folks, how many times have you gazed forlornly at your sad and sorry roses and thought to yourself, "How I yearn for a few dried cow patties* to rouse and revive them!"?

Ah, well, your wishes CAN come true! 

 Yes, I have risked chiggers, heatstroke, and a vast array of spiders to provide you with a bag of all-natural cow manure. And this didn't come from just any old herd--these are special Gelbvieh/Limousin cows--loved and petted at Prairie Springs Cottage; why there is even a lovely one named Erma!

Munching on Flint Hills grass, drinking from spring-fed (soon-to-be-brackish) pond-water, and nibbling a bit of George Ebert's hay (Hey! We're in a drought if you haven't noticed!), these cows have ruminated and digested (and expelled) a perfect, pretty-much-organic, fertilizer just for you.

Despite barbwire tearing a hole in my shirt, a grasshopper thwacking my eye, and enduring the thrumming of hovering Chinooks, I am still willing to give you a tremendous bargain: $8.00 for a pillowcase-sized bag; cash only.

On second thought, all of you should get off your lazy duffs and get it yourselves--maybe you too would get to see one of these little endangered horny toads, become 'one' with nature, and have an all 'round great day...!

*disclaimer: I am not an Herbivorologist, a Poopologist, nor a 5-star Horticulturalist--I have no idea how much to put on roses--google it yourself, please.

Prairie history

If you love the prairie and you love history, you have to read The New York Times article by Tony Perrottet, Chasing a Prairie Tale.

Fence posts

Between my drive to and from work and our walks on the country roads, I have started to look at fence posts. The hedge posts are my favorite. I can admire a well-made five wire fence with steel posts at the appropriate distances. These are the fences I want around land I own to keep livestock where they are meant to be. For general gawking, I like the old withered hedge posts with character.

I noticed these wildflowers next to this corner post and couldn't help but stop on the road and take a photo. Two things I love - two symbols of the prairie.

On our walk turned hike, we saw this cute bird and I loved the composition of the tiny bird on the massive post. It reminded me of the squirrel we caught last spring perched on the top of the fence post in our backyard.

This little squirrel entertained us one night. I also love seeing the corn field in the background just as the seeds had emerged. To see it now, it's hard to believe that was just a couple of months ago.

Obsessive learning

Most of my friends know that I am an obsessive learner. My resume includes yoga, knitting, raising alpacas, trying new recipes, installing new plants in the garden, learning about The Depression, and much more. Some of my learning experiments work out well and others just turn out to be great experiences.

I figured out this learning thing was something that defined me when I told my boss what I was making for a big family Thanksgiving dinner and he asked if the recipes were all of my tried and true favorites. In fact, many were new, never tested recipes gathered in my hours and hours of reading magazines devoted to Thanksgiving holiday meals and recipe books. He looked at me like I was insane. I was in heaven - a challenge to feed a whole crowd and the chance to learn some new recipes in the process. My final exam was actually pulling it off with everyone fed and happy.

Some of these learning obsessions come to me slowly - building one thing on top of another. A magazine article mentions a person that leads to a book. I read about Dorthea Lange, a famous Depression-era photographer and have been reading about her and devouring her work ever since. Her biography inspired me to read The Grapes of Wrath. I have another book on the Depression in my pile to read.

A recent favorite subject has been the prairie. We visited the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve and I bought Flint Hills Cowboys: Tales from the Tallgrass Prairie by Jim Hoy. It was a delightful read full of great storytelling and rich Kansas prairie tradition. Some of the cowboys were real characters and the stories were laugh out loud funny. Other stories told about the heartbreaking, dangerous work of making your life from the land told by a scholar and native of the Tall Grass Prairie. Lots of learning and pleasant reading.

My second read was recommended by a professor at K-State. Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch was very well written. The author's experience in transitioning from a cattle ranch to raising buffalo was full of learning, joy, heartbreak, and history. I loved reading about the prairie from someone who obviously loves the land and has a passion for preservation. It played out the real-life struggle to make a living in production agriculture and impressed the need to think about conservation and to relearn what our lands can support.

If your current learning adventures have you anywhere near the prairie or agriculture or the Great Plains, I highly recommend these two books. Happy reading!

When a walk becomes a hike

We began this beautiful Sunday with a walk. We had taken a nice stroll on Saturday and thought if we wanted to get a walk or run in today, we should go early before the heat of the day settled in. Plus, the wildflowers in Kansas are looking so pretty right now and I wanted to take my camera along to get some of the color dotting the roadsides and pastures.

We saw a lot of these Black-Eyed Susan like things that I think are actually Brown-Eyed Susans? I am really a novice at identifying wildflowers. A book on Kansas wildflowers is next on my list, but until then, there is this great resource on Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses. This website helps you identify prairie plants. The flowers are categorized by color family and photos help with connecting names to plants.

Our walk began usual enough - straight west of our house up the gradual hill to the cemetery where we decide to go straight, left or right. Yesterday, I complained that straight was my least favorite because the gradual hill continues and the walk is harder. My husband suggested left which is a nice gravel road that turns to dirt. We kept walking south and I was taking pictures and loving the cloud cover.

We moved along on Loux Road when my husband suggested that we walk all the way to the end where Loux intersects with Myers Valley Road. At that intersection, he gave me a choice - turn around and cover the same ground or continue west and meet up with Pleasant Run. He swayed me with the promise of great pictures, and in fairness, he did tell me that his cross country kids run it and it is not pleasant (meaning pleasant views, but a lot of hills).

I agreed to the challenge, but should have asked exactly how far this trip would be in total. And, I should have looked at the weather forecast to see that rain was possible. The rumble of thunder near the half-way point made me a little anxious. I also should have brought along water, but who knew we were leaving for a hike.

The trip was beautiful - only sprinkles and cloud cover almost the whole way. We saw some great flowers and beautiful Kansas vistas. Yes, even in Kansas, you can stand on top of a hill and see valleys and rises that will take your breathe away.

This stretch of flowers reminded me of the scene at the beginning of Little House on the Prairie when the girls run down the hill. The cut wheat field in the back ground is quintessential Kansas.

We happened on this friendly herd of cows. They came running when they saw us, but we only disappointed them when we didn't have any range cubes. (We call them cookies in our family.) They walked with us almost the whole length of their pasture - running ahead and then stopping, turning, facing and watching.

I think this one is a moth mollein? It, along with more than 50 other pictures, made our 7.5 mile hike worth it.

Prairie town vacation

Saturday's post talked about the Tallgrass Prairie hike, this one talks about the rest of that trip.

Several weeks ago I asked Jer to hold a weekend on his calendar. I wanted to surprise him with a mini-vacation and we were both desperately in need of a break from the usual schedule.

My idea was to be away for only one night and to take in some local places we had never explored. We started in Council Grove with a great lunch at the historic Hayes House. The strawberry pie was homemade and really delicious!

We continued on to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve National Park and hiked one of the trails. It was a gorgeous spring day. We loved having nothing scheduled except a 7 p.m. dinner reservation.

Our final destination was Cottonwood Falls for dinner and an overnight at the restored Grand Central Hotel. We arrived early enough to do a little shopping in the few stores that were open. The beautiful county courthouse is the focal point of the downtown.

We found a great cooperative art gallery that had some beautiful antiques and art pieces of all kinds of media. We bought a terra cotta piece and a wooden business cards holder with the gorgeous silver details. And, I had to get a cd of the Tallgrass Express. I heard the cd at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, but did not buy it. I kept thinking about the beautiful music and had to have it. Once I returned home, it was the background music for grading papers.

Our room at the hotel was spacious and comfortable. The dinner was very good - prime rib and great sides. We enjoyed the chance to relax and feel far from home, yet to be just a little over one hour away.

We highly recommend this line up of stops. Local friends can make a short weekend trip and some who live a little further away can just make this a destination or a stop on the way to or from Manhattan. You will love the quaintness and slow pace.

Prairie home

The famous get-to-know-you question - are you a beach or mountain person? I have always been a little ambivalent about that choice. Both seem kind of exotic since Kansas has neither ocean nor mountains, but I also think my real preference was a third, unnamed option. My choice - the prairie.

Kansas is a beautiful place! We get a bad reputation for a flat and boring landscape, yet I am confident the people who hold this belief have never experienced the Flint Hills. The rolling hills that house the tallgrass prairie are simply breath taking. We have vistas that allow you to see for miles and down into valleys. The colors of the grasses change over the season to all shades of green and brown. We are at this really interesting time of the year when the portions that are recovering from spring controlled burns are turning a vibrant green. The sunrises and sunsets are simply gorgeous over these hills.

Most people only have the chance to drive through the Flint Hills because there are few places where people can get out and experience the prairie. Driving through is nothing compared to hearing the wind rustle the grass, to see wildlife and wildflowers up close, and to examine the detail in a weathered limestone rock.

There is a place where people can experience the prairie. Nestled in the Flint Hills is the National Park Service Tall Grass Prairie Preserve just north of Strong City and south of Council Grove. The Spring Hill Ranch, later known as the Z Bar Ranch, and now the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, has a 1883 ranch house and gigantic barn with other outdoor buildings, all in native limestone. The grounds are open 24 hours a day for hiking and they have some really manageable short trails or frontcountry trails. They also have backcountry hiking trails.

Last Saturday, we ventured out for a short one night vacation. We started our day with lunch at Council Grove at the Hayes House the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi. We had a great lunch with homemade pie.

We then ventured further south to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve for hiking and touring and a little shopping. We hiked the Southwind Nature Trail that leads you to the Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse for a nearly two mile hike. The hike was not tough at all and just long enough to feel like you had an adventure without tiring you out.

The gift shop had a lot of books about the prairie ecosystem, ranch life, and cowboy culture. We bought two great pieces of art, some notecards, and a great book on Flinthills cowboys. We then continued on to Cottonwood Falls to shop and stay overnight. More on that in a later post.

It really was the perfect weekend. We really enjoyed the whole trip, but the highlight was the time outside to enjoy one of the treasures of Kansas. There is something so peaceful about being on the prairie. The vastness of the grass and the sense of being small yet connected.