Wild Ozark™

Category: Nature

  • Cedar-Apple Rust : Invasion of Alien-looking Fruiting Bodies

    Cedar-Apple Rust

    Yesterday we went out to check on ginseng seedlings and found the cedar trees blooming with Cedar-Apple Rust fruiting bodies. It’s caused by a fungus and alternates each year on cedars or apple trees. If there aren’t any …

  • Photos of Plants – Medicinal & Useful plants down the Wild Ozark Driveway

    I’m still mostly stuck in the house because of my knee (dislocated it a little over a week ago) but I took the four-wheeler and camera down the driveway to get a few photos of plants unfurling or coming into …

  • Ginseng in May

    I’m drawing a sketch of a 4-prong American ginseng from a photo I took last year in May.  The sketch will be titled “Ginseng in May”.

    My First Show Entry

    This drawing will be displayed (and will be for sale) …

  • Chasing Windmills and Wildflowers in South Texas

    My past week has been filled with family and friends in Louisiana and Texas. While in Texas I got the notion to gather a collection of photos of the old windmills that are out there. Most of these are in …

  • Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) Unfurling

    The blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) is awake early this spring. I found some the other day, in three different stages of unfurl.

    The one completely unfurled is in a pot in the nursery area, the other two are in the …

  • Dirt Road Photos – Ozark Sunset Silhouettes

    Scene from the dirt road in the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas.
    Scene from the dirt road in the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas.

    The Ozarks from a Scenic Dirt Road

    I was driving home from my daughter’s house this evening as the sun began setting on our beautiful Ozark hills. Just so happened …

  • Stone Tool – Relic of a Long Bygone Era

    I knew when I saw the rounded hand-sized rock that it was more than “just a rock”. It was a stone tool, & probably several thousand years old.

    Stone tool of early Native Americans in the Ozarks - a rounded grinding stone.

    There is something special about holding a stone I know once was …

  • Coyotes at Midnight

    I had trouble getting to sleep last night. Then there were coyotes at midnight, just as the drift of dreams was beginning to take hold. It went on for so long I had time to turn on the audio recorder …

  • Delve Deeper to Observe Nature

    Take a moment from your day and delve deeper to observe nature. You’ll gain a sense of awe and wonder.

    Delve deeper

    Truly experience that moment. If it’s a plant you’re observing, reach out and touch it (be reasonable – …

  • Repairing Our Wild Ozark Spring Water Line

    Today I repaired our Wild Ozark spring water line

    Since I’ve learned how to do this myself, I figured I’d do it while Mr. Wild Ozark was at work. Later this summer we have plans to change out the entire …

  • A problem in our gravity feed spring water system

    What is a gravity feed water system?

    We are fortunate to have our very own spring fed water source that runs all year long. It is a spring that pumps out enough water, without fail, to serve our household with …

  • Kings River Falls – Photos from our hike

    Kings River Falls – Photos from our hike

    On Sunday I went hiking with my two oldest children and their children, one of my daughter’s friends and her children, and my parents to the Kings River Falls. This trail is a little north and east of Fallsville, AR …

  • A Poem by Joanna Macy

    This is an untitled (newly titled!) poem by Joanna Macy, a deep ecologist. I found this poem many years ago on a website long lost to memory, but I’ve linked to Joanna’s website in her name below. I stumbled …

  • The Sound of Winter

    Some sounds are distinctly “winter”. Sometimes the sound of winter is marked by the absence of sound. Maybe it’s more correctly described as the “silence of winter”.

    I am often reminded of how grateful I am to have my sense …

  • Meet our new team mates – Bat Cave Botanicals

    Wild Ozark is pleased to announce that we’ll be working with Bat Cave Botanicals to bring wild Appalachian ginseng roots and leaf products to our online shop.

    Martin & Sara of Bat Cave BotanicalsAbout Bat Cave Botanicals

    My partner & I are fortunate to live

    …

  • Warm Egg on a Cold Day

    There is something quite satisfying about finding a warm egg in the henhouse on a blustery 15*F morning.

    I tried something new to help me wake up a little earlier this morning. It wasn’t until 5 a.m. when the strange …

  • What is Humanity’s Role in Nature?

    Humanity’s Role in Nature

    Have you ever thought about humanity’s role in nature? Our various mythologies and religious origin stories offer some ideas that are generally accepted by many, but those are conflicting and I still wonder. Are we here …

  • Snow is Beautiful but Hoar Frost is Magical

    The sight of hoar frost makes me smile because it brings a memory to mind, one with imagery that could have been ripped from the pages of a fairy tale.

    Hoar frost happens when fog freezes on the trees and …

  • Exercising Outside on a Crispy Ozark Morning

    exercising outside involves jogging and walking to the 1/2 mile to the mailbox for me.
    A crispy cold morning, great for exercising outside

    I did my exercising outside this morning, jog/walked to the mailbox in under 20 minutes – a milestone for me!

    Exercising Outside

    Feeding the critters acted as a warm-up spell, but it was

    …

  • Did you know Osage Oranges evolved with wooly mammoths?

    Osage

    Maclura pomifera, also known as Osage Orange, Bois d’Arc, Hedge-apple, or Horse-apple, the osage tree is native to our area. Even so, there aren’t very many of them in our particular neck of the woods.

    osage tree
    A bedraggled osage tree.
    …

  • With a departing roar

    [Image of a departing storm] With a departing roar the storm rolled off to the east. Clear skies between broken clouds filled the southwestern wake.
    With a departing roar the storm rolled off to the east. Clear skies between broken clouds filled the southwestern wake.

    Nature is my muse.

    I’ve been working hard on my novel, trying to get the first draft finished by the …

  • Winter Solstice 2015 – A Widdershin sort of Time

    Winter Solstice 2015 occurs tonight at 10:03 p.m. CST

    It’s a widdershin sort of time, an unwinding, a releasing. A loosening of the grip on things I need to let go of.

    Actual New Year’s Eve

    It’s Winter Solstice,  the …

  • Finding Lost Fungi

    I brought the camera today to get some photos of fungi I’d spotted a few days ago.

    When I rode out with Rob the other day I saw the mushrooms on a log and figured I’d come back and get …

  • Looking forward to solstice

    Pulled this one from the archives. It’s from when I worked in Bentonville, leaving before dawn and getting home after dusk. I hated that and am glad to be working from home now, but I still look forward to mid-winter’s …

  • Killing Pretty Roosters

    First I tried selling pretty roosters. Then I tried gifting pretty roosters.

    Yesterday we killed pretty roosters.

    It was my chore to pick which ones. I felt a bit like Kali (Goddess who is both giver of life and bringer …