Have you ever seen soft mud or sand criss-crossed with lines? I’ve always been told that these lines are earthworm trails.
But I’ve never actually seen an earthworm in those places, so I took that little nature mystery solution …
Category: Science and Nature
These are the posts that are on the scientific side of nature.
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Bald Eagle | Ozark Birds of Prey series
Originally posted in 2020. I’m going through some of the older posts on my blog and refreshing them. This one really doesn’t need any changes, but it’s been a while since I’ve showcased my bald eagle painting.
One day I … -
CROAK: A book of fun for frog lovers | Book Review
CROAK
A Book of Fun for Frog Lovers
Professor Phil Bishop (ED.)Croak: A Book of Fun for Frog Lovers, by Professor Phil Bishop (ed.) | 9781925820812 | Hardback | 160 pages | 225 x 203mm | RRP US $19.99
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How Ginseng Stewardship Also Benefits the Landowner
Someone asked me yesterday about how ginseng stewardship benefits the landowner. It stumped me at first, because I’d never considered it from that angle.
What is Stewardship?
To steward something is to manage or take care of something. The short …
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Black Cohosh or Doll’s Eyes? Companion Look A-Likes
Black Cohosh or Doll’s Eyes?
Trying to differentiate between black cohosh and doll’s eyes before they come into bloom, has been frustrating. It’s very easy to tell once they begin the blooming process as the flower stems originate in different …
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Join me at the 8th Annual Agroforestry Symposium in Columbia, MO
January 26, 2017
We’ll be there representing Wild Ozark and I’ll be participating in the discussion panel for medicinal plant growers and entrepreneurs. Come out and meet us, talk about ginseng and the new habitat garden, or just say hello.…
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Ginseng Habitat Demonstration Garden
Announcement: The garden will NOT be open during May 2019. It will be open during April, and from June through September.
The Wild Ozark Ginseng Garden
This is a restored habitat where you can see and learn about American ginseng …
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How to Identify Plants in the Wild, How to Search and Find Clues
Earlier this year I surveyed my newsletter members for their top questions. Here’s one about how to identify plants found in the outdoors.
Top Questions
It’s more of a comment than a question, but I’m creating this post in response to …
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Imposter by Nature – Hognose Snake
Valerie, don’t read this post… it’s about a hognose snake and there are pictures 😉
Situational Awareness Lesson
This is a negative lesson. Don’t do what I do. Luckily for me, it wasn’t as bad a situation as it could …
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Ozark Backroad Photo Journey – Come Along for the Ride
Whenever I go away from the house alone, I take my camera. A simple run to the post office or to town becomes an Ozark Backroad Photo Journey. I generally try not to do this when I have passengers or …
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Wild Ozark Musings – December Newsletter
Below you’ll find the December issue of Wild Ozark Musings, a newsletter about nature, ginseng, and our wild Ozark life.
Ordinarily I send this out as an email near the beginning of the month to subscribers. This month I didn’t …
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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 …
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Inspired by Nature
Nature has inspired some pretty cool inventions. And lots of art. My guess is that Mother Nature is the muse to a lot of artists of all types.
How often do you see something in the natural world and marvel …
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Nature Workshop with Madison Woods
What happens at a nature workshop?My nature workshop is designed to help you reconnect to nature and express your experience through art, writing, and photography. It can be tailored for whatever environment is available (even cities have nature), but …
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Wild Ozark Nature Journal on Kindle
What is a sketch / nature journal?
Sometimes nature writers like to doodle while they’re interpreting nature. My nature journal is a combination of art and written journal entry.
It is both nature sketching and nature journal.
Here are some sample …
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This Beaver is One Heck of an Optimist
This beaver must possess tremendous optimism. Either that or he’s a long-term strategist, or both! Most farmers dislike beavers with a passion bordering hatred. The reason why that is, at least for the ones I asked, is because they’re always …
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Death from Above – Wasp vs Mantis
There are lots of videos at YouTube about wasp vs mantis, but they always show the mantis winning. Today I saw a wasp carrying the head of a praying mantis. I saw one yesterday, too.
I’ve found lots of info …
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What’s Blooming at the end of May?
Wild Ozark plants blooming at the end of May
I took a little walkabout yesterday to photograph some of the flowers that are setting berries, blooming, or getting ready to bloom right now.
Yesterday’s post highlighted the orchid I’d been waiting …
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Talk about Delayed Gratification! (Twayblade Orchid)
I’ve been waiting a whole year to see this flower.
When I first found the plant last summer there was only the two leaves. Without seeing a flower, it’s hard to positively identify a plant, unless that plant has something …
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A Woodland Habitat – Dragons among the Nettles and Cohosh
There’s a particular woodland habitat at the far corner of our property that I love.
The variety of plants that grow there is amazing.
It’s the perfect place for American ginseng, but those plants have nearly been extirpated by diggers …
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What’s that plant good for?
“What’s that plant good for?”
A curious thing I’m noticing by selling plants at the market is that people almost always have the same question, phrased in various ways.
It’s often the first thing they ask, in general about any …
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Sleuthing the Bellwort. Sessilifolia or Perfoliata?
Sessilifolia or Perfoliata?
Three species of bellwort are found in Arkansas: Uvularia grandiflora, U. sessilifolia, and U. perfoliata. The one I see most often around here is the grandiflora, or Large-flowered bellwort as it’s commonly called.
Bellwort in the Ginseng
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An Entourage of Green Ambassadors
Show and Tell
I took my little assembly of show and tell items, and a small entourage consisting of three Green Ambassadors on the road yesterday. We, or at least *I*, had been invited to speak to the Olli Group…
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Solomon’s Seal Unfurling
Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum)
There’s a nice patch of Solomon Seal at the front of the driveway that was so choked out last summer that I don’t think any of them got a chance to bloom. I was …
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Arnold’s First Rooster Crow
Arnold is a Fall chicken. He hatched from an egg, along with his three nestlings way back in October (I think). The clutch of eggs that had hatched shortly before his fell prey to a large black rat snake. You …
