We’re going to do a little visualization, so play along: Nature. What do you see in your head when you think of nature? What kind of habitat? What plants/trees? Animals? Where is it located? Spend 5 seconds to lock it in your head…
Posts Categorized: Journal
Natural Phenomenon in an Urban Metropolis
The Chicago River has made great strides towards becoming a clean and vibrant waterway. Reports of aquatic wildlife, including muskrats, turtles, beavers, and even otters have become common place. While walking to lunch, I’ve seen a blue heron perched on a grass covered outcropping of concrete. I’ve noticed the increased recreational activity as kayakers
From the Suburban Farm: 7/18
Up and down, this farm thing seems to be; after all, it is the nature of the enterprise. We are at the peak of summer right now, with harvest and weeding and seeding hitting full throttle. Give it a couple months, though, and our main season transitions first into a smaller-volume fall season and then… Read more »
E Pluribus Ursi
With the recent news that a black bear has attempted to move in to Northwest Indiana for the first time in 144 years, I would like to make a plea to the people of Michigan City, Indiana not to remove it, as you plan to, but rather consider the manifold reasons why you should, instead,… Read more »
From the Suburban Farm: 7/13
7/13 We have properly arrived to that region of the year, “midsummer”. These are the days associated most in our memory with summer, though the solstice has by now passed. Tomorrow, baseball’s all stars take the field, after all, for the midsummer classic. This week is also the middle of my season here at the… Read more »
Nature Horoscopes for Summer 2015
Virgo – Delicate and refined, shy and beautiful, you, like the leaves of Asarum Canadense, will look great throughout the summer and well into the fall, long after your first flower is gone. This summer, Virgo, befriend the barely noticeable ants that adore you, and practice some myrmecophory of your own: find the biggest watermelon… Read more »
20 or 30 Things “2030” Could Mean
The year we will take over the world. The year we will be unnecessary because every citizen is a steward of nature. The year we will finally get hoverboards. Habitat restoration as a field is only 20 to 30 years old. It can take 20 to 30 years for a habitat to begin to be… Read more »
From the Suburban Farm: 5/24
5/24 I’m about a month and a half into my first season working on an organic farm in one of Chicago’s well-heeled western suburbs. For a while, it seemed as if the sky was falling. For a week it seemed like it rained straight through, keeping us out of the fields. The tomatoes and leeks… Read more »
From the Suburban Farm: 6/20
6/20 My boss has frequently cited an inch of rain a week as a rough ideal for a vegetable farm. This past Thursday, we’d gotten six inches in the previous six days. The small prairie stream half a mile from our farm had flooded, hard, bright orange caution tape fencing off all paddling put-ins. Riding… Read more »
From the Suburban Farm: 7/1 & 7/4
7/1 Thank God, it’s July now. The month of June brought us blessings; it brought us two new employees that have been wonderful matches with the crew. Mostly, though, the month of July brought rain. At one point we got 5 inches in 5 days. We learned, though, that it could always be worse, when… Read more »
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