The Winter Solstice and Nature’s Cycles
December 21, 2017 7:00 pm Leave your thoughtsBack in 1973, when designing our house, I needed to know seasonal sun angles in order to optimize winter heat... Read More →
Author Archives for Lon Drake
About Lon Drake
This old guy's favorite large-scale conservation projects include integrating soils, water, plants, and animals, especially native species. I still bike through my South Sycamore stormwater management system from 2001.
Holiday Conservation Crossword Puzzle
December 14, 2017 7:00 pm Leave your thoughtsThe holidays often find us sitting around, idling on the tarmac at O’Hare, grounded in Bali because the volcano erupted,... Read More →
Fossil Butterflies?
December 7, 2017 7:00 pm Leave your thoughtsIs it possible for nature to create fossils from creatures as frail and fragile as butterflies? While it doesn’t happen... Read More →
The Mystery of Metamorphosis: Revisited
November 30, 2017 7:00 pm Leave your thoughtsOne winter when I was a child, I opened up some cocoons to see how a caterpillar turned into a... Read More →
Sacrificial Conifers
November 23, 2017 7:00 pm 1 CommentIf you are thinking about planting a native woodland of oaks, hickories, black walnut, and their associates, consider including some... Read More →
Autumn Bareroot Transplants Have Problems in Iowa
November 16, 2017 7:00 pm Leave your thoughtsIf you read gardening magazines and nursery catalogs, they often promote bareroot transplants of seedling trees and shrubs in autumn,... Read More →
Of Bears and Bulls and Charitable Opportunity
November 9, 2017 7:00 pm Leave your thoughtsIf you are now at least 70 ½ years old and your retirement plan includes IRA investments in the stock... Read More →
The Peddler’s Pines
November 2, 2017 6:00 pm Leave your thoughtsby Lon Drake The railroad arrived in Iowa City on the last day of 1855, which offered still more impetus... Read More →
Evaluating Soil and Water with a Tile Probe
October 26, 2017 6:00 pm Leave your thoughtsA tile probe is merely a slender steel rod with a cross-tee handle. The better ones are stainless steel rods... Read More →
A Local Land Ethic
October 19, 2017 6:00 pm Leave your thoughtsWell, another Columbus Day has come and gone. Each passing year brings more attempts to recognize that in 1492 our... Read More →
