GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley I am intrigued by the idea of Sense of Place; to feel completely ‘at home’ in one particular place. I have read that people who grow up on the Great Plains feel claustrophobic when they are in forested environments and in reverse, people who have grown up surrounded by forest find the openness of the plains unnerving, with nothing to break the view to the horizon. I grew up in the city, but the Minnehaha Creek and Parkway were just two blocks away and I spent countless hours playing and exploring there. The city lakes were within biking distance. The Mississippi River was just blocks away from the apartment where I lived the first four years of my life. When I was 36 I married Mike and moved to our current home and it was perfect. When my dad first visited us in our new home, he said, “Kate must think she’s died and gone to heaven”. This is where I am supposed to be. Scientists who have studied the e...
Day 13 – March 30 It rained during the night and was still raining when we got up, but it gradually lightened and by the time we left Strawberry Plains the sky was clearing and it was 63F. Before hitting the road we met with Bubba Hubbard, the Director of the Audubon Center , Andrea Schuhmann their Outreach person and Chad Pope, the center ecologist. We talked about how we might connect with them on the bike trip. They recommended a number of people and groups – either bike related or river. We appreciate these local resources and the networks they can link us up with. Andrea is an avid biker, originally from Kentucky and she said she has found the ethic in Mississippi Very different than what she was used to. She didn’t want to scare us, but she just wanted us to know that there isn’t a lot of respect on the road for people riding bikes. A couple features of Strawberry Plains that we really liked were the rain chains and the chimney swift h...
WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley Right now most everyone is thinking about turkeys; how big, fresh or frozen, brine soaked or traditionally stuffed and roasted. But I am thinking about chickens. Not that we are planning to have this smaller fowl for our Thanksgiving feast, but because I am thinking about eggs; locally produced, free range, and fed with non-GMO grains. It just so happens, Minnesota is in the spotlight for just these sorts of eggs and chickens. A small company called Locally Laid (Lola) could bring national attention to our state and this type of animal husbandry on – believe it or not – the SuperBowl! Maybe you have seen some of the ads and news stories about Lola and their efforts to win the contest which would result in an ad to be shown on the televised football game. But before I describe this effort let’s take a look at the bird (or birds) itself. Today, the American Poultry Association (APA) recognizes 64 breeds of chicken, bu...
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