A relaxing day at Wapsipincon State Park this past weekend helped me appreciate the waterways that run through Iowa. Unfortunately, our state doesn’t have the best reputation for pristine rivers, streams and lakes, but efforts are underway to make changes, utilizing the sometimes overlooked connection between healthy soils and clean water. One of those projects […]
Eastern Iowa under firewood quarantine; ...
Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive pest that has already killed millions of ash trees in the United States, is gaining a foothold in Iowa. Today, state officials issued a quarantine on firewood to try to help stem the tide. Read a Q&A on Emerald Ash Borer, find where meetings are scheduled to address the issue […]
Iowa farmers markets move indoors for th...
By Cindy Hadish (c) Homegrown Iowan Fans of local foods don’t have a long wait between the end of the outdoor farmers market season in Iowa and the start of indoor markets. The last of those “summer” markets ended this week, and already, customers can find their fill of fresh produce, baked goods, local meats […]
My “issue” with hoarding
I shouldn’t be ashamed to admit this. I mean, it could be worse. Some people hoard “stuff.” Others stockpile food or even guns. Every fall, my annual hoarding tradition begins when I get the rake out of the garage. The object of my obsession: leaves.
They won’t suck your blood, but will eat
I saw two bats circling overhead this week, which I thought was unusual, given Iowa’s recent cold streak, but it also made me grateful that we’re still seeing bats in this area. In some parts of the country, white-nose syndrome has devastated bats populations. I view bats as a good friend of the environment, especially […]
Photo gallery: Last gasp of autumn
I feel somewhat cheated. After enduring an especially hot Iowa summer, it seems we’ve jumped straight into winter. It’s rare that we would get a full three months of fall, as the calendar dictates, but it would have been nice to have more than a week or two, (or was it just a day or […]
Switch clocks back one hour first weeken...
Scary, I know. Some people or entities are a bit confused by the time change, which happens next weekend, not in October, as it did several years ago. Standard Time begins the first Sunday in November.
Meetings scheduled in Cedar Rapids to di...
CEDAR RAPIDS – The Emerald Ash Borer, which has devastated ash trees in several other states, has found its way to Iowa and now, two meetings have been scheduled to provide information for industry workers and the public. Most recently identified in a residential tree in Mechanicsville in northern Cedar County, the invasive pest has […]
Farming advice offered through online Pr...
Farmers in need of advice on atypical crop insurance, marketing their food and much more can find answers from other farmers during the Practical Farmers of Iowa fall “farminar” series. The free, online sessions begin Nov. 5 and are open to anyone with Internet access. Here is more from Practical Farmers of Iowa:
Call for winter farmers markets
The end of the farmers market season can be a bit depressing for me, but one thing has changed in recent years to serve as a bright spot in these dark days. A growing number of indoor markets offer some of the same fresh produce, local honey, farm-fresh eggs, home-baked bread, hormone-free meat and more.