Not all invasive species are trouble. When the land is stripped of life and turned into dust, cheatgrass and sagebrush, the swallowtails seek out alfalfa that has escaped from nearby farms. Western […]
Evolution in Action
The People of the Wind
Willows are creatures of the sky. Appropriately, if I wander through them and look up, I see the sky through them, broken into small gaps. That is appropriate. The sun is a […]
Making Spaces for All
Here’s an intriguing balance at work. Meet the staghorn sumac, and its friend the pussy willow. Both of them put hairs on their bodies to stay warm. Both of them have leaves, […]
The End of an Invasive Species, or Evolution in Action
Dalmation toadflax is a nasty weed (but pretty) and does nothing in the valley (except get eaten by cows who have eaten all the native plants and be a herbal cure and […]
The Tides Wash Over Turtle Mountain
When plants left the sea for the air… … they didn’t. We live in an intertidal zone. Ah, here comes the first breaker of the tide now… Here’s the surf rolling East […]
The Weave of the Earth (Poetry in the Modern World Part 2)
Let me demonstrate why playing with pattern is a vital strategy. Here is what looks like a hill. Note it is made out of rocks. They have done a good job of […]
Gravity Mining and Capture
Look at this vetch, with its spherical black seed, poised to capture the energy from a small gravity drop and translate it into a burrowing hide under the vetch stalks and the […]
Little Green Guys Everywhere You Look, or 10,000,000 Years of Grass
It’s beautiful to imagine that one is grass, sprouting everywhere out of the earth, living in the wind and casting and receiving pollen in the wind pouring in from the distant sea. […]
Hair is Great Stuff: A Coiffure Guide for a Day in the Grass
Look at this stag horn sumac, hairy as all get out… hairy through the winter to reflect the winter sun and prevent scald and drying out … …and hairy in the […]
Darwin Missed Out, Poor Guy
Flowers are lovely. Creatures come to settle in. The flower calls, and the world answers. It’s the same with the stalk. Those seeds aren’t going to be spread on their own! It’s […]
