On the Farm

Cindy and I visited her parents last weekend which I enjoyed the fellowship as well as visiting parcels of their farm and pasture lands. The above image is from the "Whorton" place, an 80 (80 acres) of a section. This land was purchased by Cindy's dad, John, for his wife and Cindy's mother Lola Jean. It was a present for Lola for taking care of his mother over a year when she was sick with cancer.
Most parcels are described as 80's (80 acres), quarters (160 acres), half sections (320 acres) and full sections (640 acres) which are a mile square. This area is in far northwestern Oklahoma, with a annual average rainfall of 20-25" a year, with very sandy soils which have low water holding capacity. This visit the sandy soils were very dry, and most of the cultivated land is planted with cereal wheat which is in dire need of moisture.
I have hunted quail on this particular property for most of my adult life and always enjoy coming back and reminiscing.
Most of the land parcels are named after people whom previously owned the property or the leaser if the land is leased. Almost all of the quarters in the area have some kind of oil wells which have cattle guards so the oil maintenance workers (called pumpers) can check their wells. This image above serves as the entrance with a cattle guard which allows entrance without a gate but keeps cattle from leaving. Also the image above shows a old corral with a windmill and stock tank. The land is primarily tallgrass prairie plants planted during the Conservation Reserve Program 20-30 years ago when the federal government paid farmers to take marginal cultivated land out of production and plant into prairie grasses and legumes and to be be left still. Recently many farmers have took these properties out of the program and replanted them or began cutting the prairie for hay which my in-laws have done. This land contains mainly Big(Andropogon)and Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium) mainly on the high ground, Switchgrass (Paniucum) in the low areas which hold more moisture, and Sand Lovegrass (Erogrostis) which was planted across the road and has blown in and populated the old CRP plantings. The Love grass is not as beneficial for cattle as the Bluestems and Switchgrass. In the areas which are not planted in CRP the old short grass prairie plants are more prevalent such as Buffalograss, Gramma grasses, native Eragrostis and various forbs. Native Artemisias are prevelant along ditchbanks with wild plum thickets and annual Buckwheat prevalent this time of year.

Artemisia frigada-Fringed sagebrush with Ereigonum annum-Annual Buckwheat, Quercus marilandice-Blackjack Oak and Helianthus spp-sunflower. 

Annual Buckwheat bloom.

Sorry for the quality of the images as they are all taken. from a iPhone. I left my DSLR at home of all places.

You can see the red tint to the sandy soil, definitely common to many parts of Oklahoma. I'll be adding more images and story on my next blog post. Bye.

Wildflower Weekend Day Two

On Saturday September 22, day two of the Kansas Native Plant Society Annual Wildflower Weekend (AWW) began at Southwestern University here in Wifield, Kansas. The annual membership meeting began with donuts, coffee, a photography contest, and a silent auction on all sorts of native plant stuff. The emcee of the meeting was the newly elected president Michael J Haddock (author of 'Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas'). Normal business matters took place, appreciation of those officers who served the previous year and welcoming new officers. Speakers spoke on the current state native grass Little Bluestem and programs/resources available from the society to speak and introduce the prairie to schools or groups. The photo contest winners were presented, followed by our main speaker Jim Mason of the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita, Kansas. Jim's topic was 'Flying Flowers' which of course is our native butterflies, many images and facts were presented and afterwards we recieved a free copy of his Pocket Guide of Kansas Butterflies. Nice gift.

 We finished our catered lunch and headed south to our second AWW field trip, Chaplin Nature Center. This preserve, owned and operated by the Wichita Audubon Society is situated on 200 acres of diverse native habitat adjacent to the Arkansas River.

Arkansas River near Chaplin Nature Center

To begin we capooled to the Center building located on the upper hills overlooking the river. We hiked throught native hardwoods, a tallgrass praire and them the river itself. Many enjoyed wading in the shallow current and others enjoyed watching butterfly taggers capture Monarchs and adding tag information.

No this doesn't harm the butterfly and provides information for Monarch Watch.

Alien Life Form?

I originally thought the plant above was some variety of Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium) but I was incorrect.
It is Verbesina virginica  L. - Frostweed or White Crownbeard.
Flowers: July-September
Height: 2-8'
Comments: The common name frostweed comes from the plant's behavior when there is a hard frost. The stem splits near the base and the sap that seeps out freezes in conspicuous ribbons of ice. Helianthemum bicknellii is another Kansas plant that goes by the common name "frostweed".*

 Doesn't it look like Joe Pye here? I didn't take a lot of images at the Center which is disappointing now. However on my way home through a shortcut I happened upon this choice mass of Eriogonum annuum  Nutt.- Annual Buckwheat. Very impressive image of blooms in a very sandy location.

Wow, how impressive for a weed native plant. Surely there are improved varieties of Buckwheat.
Flowers: July-September
Height: 1-3.5 ft.
Comments: Native Americans boiled the plant and used the resulting liquid as a lotion to treat ant bites and mouth sores. They sometimes rubbed the fresh leaves on bison and deer hides to help tan them. The sparse foliage and dense hairs of annual Eriogonum help it tolerate droughts.

Day Three to come.