by Winding Pathways | Sep 5, 2024 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Foraging, Mammals
A few years ago, after seeing many squirrels with nearly naked tails we researched and posted a blog in February 2022. Furless Tailed Squirrels.
The response amazed us. People from around the world visited it and still do every day. We had no idea this condition was so widespread.
So, we’re posting a follow-up. Two winters have passed and our squirrels now have perfectly normal furry tails. We’re unsure if older squirrels have regrown fur or if the new generation never had the condition. Since most squirrels don’t live for more than a few years, we will likely see younger animals.
Whatever conditions caused them to lose their fur seem over. That’s not unusual in wildlife populations. If a serious disease or calamity reduces the population the condition subsides and survivors reproduce with enthusiasm, rapidly restoring abundance.
Based on our website traffic we suspect furless-tailed squirrels have been found far and wide. We predict that they, like our Iowa squirrels, will rebound with healthy furry-tailed animals.
A Short Squirrel Primer
Although many people dislike squirrels for their habit of gobbling up feed intended for birds, we like them. Squirrels are just as fascinating as goldfinches or cardinals, so we put out enough seed for both.
During the 2024 Summer Olympics, we were thrilled watching the graceful and powerful movements of Simone Biles, other gymnasts, and pole vaulters like, Armand “Mondo” Duplantis.
What happens when a squirrel falls?
We’ve not heard of a comparable competition for squirrels, but they are also amazing gymnasts and vaulters. In our yard a small oak and a large walnut live next to each other. Every fall the walnut is loaded with nuts that tempt squirrels. We love watching them climb the oak to its tippy top and then make an amazing upward leap to a flimsy walnut twig above. Like human gymnasts and vaulters, squirrels have impeccable balance, flexibility, strength, determination, and courage.
Treetop leaps aren’t always successful. Twice we’ve seen squirrels slip off high oak branches and fall 30 or 40 feet to the lawn below. Both times the hapless animals spread eagle, landed with a thump, and scampered off apparently uninjured. They are an amazing animal.
Late Summer Activity
As we write this in late summer walnuts and acorns are maturing. People may not like squirrels but these trees need them so much their annual nut crop is a bribe. Squirrels eagerly gather and eat many of the nuts but they scamper off and bury some, often a long way from the parent tree. Some nuts are never dug up and become a new tree generation. The exchange is a good deal for both trees and squirrels.
The rodents get nutritious food. Walnuts and acorns get free tree planting. Both win.
Hopefully, anyone reading this is enjoying squirrels that have grown fur on their once furless tails. Enjoy these amazing animals. To learn more about squirrels visit Animal Diversity.
by Winding Pathways | Aug 22, 2024 | Garden/Yard, Nature, Wonderment
Guest Blogger – Jacqueline Hull
Have you ever tried something fun as a gardener? Well, I have. My curiosity wondered if it were possible to root the head of a pineapple.
We love fresh pineapple. The head has to be cut off then the sides to get to the juicy pieces. Then, we stash the severed pieces in the compost pot for future use in the garden.
Will the pineapple take?
One day, after my husband, Peter, dissected our fresh pineapple, I retrieved the top piece and placed it into some moist potting soil. I made sure the soil was damp each day as I waited for it to root. After a time, to my delight, I discovered the head had indeed grown roots and was holding tightly to the soil.
For several years I fertilized and watered this pineapple as the spears grew larger and taller. I also transplanted it to a huge glazed pot.
Peeking down into the center of the plants one day, I saw a teeny tiny fruit that had developed. It kept growing and growing and eventually, a soft, golden color appeared in its greenery. It had about seven inches of fruit and I knew it was ready to be picked.
To our delight when we harvested the pineapple, the inside was sweet and juicy.
Now, we wait for the two that are growing on the porch to ripen. One has a fruit and we anticipate the other to develop its fruit.
Our adventure continues as we try to grow onions from pieces with roots and wonder if we could do the same with celery…maybe!
Editor’s note: Share your growing experiments with us on the comments page.
by Winding Pathways | Aug 15, 2024 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Chickens
First eggs are a delight to find.
August 26th brought an unexpected and delightful surprise. We found an egg in our coop! Bringing the garden season’s first tomato, cucumber, or summer squash into the kitchen is always an event to celebrate, but it doesn’t compare to the excitement of finding the first egg.
We were expecting eggs soon, but not so soon. Our tiny baby chicks arrived from Hoover’s Hatchery on April 10th. It normally takes a female chick about 20 weeks to mature and lay her first egg. Some old-fashioned breeds don’t start laying until they’re 24 or even 30 weeks old.
We expected our small flock to start laying around Labor Day, but our first egg came when one of our pullets, or young hen, was only 18 weeks old. It was surprising.
Odd Shapes
Sometimes calcium does not form on eggs.
A hen’s first eggs are small and sometimes shaped oddly. Sometimes these early eggs can be found in stores marked as, “pullet eggs”. After a few weeks of laying, her eggs reach medium or large size. Sometimes early in a hen’s laying life, she’ll lay a whopper of an egg with two yolks. It’s startling to crack an egg into the frying pan and discover that second yolk. As her reproductive system matures her eggs will be more uniform in size, shape, and have hard shells, and eggshell tint.
Best Breeds
Hundreds of chicken breeds have been developed since the species was domesticated thousands of years ago. They come in a vast array of size, feather color, temperament, and productivity. The best breed is the one its owner likes.
Our 12-hen flock at Winding Pathways is a mix of egg laying superstar breeds and traditional breeds that don’t lay at a furious pace. We like them all. It’s hard to beat Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, or California White breeds for early and plentiful eggs. We have a few but round out our flock with Brown and White Brahmas, Mystic Onyx, Buff Cochins, and a Rainbow.
Fall Chicks
Most families buy chicks in the spring, but fall is also an ideal time to start a flock. Babies hatched in September begin laying by January or February’s baking season.
For detailed information on breeds and chicken care visit Hoover’s Hatchery Website.
It includes blogs filled with tips and Facebook Live Videos filmed at Winding Pathways.
by Winding Pathways | Aug 8, 2024 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Foraging
Summer foraging
Rich enjoyed foraging blackberries on an August morning. We love harvesting and eating wild foods gathered on our property at Winding Pathways and in area parks. Every once in a while, our foraging forays yield a bonanza. That is what happened on Rich’s walk. Fortunate Foraging Blackberries
Just after rounding a bend on a Wanatee Park trail, he spotted a patch of wild blackberries. We love them, but they aren’t a reliable food source. To yield juicy fruit the thorny plants need regular rain. In most years the canes sprout springtime blooms that transform into tiny fruits. Then comes a dry spell and the promising fruit dries into inedible seeds.
It’s been years since we enjoyed abundant blackberries, but 2024’s frequent rain promised a heavy crop. That’s what Rich found on his morning walk. Canes were loaded with berries that came with picking bonuses. So many were ripe that picking was easy and the hordes of hungry mosquitoes that normally guard the fruit must have had the day off. Picking in an unusual August cool breeze was a pleasure.
Species of Blackberries
Wild blackberries of several species grow across much of the United States. Most ripen in mid-summer. They thrive in sunny clearings and often quickly colonize when trees blow down or are harvested. A 2020 derecho felled thousands of trees in our area, letting the sun reach soil that had been in the shade for decades. Black raspberries and blackberries began growing the next year, as if by magic, but summers were dry so they didn’t make a crop. Four years after the storm and eight inches of July rain produced an amazing crop.
Unlike many foraged foods that have toxic lookalikes, there are no harmful plants to confuse with blackberries. It is an ideal wild food for novice foragers to start with.
Eating Blackberries
We love eating fresh blackberries. Add a dribble of milk and maple syrup to a bowl and enjoy them. They’re delicious in oatmeal and freeze well. A friend makes the world’s tastiest blackberry pie that’s yummy when served with vanilla ice cream.
Rich encountered a man who’d picked at least two gallons of the small fruits. “What do you do with them,” he asked, and the fellow picker responded:
“I put them in a big pot with some water and sugar and boil it until the berries soften. Then I run them through a cheesecloth filter to remove the seeds and skin. I let it cool down, invite friends over, and mix vodka into the berry juice. It’s just delicious!” he enthused.
Information on blackberries can be found online or in printed books, but a fun website is Spoon University. It’s loaded with foraging information from a young person’s perspective.
A Picking Tip
Blackberry canes are armored with fierce thorns. Hungry mosquitoes often pounce on human pickers. Wear long-sleeved pants and a sturdy shirt. Bring along insect repellent.
Have fun picking and eating a delicious wild bounty of the land.
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Abundant crop
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Interesting ripening
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Delicious container
by Winding Pathways | Jul 25, 2024 | Nature, Travel/Columns, Water Resources
Tumbling waters
There it is! A Waterfall. There’s a second. Wow, just upstream is a third. Three waterfalls in one Iowa stretch of stream! How can that be in such a flat state?
Waterfalls bring mental images of water tumbling down steep hillsides where it plunges hundreds of feet downward. We’ve marveled at tall falls in many states including Hawaii, Nebraska, Washington, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. But Rich had discovered the waterfall trio in an unexpected state – Iowa – and in an equally unexpected part of the state.
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Water tumbles through a narrow cataract.
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Indiana surprise
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North Shore Falls
Briggs Woods County Park Delight
Amid north central Iowa’s vast level corn and bean fields he discovered the three cascades after a short hike near Webster City. More than rushing water caught his eyes. Fish were trying to leap up the rushing torrent. “It brought back memories of salmon leaping Brooks Falls in Alaska. These were small fish of an unknown species. Watching them was great fun,” he said. The three falls are close together in Hamilton County’s Briggs Woods Park and all it takes to enjoy them is a short hike on an easy trail.
Driftless Area
Iowa isn’t flat. Mostly it’s rolling terrain, but the state’s northeast corner features downright steep slopes. It’s the Driftless area, where most of Iowa’s falls gurgle and tumble down into clear running trout streams.
Touring Iowa’s Waterfalls
Seeing the Briggs Woods falls gave us a waterfall bug, so a few weeks later we drove north from our Cedar Rapids home. A region of Karst topography, the Driftless boasts dozens of clear water trout streams and several impressive falls.
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Karst topography helps create waterfalls.
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Bridal veil falls, at Pikes Peak
Decorah Area
Decorah is Iowa’s waterfall epicenter. Twin Springs bubbles quietly from the ground and flows down past a campground. Siewer’s and Dunnings Springs hurl an impressive amount of cool clear water over rocks close to downtown. (Note, the travel Iowa site uses an apostrophe (‘) for Siewer’s Spring but not for Dunnings). It’s easy to park close to all of these. Viewing nearby Malanaphy Springs is worth the mile walk. It’s the best known of several falls that send water to the Upper Iowa River.
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Cooling waters.
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Water tumbles from the ledges
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A popular stop for canoeists on the Upper Iowa River.
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Hike through quiet woods.
Other Waterfalls
Other Waterfalls? Yup. Depending on who you ask and what you consider a waterfall, the Hawkeye state has dozens of them. Many aren’t natural waterfalls. Many are human-made cascades tumbling down a dam spillway, but the ones mentioned above are genuine nature-made falls.
Benefits of Seeking Out Waterfalls
We love falls for their beauty. Visiting them has a side benefit. They are in Iowa’s most beautiful terrain. A waterfall viewing trip gives the opportunity to see these unexpected Iowa sights, hike challenging trails, enjoy local eateries, and overnight in nearby campgrounds or one of the dozens of bed and breakfasts scattered about rural and small-town Iowa.
Where to Find Waterfalls
A helpful resource for finding falls is Travel Iowa – 14 Wonderful Waterfalls in Iowa.
