Earth Talk | Thursday, January 27,2005

prairie notes 1-27-05

Harry was my close neighbor. “Close” in rural lingo generally refers to an adjacent landowner, as opposed to folks living several miles away who are still considered neighbors. T

Earth Talk | Thursday, January 6,2005

prairie notes 1-6-05

By Dave Bishop

It's hard to find a food with a longer history than milk, a staple of the human diet. For at least 10,000 years, milk and foods made from milk have nourished children and adults in nearly every cultu

Earth Talk | Thursday, December 16,2004

prairie notes

By Dave Bishop

This past year, the Illinois Department of Agriculture and local health departments offered financial incentives to assist in the sealing of abandoned wells. It's a worthwhile cause that I some

Earth Talk | Wednesday, November 24,2004

prairie notes 11-25-04

By Dave Bishop

In November, the last autumn colors vanish into piles of dry leaves and the prairie hardens itself for the coming winter. Here at Prairierth Farm, the crops are at last all gathered and the cat

Earth Talk | Thursday, October 7,2004

prairie notes 10-7-04

By Dave Bishop

The big bluestem, dressed in its fall red-wine colors, glows in the late-afternoon sun among the bright-blue New England asters and a scattering of yellow goldenrod. From the center of this acr

Earth Talk | Thursday, September 23,2004

Prairie notes 9-23-04

By Dave Bishop

Maybe it's just me, but fall 2004 closed in a little faster than the calendar suggests. If you haven't done so already, now is the time to organize your fall composting project to deal with the annual

Earth Talk | Thursday, September 9,2004

prairie notes 9-9-04

By Dave Bishop

'Tis the season to be wooed. Ardent politicians, like new lovers, fill the air with promises crafted to push our hot buttons and spend money as if it belongs to someone else. Millions are spent

Earth Talk | Thursday, June 24,2004

Prairie Notes 6-24-04

By Dave Bishop

"You can't do just one thing." So goes the old ecology adage, meaning, of course, that each change that occurs in the natural world precipitates a series of other -- often unknown and unexpecte

Earth Talk | Thursday, June 10,2004

Weather report

By Dave Bishop

One afternoon a sudden squall line sneaked up on us while we were working in the field. You know that feeling -- goosebumps on the back of your neck, and you look up cautiously, expecting to se

Earth Talk | Thursday, June 3,2004

Prairie notes 6-3-04

By Dave Bishop

Most of us natural-farmer types were pleased when the USDA announced that it would develop a set of regulations -- the government's form of a blessing -- for organic farming. But many small, di