One touch of nature makes the whole world kin”

 – William Shakespeare

During the hustle and bustle of unpacking, repairing and painting, I managed to take time to stop and ‘smell the roses’. I found myself running for my camera each time I’d see something new. You don’t see these kinds of creatures in the suburbs so I felt the need to capture these sightings from our first days here.

I made a sort of timeline of each animal, insect, fruit, and flower I photographed.

» » » » May 1, 2016

The Marsh Marigold or Kingcup (Caltha Palustris) is a beautiful sight in early spring.  The ravine is still mostly colorless when this happy plant is in bloom.  Don’t eat it though! The juices from it can cause serious gastric illness and even dizziness, fainting, and vomiting!!  Better admired from a distance, I guess. 🙂

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» » » » May 11, 2016

The White Trillium (Trillium Grandiflorum) is considered a threatened plant in parts of North America.  It is such a beautiful specimen that it’s very popular with trillium gardeners.  The problem is that this flower is a slow-grower requiring a double dormancy or two years to bloom from seed. Therefore, nurseries have resorted to collecting these plants from the wild. Heavy collecting combined with other habitat destruction may endanger these plants in some areas. It is also a favorite treat for Whitetail Deer. From all I’ve read on this gorgeous flower, it is better left in the wild for us (and the deer) to enjoy.

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» » » » June 11, 2016

The Asian Longhorn Beetle, which was first discovered in the United States in 1996, is native to China, Korea, and Japan. It was accidentally introduced into North America by way of infested solid wood packing material used in shipping goods to the U.S. It likes to bore into the wood of Maple, Poplar, Willow, and Elm trees.

 

Not the bug you want around your trees. We’ll squash these when we see them from now on. 🙂

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» » » » June 17, 2016

Sorry the pictures aren’t that great but this is a real American Black Bear that wandered through our soybean field.  He decided that 2:00 pm on a sunny afternoon in June would be a good time to dig for roots, bulbs and plants.  He dug around in different spots then heard us and wandered back into the dense forest behind him and disappeared.

We saw one other Black Bear around Christmastime when we barely missed him with our car on a nearby highway.  He must’ve been spooked out of hibernation since they usually enter their dens in October or November and don’t emerge again until spring. These bears can weigh up to 550 pounds for males and smaller, 375 pounds, for females.  The biggest American Black Bear ever recorded was approximately 1100 pounds!

It was fun (and a little scary) to see the bear so close but I really hope we don’t see one this close in the future.

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» » » » June 18, 2016

When using the riding mower, I saw many of these Voles. They would scurry from their nests as the mower got near them. The dogs, Tikka, Lucy, and Remington, would be waiting with excitement as the voles would scatter. It was a fun game for them, but not the Voles! Having exceptional burrowing and tunneling abilities they are very capable of destroying lawns and gardens. Hopefully the barn cats, Cheech and Chong, will help us keep their numbers down.

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» » » » July 8, 2016

The Spur-Throated Grasshopper (Melanoplus) is a crop destroyer.  They are the most common grasshopper in the Midwest U.S. and they eat just about anything. Research is being done to develop a deliberate fungal infection to eradicate its destructive numbers.

We saw many, many of these during the hot summer months. They scatter as you walk through. Not a good bug, we’ll have to try to step on more of these this summer.

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» » » » July 24, 2016

The Hermit Flower Beetle (Osmoderma) is NOT a pest like others we have seen.  The grub of this beetle takes advantage of damaged, rotting wood. It actually helps dying trees to decompose and is not the cause of the decline of trees. When we see this beetle we’ll just let it be since we have a forest with many dying and dead trees. We can use the help of the Hermit Flower Beetle!

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» » » » July 28, 2016

Picking apples in the apple orchard was a favorite thing to do with my mom and dad in the fall.  I was surprised to see that our apple tree in the back yard started dropping its ripe apples from the end of July to the first weeks of August.  They are a sweet, crisp, slightly tart apple. Perfect for baking! I was able to make apple crisp one time. I peeled, cored, and sliced many, many apples and froze them for later use.  However, an accident with the freezer (door was left ajar) caused its contents to thaw and all of the bags of frozen apples turned brown and had to be thrown out.  I am ready for this year’s crop and plan to vacuum seal them.  Floating the apple slices in a light salt water brine helps keep the flesh from turning brown while you’re getting them ready to freeze.

The hummingbirds were such a surprise for us throughout our first summer here on the farm. They came in numbers, draining a whole feeder in just a few days. They could be heard chirping and arguing with each other and were quite fun to watch. For such a tiny bird, they have a lot of aggression! I witnessed a battle where they pummeled each other to the ground!  This year I plan to make hummingbird feeder hats/helmets and if you stay very still….

You’ll get to hold a hummingbird…

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» » » » August 2 & 4, 2016

The Wood Frog (left) is found in forested areas near water. It has an amazing ability: In the late fall it burrows under leaves on the forest floor in preparation for wintertime. It stops breathing, the heart stops beating, and ice crystals form in its body. A special ‘antifreeze’ they produce keeps the liquids within their cells from freezing completely and killing them. Even their fertilized eggs survive the cold temperatures of our Minnesota winters. Then, when warmer weather comes with spring, as they thaw out, their hearts begin to beat and they breathe again. Brought back to life just as we are in spring!

The Gray Tree Froglet on the right also possesses this unusual talent of partially freezing during the winter.  Added to that, this frog has the ability to change colors from partially or fully gray or green to creamy white. It also has pads (like little suction cups) on its toes that allow it to climb on leaves, branches, or even the side of a house.  This little guy was trying to hide on the edge of a can of white paint.

Since frogs eat a lot of insects including flies, mosquitoes, and moths, they are welcome on our farm.

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» » » » August 20, 2016

The common Garter Snake (Thamnophis Sirtalis) can reach a size of up to 3 feet in length. When we see snakes, for some of us, it is not a pleasant experience. Since Garter Snakes eat frogs, small mammals, and insects, we’ll tolerate them. I won’t be picking them up since they do have small ‘teeth’ or fangs as I like to call them. Although there aren’t venomous, I’ll keep my distance.

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» » » » August 30, 2016

The Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens Carpensis) or Touch-Me-Not has an interesting way or propagating itself.  The seedpods have projectile seeds which explode out of the pods when lightly touched. Also, native Americans traditionally use the juices of the leaves and stems as a remedy for skin rashes including Poison Ivy. Finally a flower we can touch!!

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» » » » August 14, 2016

This Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope Aurantia) made its giant, intricate web in our pasture field. When the sun rose, the dew-covered web lit up, the droplets accentuating each little thread in this beauty.  Remington spotted it and sounded the alarm.  I was in the barn and came out to find him barking at this web. It was at least 2 feet tall and had the constructor poised and ready in the middle.

The Yellow Garden Spider will bite if you try to grab it (not that I would ever dream of such a foolish thing) and the venom can cause redness and swelling similar to a bee sting. Great!

They eat lots of bugs, yada, yada.  I guess they’re an asset in ONE way.

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» » » » August 18, 2016

These Whitetail Deer were a pleasant surprise one morning as I was enjoying my morning coffee. This doe and her fawn were cautious but still walked through the yard just feet from our living room window.

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» » » » September 29-October 8, 2016

In the fall we set up a trail camera on a tree near the back corner of our property. We placed a deer feed block where the camera could capture any visitors. There were a number of deer that frequented the feed block. Besides the deer there were crows, Blue Jays, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, fox, and a coyote. Unfortunately, I lost the pics of the coons and fox to a corrupt storage disk but here are some good ones of the deer and coyote.

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» » » » December 28, 2016

We bought Andrew a large live trap for Christmas. With a little bait and a couple of days’ wait, this beautiful creature was caught. With the live trap we can get an up-close look at some of the animals that inhabit our land without harming them.

Besides being scared this Fisher was released, moments after this picture was taken, unharmed.

 

The Fisher (closely related to the Marten) can be as large as 18 pounds and up to 4 feet long including its tail. It is a solitary hunter whose territory can span from 50 to 150 miles. Unless it is an expectant mother, the Fisher does not have a regular den. A hollow log or old squirrel or hawk nest will be used for short periods of time. During warmer weather they sleep on large tree branches high off the ground. Heavy trapping in earlier years almost completely eliminated the Fisher in Minnesota and parts of its Canadian territories. It was once called the American sable because of its luxurious fur.

 

 

The name ‘Fisher’ is a misnomer since they do not fish. It may have been confused with a smaller relative, the mink. The Fisher’s favorite prey are large hares and porcupines but it will eat other smaller mammals such as chipmunks and squirrels. Less often, nuts, berries, and eggs are part of their diet. They are one of the few animals who will seek out porcupines. They have the knack of killing a porcupine with little or no injury to itself. It is thought that they turn porcupines over to expose their bellies and disembowel them with their sharp, retractable claws.

 

Definitely a rare find and we felt a little bad for scaring it, but since they like to raid chicken coops, it may have been beneficial to us. So long Fisher may you live a long and happy Fisher life!

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» » » » January 7, 2017

We have a pole with multiple feeders in front of the manmade pond in the back yard. Cheech and Chong enjoy trying their skills in an old Ash tree overlooking the feeder.  Sometimes they get lucky but mostly they have failure after failure as the birds have outwitted them time and time again.

 

These two species of Woodpeckers, the Hairy Woodpecker and the Red-Bellied Woodpecker are a common sight at the feeder.  We’ve mostly kept our feeders full of black oil sunflower seeds.  They all seem to love it! Below is a picture of a Pileated Woodpecker that I borrowed from Wikipedia.com.

Although we see a lot (and hear even more) of them, they manage to stay out of my camera’s viewfinder as they are a very cautious bird. They can be as large as 10 inches tall with a 30 inch wingspan. I once spotted this large bird swinging from the bottom of our small feeder. These and the smaller species of woodpeckers make short work of a dead tree!

The two smaller woodpeckers do their share of pecking the trees but the pileated is the king of wood pecking around here.  His work can be heard throughout whole forest.

The chickadee is a common sight from city to country. Even though you see them all the time, I still really enjoy these little black-capped birds. Their chicka-dee-dee-dees are always so fun to hear.

» » » » February 6, 2017

These are the first deer we’ve seen on our land since last fall. They travel to thicker woods by the St. Croix River nearby. We just started seeing them again as bursts of warmer weather get them moving again.

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» » » » February 18, 2017

This coyote trotted along the corn field next to the pond in the middle of the day. He kept looking behind him but still didn’t too terribly worried about us. It’s unnerving seeing one of these killers right in our backyard!

This Coyote trotted along the edge of the woods in the back yard and through the soybean field. We hear their yips and cries at night. Groups of them call back and forth to each other. One night, during a summer bonfire, we howled out to a group we could hear nearby and they called back. It was an eery feeling. Stories of these pack hunters’ killings are enough to keep a gun by the door. The less of them around, the better. Such a beautiful animal, despite its reputation.

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So far we’ve seen a lot of interesting and some downright rare animals. Some are good and some are pests and nuisances but they’re all part of this beautiful place we call home.

I’ll add to this timeline of wildlife as we go. With spring on the horizon we’re sure to see a lot more!

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» » » » Our Big Sky

 

With our unobstructed view of the western horizon, we see a new and beautiful sunset almost every night! Here are some of my favorite sunsets, rainbows, and just plain beautiful skies…

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One of the first things I explored here was the ravine.  It runs through the property along the northern and eastern borders. By definition, a ravine is a narrow, steep-sided valley commonly eroded by running water.  In this case the water comes from drainage of the surrounding farmland created by rain or melting snow. It begins somewhere on the northwest part of our property.  We haven’t quite discovered exactly where it originates. That’s a project for warmer weather when the water is running. The ravine creek flows along the north edge of the property,  joins another from the east then cuts under our driveway through a metal culvert.

It continues to meander through the property where it eventually goes through a larger concrete culvert big enough to stand in. From here it runs under the road that borders our property on the east. After that I’m not sure where it goes. Again, warmer days for such expeditions.

The water in the ravine has gotten very deep during the heavier summer storms.  We’ve seen it rise 8-10 feet deep at times where it backs up a bit before going under the driveway. The neighbors have told us that the most recent owner let the logs and debris build up and block the culvert there which caused the water to rise over the driveway and wash it out. I bet that was an expensive mistake. We’ll have to be diligent in the removal of debris.

Remmy is on the driveway where the creek flows through the culvert below. This is where the water backs up and rises during heavy rain. The branches have to be removed frequently to keep it from plugging the culvert and flooding out the driveway again.

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Spelunking for Junk

Trash or Treasure?

I soon found the ravine had another curious purpose besides carrying the water through. It is a graveyard for decades of trash. We discovered this while walking the property in the early stages of buying it. There were piles of glass bottles, jars, metal cans, tires, farm equipment, corrugated metal panels and rusty fencing buried and not buried. After speaking with our 87-year-old neighbor, Mike, and a few other old timers, I realized why there was so much trash in the ravine. It makes sense when you think about it:  back in time, before there were city landfills and garbage trucks, where did people put their trash? Anything that couldn’t be reused or burned up was buried in the ravine where it remained unseen under cover of the forest and heavy clay soil. Trash collection didn’t start until the late 1930’s in populated cities and much later for rural areas. All these layers of junk were like a timeline of sorts. A look into the past…

While sorting through piles of smaller items, we came across Minnesota license plates. Apparently, there are entire automobiles back there. As Roger (the last Vacinek to own the farm) said, they buried their vehicles after they were stripped of any useful parts. We’ve found four license plates so far and we haven’t even scratched the surface!

Every time it rains heavily a fallen tree or debris may partly block a section of the creek forcing the fast-moving water to rise into another area of the steep banks. This uncovers new pockets of treasure that couldn’t be seen before. It seems the pockets of trash are endless.

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Some of our friends and family believe there may be a cache of cash waiting in all those piles of historical trash. Maybe some of this stuff is worth some money! Next I’ll show you what I’ve exhumed so far from the banks of the ancient ravine.

On the surface I found many piles of tin cans, glass bottles, and jars.  A few of the oldest looking bottles dated back 100 years or even more!  There is also a large piece of farm equipment rusting away.

It may be some sort of cutting machine for hay. I attempted to break the wheel loose to display in my future gardens but my attempts were futile. The sledge-hammer didn’t even make a dent. Can’t blame a girl for trying! I still have my eye on that wheel.

The glassware that I’ve found so far has been very fascinating.  To think that I’m holding a bottle or jar that was used so long ago.  Here are a few of the best ones so far:

The bottle on the far left was embossed with these words:

PREPARED BY

DR  PETER FAHRNEY & SONS CO.

CHICAGO, ILL. U.S.A.

After a little online research it was clear that “Doctor” Peter Fahrney wasn’t really a doctor at all but rather a quack who produced remedies or “proprietary medicines” as they were called back then. Sure he had some medical information from books his father and grandfather used before him but this and a small amount of college was all he had.

‘Doc’ Fahrney’s medicines were family recipes passed down from generation to generation. Dr. Peter Fahrney (1840-1905) was the grandson of the early Dr. Peter Fahrney. He manufactured these ‘remedies’ from around 1869 to about 1900.  Dr. Daniel Fahrney, a cousin of Peter, started his own manufacturing in Hagerstown, Maryland. Other heirs to the Fahrney name started selling their own lines of these concoctions. Remedies that claimed to cure everything from teething pain and colic to health restorers, worm syrup, liniments, and cures for consumption (tuberculosis). Peter built his ’empire’ and became a rich man as did others with the Fahrney name. His office and manufacturing plant burned to the ground with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The fire left a one by four mile path of destruction which included the business district and the factory in which these elixirs were made. After the fire, Fahrney rebuilt and continued manufacturing these potions and lotions until around 1900 when the Victor Remedies Company bought the rights to all of the Fahrney brands.

The first ad shows a small child reaching for the amazing panacea. To my horror, I discovered that these medications were deadly concoctions and the child probably wants more because this panacea contained morphine, cocaine and/or other highly addictive, harmful ingredients. Alcohol, Bromide and Chloroform were also common ingredients.

The second ad is more “testimonials” for one of these catch-all cures.

Eventually these quack companies were slapped with lawsuits and legal complaints. A man, Dr. Arthur J. Cramp, who lost his daughter to one of these dangerous ‘medicines’, wrote a book called Nostrums and Quackery in 1912. Dr. Cramp wanted to rid the world of such evils and exposed the trickery and dangerous products these companies produced. Many of these “nostrums”  were nothing but water, alcohol, sugar, herbs or other flavorings such as vanilla and cinnamon.  The United States Department of Agriculture created the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in 1906.  it’s job was to test these products to determine their ingredients and to prove their effectiveness or ineffectiveness and safety.  This helped prevent people like Fahrney from misleading the public to think these products were safe to use.  The judgement in the next photo was brought against D. Fahrney for the “misbranding of a drug preparation”. He was fined $100.

Even though it has a fascinating (almost horrifying) history behind it, my Dr. Fahrney and Sons bottle is only worth about $10!

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Another bottle I found had these words embossed on it:

THE CONVERSE CO.

COLUMBUS, OHIO

I did some research on this nostrum from the early 1900’s.  The purpose of this remedy was to treat epilepsy and was sold from around the 1890’s to the early 1900’s. Each 100 c.c. of the “Converse Treatment” contained ammonium bromide (a mild acid), calcium bromide (now used as an industrial drilling fluid) and potassium bromide.  One daily dose of 4 teaspoons would have contained about 58g of potassium bromide. Even though potassium bromide was the best thing for seizures until phenobarbital in 1912, it was still a very dangerous drug in combination with the other bromides.

Harsh side effects and overdose were common. The dosage was very difficult to determine because it has a long half-life of 12 days in the blood. When too much is taken, it can actually cause rashes, weakness, psychosis, seizures and even coma.  Long term use of bromides can result in adding to the victim’s already serious disease of epilepsy. They were used for decades, especially in sanitariums or hospitals. It is recorded that some of the medical facilities used over a ton of bromide each year. Today it is only legal for use on humans in Germany under extremely controlled conditions. It is most widely used a veterinarian treatment for seizures in dogs.

It is unclear exactly who began this company and if there was even a real doctor involved. There was an article in a 1911 New York Post newspaper that outlined the scheme this company used. Letters were sent to people on their mail order list (most of their sales were done by mail order) for the “Converse Cure” offering them gifts for names of people they may know who also suffer from epilepsy. Four names got you a dictionary, three names for a fountain pen, two names for a cook book and if only one name was given you got a song book. These new potential customers were sent hand written letters which were hoaxes. The letters were supposed to be from real people who had epilepsy and were cured with use of the “Converse Cure”. The letterhead pictures imply that there is a brick and mortar hospital where they saw patients, which there wasn’t. Plus, the letters were written from within the Converse Company. Copies of some of these old letters are floating around on the internet…

The company letterhead listed four men connected to it. Herbert E. Sanderson, Frank J. Dawson, Nathan Dawson, and Edgar J. Martin, M.D.  Sanderson had been in the “patent medicine” business for forty years, Nathan Dawson was a lawyer, Frank Dawson was in the fire insurance business, and Martin, who was described on the letterhead as a “medical referee”, graduated from Medical College of Ohio in 1889 specializing in gynecology. Not exactly neurological specialists.

We’ve come a long way in science and medicine since these nostrums were popular. It seems that much of our history of science and medicine comes by learning from our mistakes. These nostrums were some of the first.

From what I can see, my Converse bottle is only worth about $40 on the high end.

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There are many of these type bottles back in the ravine. From what I’ve found, they are called “pinch” or “dimple” bottles and probably held some kind of whiskey. A company called Haig is my best guess since their products resemble my bottle.

These pinch bottles were made from about the 1950-1970 so they probably aren’t worth very much. I wonder just how many are back there.

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These two syringe bottles probably aren’t very old either. There are similar bottles used today for animal medicines and inoculations.

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These look like they may be perfume bottles.  The one on the left could have been full of lotion or creamed perfume and the one on the right looks to be a liquid cologne or perfume bottle.

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Many bleach bottles are buried back there too. This is a Hilex bottle from somewhere in the 1930’s and would’ve had a rubber stopper. It too isn’t worth very much but is still fun to find in such good shape.

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This tractor was one of my favorite finds.  I haven’t researched it yet and I don’t see any distinguishing marks to identify its maker since it is mostly rusted.  It’s made completely of metal except the back tires which still have their rubber on them. A child’s toy from who-knows-when.  

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This spherical rock was in the middle of the creek bed in the ravine and was found on a day when the water was very low.  I first thought of several wacky possibilities. Is it Fred Flintstone’s bowling ball?  Since there aren’t any finger holes, I quickly ruled it out.  Is it a meteorite? Since meteorites are usually black and/or shiny and glassy, I also ruled out this possibility.

After some online research I could only come up with one conclusion:  the rock was caught in a pocket or “pothole” in the rocks of the creek bed where it spun and spun with the current, chipping away over time to eventually form a ball shape.  I saw no evidence of any such spot when I found it but I’m sure it could’ve washed downstream with debris from its original spot. A curious find, indeed!

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I got a closer look at some of the of the foundations from buildings around the property. One of them was deep and full of trash. In the summer without the cover of snow, at least two bowling balls can be seen in here.

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One wall of a deteriorating hog house foundation was concealing the giant blades of an old wind mill.  It would be fun to bend the parts back into shape and repurpose them somehow, any ideas?

Complete sections of old windmill blades – 2016

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Former owner of the farm, Roger Vacinek, said there once stood a glorious red barn that his father built in 1954.  According to Roger, the  owners after him purposely burned this gem to the ground for an unknown reason.  What a relic it would be today!

The barn when it was new in 1954

The only evidence of the old barn is some piles of rubble and an old concrete loading ramp. The present day garage is on the far right edge of the photo.

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One structure on the property that will probably outlast us all is the silo.  We’re not sure when it was built but it shows hardly any aging. It is constructed of concrete “staves” or blocks with ridged grooves along each edge that lock together into a high strength shell. Metal bands are pulled tightly around the outside, compressing the blocks, giving it even more strength and stability. I’m afraid of heights and get dizzy just looking up the side of the silo to the top!

The inside of the silo still contains old machinery and is filled with decayed silage about 8 feet deep. A chute/staircase goes all the way to the top.

It would be fun (and expensive) to turn this into some sort of accommodations. A hunting lodge? An apartment?  A friend even suggested that we run a zip line from the top of the silo to the ravine for a terrifying ride!

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We’ve discovered a lot so far in the ravine and there is so much more to be uncovered. Although there is a large amount of useless trash, there’s sure to be some really great treasures too. Springtime will be a perect time for more spelunking in the ravine before the grasses and plants grow in and when the soil is thawed. C’mon spring!!