Hello, flog followers! It has been a while since I last posted a flog and this one is coming in a little late, but better late than never, right?
This weekend some of the crew went to the Minnesota State Fair!
The gang splurged on lots of unhealthy fair food that was delicious. We collectively got: pickle dog, peach strawberry smoothie, root beer, pickle on a stick (pictured above with Erin), french onion monkey bread, deep-fried cheese curds, nachos with cheese, sweet potato tacos, and probably more!We saw horses and remembered how frighteningly tall they are…We saw chickens, pigeons, and turkeys. We collectively agreed that this was the most perfect chicken on display.I found a melancholic beauty in these star-crossed lovers’ plight. If only it were meant to be…These were the most classic sheep we agreed. Their wool was so soft. Alpaca wool is also remarkably soft. When I have an extra $130 I think I might splurge for an alpaca wool sweater. We eventually took a break and lounged in the shade. What a beautiful group of human beings. 😭 😭 😭 (These are crying emojis if they are too hard to see).
We had a wonderful time and many of us were totally exhausted afterward.
This is going to be a joint flog post for Sunday and Monday (mostly Sunday…).
Sunday was a travel day for me. I woke up at 5:30 am and hopped on the Amtrak train in Dearborn, Michigan and headed back to Chicago, Illinois.
While on the train I worked on revisions for my Master’s thesis and worked on a poem while I drank my coffee.
Thank you Amtrak Employee for the coffee.
When I arrived in Chicago, I had two hours to kill before my next train. So, I grabbed lunch at Chipotle and hung out in the main hall of Chicago’s Union Station.
These statues at Chicago Union Station are supposed to represent Night and Day.
While on the train from Chicago to Minneapolis, Minnesota I worked on my Master’s thesis some more.
My Amtrak trek from Dearborn, MI to Minneapolis, MN.
When I arrived in Minneapolis I had to take the Green Line to Stuart’s brother’s house. This is where I left my car while I was out of town. So, here is a thank you to him and his family for that!
No tickets or tows There went my remaining woes I am so thankful
Finally arrived in Kensington, Minnesota around 1:15 am and in bed by 2 am.
Woke up Monday and got to work with Team Echinacea after my week away! We went out to Experimental Plot 2 and took phenology data and administered our pulse/steady pollination treatments.
Julie found a toad.
After work in P2 I went out to Riley and collected seeds.
So, I have decided to break my flog posts in two so that readers can be updated on the goings-on of the team and my personal research.
Town Hall
Saturday started off with breakfast and everyone cleaning up the mess around the place that had accumulated all week. However, most of the cleaning was done while I showered. I did many of the dishes and emptied the dishwasher but when I got out to the living room I was blown away by how quickly 7 people can clean a kitchen, dining room, and living room.
After cleaning, some people (I believe Ren, Avery, and Miyauna) went grocery shopping and others (Erin, Jay, and myself) went to a coffee shop and then bought groceries for the week.
Jay and Erin at Starbucks.
When we returned to Townhall, Erin, Jay, Julie and I started a new game of Sundew Valley together. We had some trouble with it crashing in the beginning but we eventually got it going. Jay and Erin’s characters were accidentally wearing the same outfit (talk about a fashion faux pas…) and since I had never played before I spent ~15 minutes playing the fishing mini-game only to catch on herring and some seaweed. Despite Sundew Valleys innocent appearance the game is a lot more involved than I anticipated.
Not pictured is Julie who was sitting across from Jay… Sorry!
After some videogames, the whole gang watched the 2005 blockbuster hit and should-have-been-oscar-winner-for-best-picture movie, Sky High. Which some might describe as, “A clever hybrid of Harry Potter and The Incredibles”. Which I had purchased at an Alexandria gas station for $9.00.
Erin, Avery, Ren, Miyauna, Jay, and Riley watching Sky High.
Julie and Amy watching too!
At the end of the night some of us relaxed by watching Jeopardy episodes from the year 1999-2000. We were all amazed to see our work equipment as a part of the second place winner’s prize package.
Graffiti help anyone?
Then everyone went to sleep because everyone minus me had to get up for a 6 am adventure to check out orchids!
Personal Research Update
For our readers that are unfamiliar, I am Stuart’s incoming Ph.D. student starting in the Fall. So, this Summer has been a lot about me exploring the tallgrass prairies and beginning the research that I will be doing for the foreseeable future.
Here is a brief-ish research statement for what I am doing this Summer:
“Parasitic plants are keystone species in many environments they’re found in and they act as keystone species by playing a role in nutrient cycling and in prairies they are hypothesized as being keystone species by keeping dominant grasses in check by suppressing their growth. However, it is unknown if parasites are keystone species in prairies and if they are, it is unknown which species serve this role. Therefore, I aim to collect seeds from many common species that could possibly serve as hosts. I will do this in order to conduct an experiment in which I grow parasites and hosts together in order to determine the effects of parasites on common plant species.
Common potential hosts I aim to collect seed from are:
Here is me with one of my parasitic plant species, Pedicularis canadensis.
P. canadensis was the first plant I collected seeds from this summer.
P. canadensis flowering stalks have already gone to seed and dispersed all of their seeds. Luckily they produce a ton of small seeds and I was able to quickly collect them all with the help of Julie, Riley, and Ruth earlier in the Summer.
I also collected seeds from Hesperostipa spartea (Porcupine Grass) and a handful of other host species. I have been struggling to finish collecting seeds from the parasitic Comandra umbellata (Bastard Toadflax) because many of its seeds have been eaten by some pesky granivore.
Some eaten C. umbellata fruits.
Luckily, I have been able to collect 1700 C. umbellata seeds and I am only 100 shy of my goal. Even luckier, some of the C. umbellata are beginning to flower again!
This is just one of many. Many haven’t even opened their buds yet! I hope they produce fruits I can collect.
This summer has already been a fun one and full of exciting events and challenges I’ve had to overcome. Here is to many more weeks in Minnesota and me accomplishing my fieldwork goals!
Also, I watched someone get airlifted when I was collecting C. umbellata fruits. Crazy… Hope they are doing alright!
Saturday started with the three present townhallers (Erin, Julie, and myself) heading out to the field with John and Stuart in order to collect phenology data from one of our experimental plots. Jay and Riley decided to take a trip back to their undergrad institute for the weekend and Shea had prior commitments too.
Julie taking phenology measurementsPollination or just visitors? How do we assess the quality of species interactions?
Erin and I stumbled upon a mutant floret on an Echinacea. Typically the ray florets (the long pink ones people usually think of as petals) are sterile and have unforked stigma but this one has a forked stigma! Question is it receptive to pollen?
Mutant floret
Once we finished up our phenology data collection we headed back to town hall to relax. However, I decided to take a trip out to Staffanson to work on some poems and found that someone had driven through the remnant prairie!
The scene of the crime…
I have no idea who did this or why but it made me fairly disappointed. Nevertheless, I had a productive afternoon in Staffanson.
On this fine first Sunday of Summer some of the gang got grocery at Aldi. We purchased produce for salads, salsa for quesadillas, beans, beans, beans, and more beans for four bean variety vegetarian chili. Chef cooking the chili will be me tomorrow. Tonight we had the quesadillas ’cause they are quicker to make. Earlier Erin and Michael marched off on an exciting excursion having hopes of observing life birds. Both Amy and I did fieldwork forgetting Sunday is supposed to stay slothful. However, I had Pedicularis plants that needed tagging today and sundried seeds needed harvesting. Here hoping for many more fun-filled Summer Sundays.
Signing out,
Drake
P.S. The forced alliterations in this post were inspired by Mochi Julie bought at Aldi.
It had been a long 9 months in which nobody paid me any
attention. Then finally, on June 17th, The Echinacea Project field crew
that contained Jay, Shea, and Drake came to visit me. They were there to learn
how to use their visors and to hone their estimation skills. They counted my
flowering heads and searched around me for my nearest neighbors trying to gauge
how many of them would be flowering too. We had an unexpected visit from the
farmer next door who was riding in this sprayer. The Echinacea Project crew and
I were startled and wondered if he would just pass and pay us all no mind. Then
the unthinkable happened. I was nearly run over!
We all looked at each other in shock but started to calm down. The worst was over, or so we thought… the farmer’s sprayer began to extend its wings! The neighboring crops may be genetically modified to withstand his herbicides but I’m all natural. The field crew having finished what they came for and fearing being sprayed accidentally rudely returned to their car and left me for dead. I know they will be back later in the season to check up on me and my flowering heads though.