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Although it is not yet noon, today has been busy for three team members. Mike, Pam and I have spent the day packing and backing up data as this afternoon we depart from Kensington, the Hjem house, and all the beautiful prairie remnants. It has been an enjoyable summer researching the Echinacea plants. The Li-Cor machine was especially helpful in our data collecting. We could not have done it without her. Sadly yesterday was Helga’s last day up here. She is now resting in a deep sleep until she is needed again.
As we leave, only four members remain at the town hall.
This morning we had Tv people film us doing phenology and other various projects such as stipa, crossing, and trichome picture taking. The weather decided to be cloudy in the morning, rain for about an hour, become cloudy again, and then be nice and sunny! The afternoon consisted of more picture taking of trichomes and stipa searching. Kory was even able to pin a few pollinators! It was a productive day overall.
After a spell of hot weather this past week, today offered the team a nice break from the heat. With temperatures in the 70’s today, it was a beautiful day to work outside. In the morning, Mike and I went out to Hegg Lake to help Kory with his pollinator research. The rest of the team was divided between doing independent data collecting at various sites and collecting pollen in the morning. In the afternoon, the team split and worked on independent projects. After a relaxing cool afternoon, the town hall got an unexpected surprise. From clear to stormy, windy, and ominous looking, the sky turned on us within minutes. Thankfully nothing severe, but very fascinating instead. It added a nice turn of events for the day, and the cool air that accompanied it was most welcome!
-Reina
Today, the weather was beautiful and the team was able to make a lot of progress on several projects. In the morning, twist-tieing the heads in the common garden was finished up after several days of working on it. Most of the team then headed out to Hegg Lake to make a ton of progress inventorying the status of all the echinacea plants in common garden 2. My day consisted on making huge strides in gathering data on photosynthetic rate of the echinacea in the INB2 part of the common garden. We are almost 2/3 of the way done measuring! Later that day and back at the town hall, the team feasted on some delicious fajitas that Sarah Z. prepared for supper.
-Reina
On a gloomy day in Kensington, the team managed to make the most of it. In the morning, Sarah B went to look for flowering plants on some of the remnant sites and then spent some time with her parents in the afternoon. Sarah Z decided to have an adventurous day and go to Maplewood park. The four of us left at the town hall, took it easy and ate delicious homemade cookies. 
There is nothing like fresh cookies and milk to make up for a rainy day!
Today the team accomplished a variety of projects. The morning began by searching for grasses in the common garden. A decent amount of grasses were located and the garden was resounding with choruses of “woots” shouted out when the grasses were located. The rest of the morning the team worked on individual projects. Throughout the day, Pam and I measured the Amax, transpiration, and conductance of echinacea plant leaves in the hybrid garden within the common garden. We managed to measure 42 plants before Helga (our fabulous machine) needed to take a rest and recharge until tomorrow. In the afternoon, more grasses searches were done. The team also ventured out to Hegg Lake to help Kory find echinacea plants about to flower in common garden 2 and to help Davis find flowering echinacea pallida plants. Overall the day was beautiful to be outside, and it was a very productive day! -Reina
Hello there! My name is Reina Nielsen and I will be a sophomore at Gustavus Adolphus College this fall studying biology. I am excited to be doing research this summer with Dr. Kittleson and Mike. I love being outdoors and can be found fishing, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, or downhill skiing. I am looking forward to an exciting summer!
https://echinaceaproject.org/people/2013-team-members/reina-nielsen-2/
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