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Today was a pretty good Sunday. I did a lot of knitting and and hung out with Huxley and Bellamy. Some of us went into Alex to grab groceries, do laundry, and do work in Caribou. Wes came back from a camping trip with his parents and brought along delicious quiches for dinner. Kristen, Lea and I got excited talking about stuff we are going to do back in Chicago together. The summer is nearing its end! I’m going to miss the prairie, but I’m getting geared up to start working at the garden.
 Huxalito and Bobo enjoying a stroll around Andes.
Today was pretty relaxed here at Andes. Wes is gone for the weekend on a camping trip with his family and by mid-morning most of the team was out in Alex running errands. Lea spent some time with her plots at Staffanson but unfortunately the humidity meant the mosquitoes were out as well.
This evening, Lea and Tracie graciously took me to try Copper Trail Brewing Co. If anyone needs a good recommendation for craft brew in the greater Alex metro area, I would highly recommend it.
After checking our IDs, we were first mistaken for members of the notoriously famous “Bee Crew” (Amy’s team) although we quickly explained that we are actually part of the just as fun and exciting “Plant Crew.”
Our numbers are slowly dwindling (if only temporarily), as Stuart headed back to Illinois for the weekend. Many of us only have a few days left. It’s hard to believe that the field season is almost over, and we have so much to do!
We started off the day by doing doing total demo at our Aanenson remnant and harvesting some Echinacea heads from the remnants so that we can estimate seed set in natural populations!
We finished total demo at Aanenson and after some mishaps with a two ton hay bail we headed to Loeffler’s Corner to do some more total demo. It started misting almost immediately after we arrived and the rain slowly picked up. Our new GPS unit is water proof so this shouldn’t have stopped us but sadly our visors are not so we had to head in for the day. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing various indoor activities from learning R to pinning collections from the yellow pan traps!
Happy Weekend!
Today was a long but productive day. We started the morning getting trained in on seedling refinds. Although this particular task can be time-consuming, the pay off is great for data. By revisiting seedlings that were first found between four and seven years ago (and have been found every years since), we are able to better understand what the early life of an Echinacea plant is really like! Ruth, who came out to do fieldwork with us today, explained how the data we collect on these seedlings can be used with Aster modeling, and result in some pretty interesting scientific knowledge. This morning, we did all the seedling refinds at East Elk Lake Road. After lunch, and some delicious chocolate provided by Ruth, we headed out to complete a variety of tasks. Tracie and I went to Staffanson to look at the phenology of my Solidago and Liatris plants. After that, went to twenty different Echinacea plants at eight different sites, and completed plant community surveys within 4 square meters of each plant. We worked until about 6:30, then headed back to Andes for a delicious dinner and some much needed relaxation.
 Recognize this unusual-looking specimen?
As most of you knew, today was the total eclipse that passed across the United States. Being in Minnesota, we were not in the path of totality, but we did have an ok view of the shadow cast by the moon.
Anyway, today started off a little wet and part of the morning was spent on individual projects. When it had dried off a bit, the team headed to P1 to complete rechecks and addition/exclusion of aphids. There is also only one plant left for phenology! Wes had the honor to go out and check it today, but other than that phenology is done!
At lunch, we caught a glimpse of the eclipse. However, it was a little risky since none of us had eclipse glasses….
Then in the afternoon, the team worked on demo at Riley and harvesting.
Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!
 Viewing the eclipse, demo at Riley, Tracie working on R, Kristen doing aphids, rechecks
This was a great first week, and great introduction to all the work going on this summer with Team Echinacea. Despite everyone else’s familiarity with the procedures, everyone has served as great mentors and teachers this week as I do my best to catch up.
Each day I spent a bit of time doing something different. Monday was spent looking at Lea’s project on Solidago and Liatris, some time on rechecks, and also demo! On Tuesday Stuart introduced me to Hegg lake and the number of interesting projects going on out at that location. I also pinned insects some this week with Alex (yay bees!) and did vegetation with Lea and Tracie.
I’ve set a few goals for myself this summer: these include becoming comfortable with naming the local vegetation and pollinators, developing my skills in R, and staying up on current literature. I’m really enjoying learning about everyone’s projects, developing my skills, and getting to know everyone better.
Today was mostly relaxed, but I decided to get out of the house for a bit this afternoon and check out Runestone County Park. The story goes that a group of Vikings were commissioned by the then current King of Norway to travel to the west. After traveling through the Arctic Ocean, this small group of Vikings ended up in the Hudson Bay and then trekked south into Minnesota. Near Kensington these Vikings were ambushed (likely by Native Americans) and left behind the “Runestone” or an inscription which detailed their encounter. A man and his son discovered the tablet in the late 1800s, prompting investigations into the first recorded history of Europeans in North America.
People remain skeptical of the Runestone, however, after numerous Wikipedia searches it seems that there is some evidence suggesting the story to be true. While we may never know which group of Europeans reached North America first, the park is pretty and serene, and serves as a unique part of an interesting local legend.
It was a sad morning saying goodbye to Ashley. She left everyone cute goodbye letters with hand-drawn Echinacea. Ashley was such a wonderful part of of the team! Lea and I took Ashley to Perkins in Alex early this morning to have breakfast with her before her shuttle picked her up. She’s heading to St. Louis for a couple days and then watching the eclipse before going back to school in Arkansas.
Lea and Ashley in Perkins. We already miss you Ashley!
Later in the morning Lea and I went out to a few remnants to stake for Rich Hood. We staked the Golf Course to Around Landfill loop, and then took some data at 5 of our plots at Around Landfill. We found some strange Artemisia ludoviciana plants that were losing their color.
 A strange Artemisia ludoviciana. Tomorrow we are hoping to finish up staking and collect vegetation data at our Aanenson plots!
See you next time, flog!
It’s my last day here at the Echinacea Project 2017. I learned so many new things and met many wonderful people during my time here, and I’m sad to see my time come to its conclusion. Nonetheless, we made the most of the day…or we tried to at least.
The team started the morning off doing re-checks in p1 while Stuart and I spoke about my experience and my project. He gave me some valuable tips for presenting my work, and I made it a goal to finish my project assessment within a week. Post-our meeting and morning re-checks, I headed out to p2 with Will and Wes to harvest. Sadly, many of the heads we harvested already shed many achenes, so we spent a large portion of our time at p2 picking up achenes from around the plant. For one head alone, we picked up 102 achenes! We decided since lunch time was approaching that we ought to head back and be sure to grab tweezers for the afternoon harvest work.
Lunch was filled with a fun discussion of peach-day calendars (again) and plans for the eclipse Monday. We intended to start work, but the rain persisted, so I gave a brief presentation to the group about my summer research project, and the whole team contributed valuable feedback to enhance my project. When I was finished, we had independent project time, so Tracie and Lea headed out to do vegetation analysis, Alex and Kristen worked on pinning, and I worked on creating maps for harvesting my Echinacea heads.
After work, we relaxed for a while and eventually went to the Douglas county fair where I savored fried Oreos and cheese curds while gazing at prize-winning cabbage as big as a globe.
Now, I’m all packed up and ready to leave first thing in the morning. It’s been real. It’s been fun. It’s been a real fun summer with the Echinacea Project–Definitely one for the books.
Today was Tracie’s birthday! After a morning of individual projects due to rain, Gretel brought out a beautiful cake at lunch that was decorated in flowering heads of anything that was currently in bloom.
Tracie’s Birthday! We also realized that today was the last day of having a full ten people together at the project because Anna won’t be here for the next two days and Gretel and Ashley leave for the summer this weekend. Picture time!
 Team Echinacea 2017 After lunch the weather was still very wet and rainy, so we took the afternoon off. In the evening, the Andes Crew went out to a restaurant called Pike and Pint to continue the birthday celebration. When we returned home there was a lot of bustle in the kitchen to make a massive cinnamon roll cake!
Today we had a productive day! We started the day with staples and re-checks in p1, which as Will remarked today could at times be called, “pool 1”. Indeed, my pants were wet from boot to waist, and it took a few hours to dry off completely. After rechecks, we worked on computer work until lunch. It was at that point that 4 peach day passed and 3 peach day began. We measure days in peaches, Ashley’s peaches to be exact- never Alex’s peaches. It was also at lunch that I received a very clear notification regarding my flogging responsibilities, posted below.
 Look how confusing! After lunch, we spend a few hours working on independent projects. Tracie, Gretel, Kristen, and I headed to NRRX and RRX to work on some vegetation analysis. It was nice having Gretel, the local plant ID expert, help us with the data collection. Kristen also was a great help, she’s learning the Visor skills at lightening speed. Meanwhile, the rest of the team finished demo at RRX, and everyone had some independent project time. An interesting coincidence happened this afternoon- both Wes and I had a question about the identity of the same plant species. We both took photos, and luckily Gretel was able to help. Even with all of Gretel’s great clues about the ID, (“the epithet is a sauce you’ve made”) I couldn’t get it on my own and had to be told the ID!
Overall it was a great day, and I can only hope that the remainder of 3 peach day goes as nicely!
Ashley finds another Monarch caterpillar at Nice Island!
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