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We started off the day by doing demography rechecks at Landfill and the sites nearby, performing CSI like forensic investigation to determine which flowers were missing and which tags had been misentered the fist time around. We made a to a couple of remnants to harvest heads before lunch and then at lunch we got a final update from Will about his plans for heritability of phenology in the experimental plots. Gina was put in the hot seat, once again, to tell us everything she could about the results of Abby’s and her aphid exclusion experiment.
The afternoon was spent harvesting and though most of the heads in p1 and p2 aren’t ready to be harvested, we have quite a few from the remnants that have been clipped and bagged. We’re excited to try a new sampling technique in the remnants where not only are we taking 5 random heads, we’re also taking the earliest flowering, latest flowering, least isolated, and most isolated heads in order to see if they fit in with the patterns found in the overall population.
Today was Gina and Will’s last day at work and we’re sad to see them go but excited to see what they do with their projects from the summer as well as their own research interests.
Dear Reader: Before you embark on this adventure, may I recommend some easy listening? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc-P8oDuS0Q
This morning Abby, Gina, Katherine and I reluctantly returned to Loeffler’s Corner again to harvest heads. I say reluctantly because the last time this quad ventured to Loeffler’s it was to do demography rechecks. And that ended with us in the back of Abby’s car consoling our somewhat broken spirits with unroasted s’mores. However today with renewed spirits, we harvested with the vim and vigor of girls with clear hearts. In harvesting heads we knew we must take off everything, leaving nary a twist-tie in our wake. This ensures that heads can be uniquely identified, throughout the sorting process.
No longer beaten-down by Loeffler’s, we were far too young and clever to be confused by metal tags and dud flowers- no not us! Before getting in the van we cried too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye aye as we drove back to Hjelm house.
By the time we got back to Hjlem, Stuart had returned from his sojourn in Chicago! No longer do we wear beaten-down eyes sunk in smoke-dried faces, we were so happy to be reunited with Stuart. Abby could barely hold back a too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye aye she was so overjoyed, and Gina sang along and said she would surely hum this tune forever when she remembered the reunion. Who’d blame them for being glad, things round here have changed since Stuart’s been back and now we will have plenty of demo rechecks to do tomorrow!
The rest of the team spent the morning doing demo rechecks at Riley and East Riley, and sorting various harvest maps. They replaced many red twist-ties, because the red ties we put on plants at the beginning of the summer had lost their color and the poor old ties looked more clear than red! With each twist-tie added, members of Team Echinacea felt like they were putting pretty red dresses on the flowering plants.
At lunch, Gina talked about her findings from the aphid project. As Gina explained the statistics behind her analysis, I confess, I thought to myself: “Aah these things, I know they are real, but I swear what [s]he means could be said in plain english.” Stuart taught us how to explain our statistical results in language that is accessible to a broader audience, a valuable lesson for all scientists! Gina and Abby studied the same plants that were used in the 2012 aphid research and since then the plants have grown, so grown, and I must say now more than ever that there are more flowering than there were in the original data-set. To look at how more flowering plants may affect the data, the girls must come on out to P1 and assess herbivory on the cauline leaves. They were so resigned to what their fate was that they went straight to P1 after lunch to look at the leaves. These people round here really know how to tell a story of plant/insect interactions that captures the changes that occur in Echinacea populations over time.
After lunch, Katherine and I headed out to P1 to repaint Echinacea used in Q3 all the while humming Jonny Ray. Although his voice sounded sad on the radio, we can sing [his music] just like our fathers and that small comfort motivated us to do the best we could with the painting.
The Echinacea Project has taught me so much about teamwork, and at this moment, I remember that Katherine’s help means everything to me. You feel as if you can do the work alone, but when your hair verges on dirty, and you have shown weakness in the afternoon heat, it is your partner who will make you feel like saying too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye aye!
I look forward to the days when the Echinacea Project’s papers are as popular as Dexy’s Midnight Runners, a band who moved a million albums in mono. In the mean time, we spend our time fighting off hornets here at Hjelm House, unrecognized heros in the world of evolutionary ecology.
 Eileen- rendered in lunch
Today marked our third day without Stuart. But our arrival to a Stuart-less Hjelm house was made brighter by the appearance of a tiger salamander! (In Roxy’s absence, we’ve noticed quite a bounty of wildlife roaming the area.) Katherine, who has known since the age of 8 that the majestic and bafflingly cute creature is her favorite animal, was especially excited. After an extended photo op and cuddling session, the team finally managed to set the salamander back down and get on with the day’s work. We all agreed that he was an upgrade from Ricky.
 Katherine holds her first tiger salamander! Obvious soulmates. We spent most of the morning doing demography at the Rileys. Despite some grief and hardship caused by the abundance of mowed plants, we finished strong and well before lunch. Back at the Hjelm house we set to work cleaning and organizing, dealing with clutter that had been neglected for too long. Things got really exciting when Amy dug out the label maker. We spent lunch dreaming up big plans to label everything in the Hjelm house–in between fighting off the hornets.
 The Hjelm house is looking pretty good. After lunch, Will and I collected tissue samples from the Cirsium hillii at Hegg (that will be used to determine if the plants are distinct or actually one large plant) while Abby and Danny collected tissue from the angustifolia plants nearby the pallida restoration. Meanwhile, Katherine, Ali, and Amy stayed back to touch up the paint jobs on the heads for q3.
Our work done at Hegg, we headed back to Hjelm and packed away the tissue samples to dry out. We printed labels for the samples, but unfortunately the label maker ran out of paper before we could get on with the rest of our big labeling plans. Oh well. We’ll have to continue to do our best navigating the house with its very average level of labeling.
 Heads for q3 wait in p1 to be harvested.
We were on our own again today because Stuart is still in Chicago. We wasted no time in getting out to P2 to measure some more. Our goal was to finish the rest of it this morning. We did just that and just in time for lunch! At lunch we had heated discussions about brownies/hot chocolate. Will also scrambled frantically around the porch for most of lunch trying to kill yellow jackets that have recently been appearing around lunch. His efforts were to no avail.
After lunch, we split into 2 groups. Will and Amy went and harvested heads at Landfill and Staffenson. Katherine, Gina, Danny, Ali and I also worked out at Staffenson doing demography. We ended the day with demography at East Elk Lake Road.
UPDATE ON RICKY/ERIC/CHARLIE/ERICA THE CATERPILLAR: I left the Hjelm house on Friday afternoon thinking that Ricky was going to have a safe weekend sleepover at the town hall. It was decided after I left, that he would be left on the grapevines near the porch because people were scared of him eating all the food in town hall. He hasn’t been seen since. I already miss that little stinker. 🙁
Pictured here is one of the best pet caterpillars there ever was.
Today when we arrived at the Hjelm house it was only 50 degrees! Brrrrrr! We were also down to a team of six following Ben’s last day on Friday and Stuart and Gretel heading back to Illinois over the weekend. (Abby was gone for her senior pictures). With so few people we got off to a quick start, because we knew we would need all the time we could get to get as much done with fewer crew members.
Our skeleton crew headed out to p2 to continue measuring that we started last Thursday. It was slow going but, having gotten through the thickest of the flowering plants on Thursday it was faster than it could have been. It is always windy at p2 since it is on top of a hill but today was especially windy and cold, most crew members could barely feel their hands which made entering data on the visor a challenge. We managed to get by, completing 20 rows before heading in for lunch.
After a warm up with some hot chocolate at lunch we headed out to do various things in the afternoon. Danny, Amy, Gina and I went to harvest heads in the remnants based on a sampling method that Danny and Amy developed. Ali and Katherine rechecked some funky measurements in p1 and harvested a few of the heads that will be used in the q3 experiment (exciting!). Amy and I went to a ton of different remnants and encountered a few problems, like at Stevens approach were most of the heads were mowed. The highlight of our afternoon was at Aanenson where we met a really friendly cow named Willow! she came up to the fence and let us pet her. Her not-so-outgoing friends were hesitant and we didn’t pet them. Willow even gave Amy’s hand a lick, “it felt really weird” said Amy shortly after the licking. Sadly we could not spend all afternoon with our new friend and went to continue harvesting.
Willow the cow investigates her new, soon-to-be friends, Will and Amy Willow’s friends investigate us from afar, clearly not as outgoing or cool as Willow.
This Sunday was, perhaps, the laziest day the Team Echinacea has experienced all summer. The excitement (and sadness) for the day was everyone driving down to Alexandria to drop Ben off so he could take the bus to the airport. He has since safely arrived in Rhode Island, much to our relief. The rest of the day spent laying on the couch, sitting at the table, laying in bed, reading, browsing the web, and a little bit of Echinacea oriented discussion. It got us nice and ready for a productive week to come.
Today was my last day of work for this summer. It was also Hattie and Per’s last days. They go back to school next week! It’s crazy how much this summer has flown by! To inaugurate my last day we started with rechecking demography records. We then had our last lunch with the Wagenius’ as a whole. They are headed off towards Chicago where Gretel, Hattie, and Per will be staying for the fall (Gretel will be back and forth). The afternoon became warmer and the sky cleared up. The rest of the team got trained in on how to harvest Echinacea heads in P1. I stayed behind to finish up some work on my independent project. At the end of the day Abby and Will left without saying goodbye (I wish you both good luck in the new school year and hope that excellent times come your way). But out biggest trouble was figuring out what to do with Ricarda/Ricardo/Erica/Rica/Ric/Rick/Richard/Ricky. We debated whether to let him go on the grape vine outside the Hjelm house or to bring him back to town hall. We ultimately decided to let Ricarda/Ricardo/Erica/Rica/Ric/Rick/Richard/Ricky go on the grape vine outside of the Hjelm house.
We then headed home for our usual Friday night pizza making session! We made wonderful veggie, sausage and green pepper, and pineapple pizzas! We then went outside to watch the sunset through the smoke from the wildfires in Montana and Washington. The sun was a beautiful orb of orange as it set over the soybean fields to the west of K-town. Then someone put Kent in the shower.
Well hello there Kent!
I feel like live for the mornings these days. Before moving to Hjelm House, I spent the early hours avoiding the dew that descends upon the road every morning. It’s not easy being a caterpillar in the wilds of Kensington, Minnesota. I have lived here my whole life, so I suppose that’s all I know. But recently, as I watch the flower children begin to leave (Taylor, sweet girl how I miss thee), my grippy feet get itchy and I long to see the greater world. Perhaps you will find me in Rhode Island, hidden amongst Ben’s clothing this Sunday.
But I shall not digress further. This flog post is dedicated to my day today. Not the day that I sneak into Ben’s bag and travel to Rhode Island. Nor the day when I move in to the third room in Danny and Amy’s apt. Ali has briefly left her computer unattended, and I have decided to flog in her stead, to describe to you loyal followers what I did today.
Today the flower children arrived as they usually do, piling out of the car holding containers of rotting leaves and vegetable matter. I have yet to understand why they do this, but as they joyfully make their way from their cars toward the garden, I long to follow them into the eden of vegetable matter that they must be headed toward. They all sat around the table, shivering like the wimps they are (I find the weather beautiful for sitting on leaves) and giggled at each other sleepily.
Another, more official looking flower person emerged from the house and smiled at the flower children. He promised them warmth later in the day, and told them in the mean time they could venture out to pee as well. As I watched them leave the porch, I visualized what they would be doing during our separation. I wondered why the flowers must be measured in this strange “P Two” location. I wished to ask why they measured the plants rather than immediately eating them. I knew that the numbers were important however, because when they returned for lunch, they spoke excitedly of finishing measuring almost all of the densest section of “Pea Too.”
As they ate their lunch I ate around another leaf. I have been constantly eating since these humans brought me to Hjelm House. They have provided for me very well. After lunch, they sent one of the children off on his own, to collect flags from Hegg Lake. Before that boy left, I tried to get his attention to tell him to say “hi” to Auntie Ellis for me. She flew out to Hegg with a young ‘pillar from down the block last summer. I haven’t seen her since, but think of her fondly. The other children went to the Landfill for a demo. What sort of demo was going on at a Landfill. Perhaps, the gulls will demonstrate how to collect snacks from the garbage piles. But the flower children brought their visors to collect data on, so something tells me that it isn’t the kind of demo that the gulls or I would be interested in.
Four of the girls stayed back near me. Two of them wandered out to move the aphids around from one Echinacea plant to another. Two other girls brought sheets of paper labeled “Q3 data sheets” to paint Echinacea flowers. Before I moved to the house, I saw them painting, out near the road I lived on. I overheard them saying that they were painting to ensure that the put the pollen on the correct anthers on the Echinacea flowers. I don’t understand why these humans don’t trust the bees to carry out pollination. They bees have done this job for so long, and these children have fingers as large as my body– how could they properly transfer the pollen?
At the end of the day, as I was minding my own business, one girl took my picture (I will post it below).
They wonder at my size, saying that I look too big to be a normal caterpillar. One of them even said sarcastically that I was the larval stage of an Eagle. I found that to be ridiculous, and frankly a little sizest.
I have enjoyed my time reporting to you about my day. But Ali approaches, and she looks eager to use her computer and I should begin the walk back to Hjelm House so that the children don’t find out that I left my yogurt container on the porch. It’s a long crawl back, but don’t worry about me, I’ll be just fine.
Till next time,
Ricky The Caterpillar
Gina rudely interrupts my meal
This morning, Team Echinacea was awakened by a text message from Stuart saying that we would be starting an hour later than usual. Then we were awakened 4 more times by texts from Danny. He wanted to tell us good morning and also that we would be starting an hour later. He also told us he was excited for the extra hour of sleep. Then finally, he apologized because none of those texts were actually meant for our group message.
It was raining really hard this morning, just like it has been for what seems like forever. Most people did computer work. Gina and I continued our statistical analysis on our aphid addition/exclusion data. The rain finally stopped around lunch time, so after lunch we were able to go out to the remnants and do demography.
Ben works in windy conditions at ON27. Amy and Katherine work on demography at RRX. We finished off the day by weeding the rest of the trefoil on the roadside near P1. Will discovered his love for the new tool called the garden knife. We saw a bald eagle while walking back to the Hjelm house at the end of the day and they told me I have to flog about it. So this flog post is dedicated to that bald eagle.
While just last Friday we were straining under the heat and humidity and dripping sweat onto our visors as we pushed through field work, today was one of the coldest days of the summer so far and had us bundled up in our flannels, rain coats, and wool socks.
We started off the frigid morning going over the demography protocol before all heading out as a team to Steven’s Approach and Aanenson to give it a try. A newly-organized g3 helped things run smoothly as we got ready to head out. (As promised in yesterday’s post, here’s a picture featuring g3 as it’s never been seen before!)
 Ben revels in the beauty that is g3. Tubs are now labeled and color-coded. Out in the field, Stuart made sure that we got some “active searching” practice as we tried to find plants that had been missed back in the days of phenology (i.e. a couple weeks ago). After just two sites, greying skies, menacing rain, and numb hands sent us back to the Hjelm house just in time for a chilly lunch on the porch featuring steaming mugs of tea and chocolate chip zucchini cookies (baked by Ali and Amy).
Brrrrr. Warm cups of tea at lunch helped remedy the cold. Note that Danny broke out his hat! The storm picked up in the afternoon and left us stationed at the Hjelm house for the rest of the day getting some computer work done for our independent projects. After a summer spent applying our aphid addition and exclusion treatments, Abby and I were excited to start looking over our data set and get to work analyzing it! More updates to come.
 Ali and Ben take a look at the results of Ben’s seed harvesting out at Hegg Lake.
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