Hey flog!

After a long few days of dreary weather, today was bright, sunny, and breezy. It was beautiful. Everyone got outside and worked on personal projects in the morning and we worked hard in P8 in the afternoon. and The team also got a visit from a local beekeeper today! We ended the day with a delcious watermelon and a trip to the beach- and an amazing sunset this evening.

Today commenced with a group photo, now featuring the eastern contingent of Team Echinacea!

The rainy weather limited our activities in the morning, but Stuart gave Jay, Julie and I a crash course in weeding sweet clover and bird’s foot trefoil, two weeds invading P1. The rain softens the soil and eases removal of tough tap roots. A little too much rain soaked me as I dug up my first trefoil, and after wrenching it free we fled back to Hjelm House for computer work and lunch.

After lunch we played an icebreaker game which, depending on whether you ask me or Riley, is called either Trainwreck or Shoe Game. We ran back and forth trading spots in a circle like a demented game of musical chairs and learned fun facts about one another, like who prefers to wear socks with sandals and who hates fishing.

Afterwards we trooped out to P2 to check twist ties and make sure we know where to find and how to identify every flowering Echinacea angustifolia head. We visit these plants about every other day and record every change in their condition. We write down their afflictions and celebrate their reproductive success. In short, we cherish them.

This is not the case for their close relatives, Echinacea pallida. The vigorous plants are The Enemy, and we advanced on them with gardening shears to smite their reproductive efforts. E. pallida is not native to Minnesota and could threaten the future of our familiar friend E. angustifolia through competition or outcrossing. We found that the severed heads are quite handy for fencing and flinging across the prairie.

Upon returning to Hjelm House Jay, Julie, Stuart and I took arms against a sea of trefoil and by opposing, ended them—hopefully? It’s tough to tell whether our efforts  will be sufficient, as trefoil has a nasty habit of snapping off at the shoot and leaving behind taproots from which new growth springs.

Julie and I battled side-by-side with a root growing horizontally around a stone and the mother of all trefoil. I dug about 7 inches deep in the soil trying to extract the typically threadlike root system, but when it ultimately broke in my hands it still had the circumference of about a dime.

Being plant scientists doesn’t mean we love every plant, and today was a better lesson in that than I’ve ever had before!

It was a lovely day here in Minnesota! Echinacea East finally arrived to join the rest of the field team and what a great day for it!

We had a lovely outdoor lunch together before we went out in teams into the field for the first time. We met many cute little friends across the way.

Our next assignment was to make a quick journey to a different plot to remove some nonnative flowers. Stunning views were abundant and I was super excited to see a bumblebee, as usual.

We concluded our awesome day with some fresh watermelon, sweet and unsweet. Overall, it was an amazing introduction for Echinacea East into the all the fun we’ll be having in Minnesota. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds! Until next time 🙂

-Miyauna

Hello flog readers! Today was a special day for Team Echinacea in that we had the day off for Independence Day! Stuart figured we were so productive the past week that we deserved to spend some time on the beach instead of in the prairie. Thus, the Town Hall crew (Myself, Amy, Drake, Julie, Erin, and Jay) joined the Wagenius family at Elbow Lake to engage in 4^th of July Festivities. We were graced by the presence of Amy’s partner, Matthew Gullickson (a Gustavus graduate just like me), Stuart’s parents Jean and Dwight, and Stuart’s brother Peter and his family.

One of the highlights of the day was participating in the Wagenius family tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence. Although the Declaration is old and has some rather questionable phrases by today’s standards, it was very cool to engage with such a historical document with such a cool group of Americans. Following the Declaration reading, we ate an ultra-chocolatey fudge-coated mega super picnic lunch of fresh, homemade foods that was good for both the body and soul. In our leisure time, many people swam, canoed, skipped rocks, or just sat in the sun (I did that – I just sat in the sun). Nonetheless, the afternoon was filled with interesting conversations and loads of laughs. At one point we discussed starting a reality TV show for Town Hall… Here’s to hoping Stuart can write a grant for that.

We work tomorrow, but I know for a fact that I feel refreshed and recharged to pound out a ton of high-quality and efficient field work tomorrow. Happy 4^th!