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Hello floggers, today was a very exciting day to be a member of Team Echinacea!
Flekkefest is an annual festival in Elbow Lake that celebrates community, Norwegian culture, and having fun. Early this morning, we woke up in time to run in the Flekkefest 5k. Our own Jon Van Kempen was in charge of the race. Several members of the team ran the race, while some walked. We had a few people even place in their age groups (Gretel, Stuart, Zeke, Michael, and Amy) while Amy won the woman’s overall for the race. Evan, Mia, and I chose to walk the race which meant we had a fun time cheering people on as they ran past.
 Our warm welcome to the 5k this morning. I was holding a trophy, not because I won but because Amy won two! After the race, we all got one free book from the library book sale and had breakfast at a yummy spot in downtown Elbow Lake. Later, a few of us stayed in town to watch chainsaw carvings and check out the old cars on display.
 A cool troll carved out of wood. After lunch we headed back to the Roost to enjoy some down time. Brigid and her friend Maria came back from St. John’s and we thought it would be a great idea to go canoeing (turns out it was!). We headed out to Lake Carlos to rent canoes for the day and spent a few hours on the water. It was a great workout and also so beautiful. We talked about what we were like as children and what kind of birthday parties we had. Sometimes we sang songs as we paddled. It was an awesome afternoon.
 Us having a great time this afternoon while out on the Lake. Later we returned to the Roost and Zeke cooked a yummy meal of cheese and apple pancakes. After dinner, per usual, we played a few rounds of Werewolf with Will.
Days like today make me so excited to spend the summer out here in Minnesota! See you next time.
Last week we read an article, William Cronon’s “The Trouble with Wildnerness” which got me thinking about the definition of nature and the different ways we, as humans, perceive nature. As I went about my work today, I considered these different conceptions.
In the morning, my advisor from school visited the Echinacea project and accompanied me to Staffanson. Dr. Knight is a dendrochronologist who works with really old trees (one is from 600BC) and uses their rings to piece together past climates.
When we first arrived at Staffanson, I began to trudge towards the transect, ready to begin work. Dr. Knight, however, trailed behind, looking all around. The first time I saw Staffanson, I know it was quite amazing and I know Dr. Knight felt similarly. While now I am more accustomed to this serene setting, I am often interrupted by a butterfly, a frog, or a particularly interesting flower, and am amazed all over again. Much environmental writing, like that of Thoreau and Muir, focuses on nature as pristine, even divine, a respite from the ills of human society.
 Cirsium arvense with white flower instead of its normal lavender  Leopard Frog As we approached the Southern side of Staffanson, where I monitor Liatris and Solidago flowering phenology, Dr. Knight noted the corn looming ominously in the distance. Rows upon rows of silent soldiers stood at the edge of the diverse colorful prairie. It was if Staffanson was a tiny oasis doomed to be trampled by the advancing marching army of corn. I felt a defender of the prairie, protecting the helpless prairie by studying how it could best be conserved. Conservationist writing often paints nature in this light, making nature appear vulnerable and in need of saving.
 Flowering Liatris  Andropogon gerardii; Dr. Knight and I decided that its palette would be excellent for interior decorating. Walls=dark orange; trim=light yellow; furniture=deep purple In the afternoon, we measured in P1. Sunburns, chigger bites, scratches, and other minor wounds resulted from this interaction with nature. I find research and the ability to observe nature’s curiosities worth all of these minor inconveniences. Maybe nature is harsh, hostile and inhospitable. Or maybe nature is just another part of the world to be deciphered to be learned from, to be studied.
Nature can seem pristine, vulnerable, harsh, and enigmatic. I’m not sure that these are entirely mutually exclusive, nor am I sure that one is more or less true than the others. Perhaps nature is all of these things, both gruesome and awe-inspiring, both dangerous and delicate, both puzzling and possessing answers. Regardless, I find the view across Staffanson prairie to be superior to any of which could be seen from a cubicle. This summer, all of us at the Echinacea Project pretty much have the best office space ever.
Happy Saturday, Flog!
Seeing as it is the weekend, I, unfortunately, do not have any pictures of us hard at work in the field (you’ll have to ask team CoW Bee for those). What I do have, however, are screenshots of my contribution to the project today.
While, undoubtedly, my favorite part of being on the Echinacea team is the awesome field work we get to do, I can’t deny what cool things one can do with a computer as well. For the past week, I have been getting back into the groove of using R, the statistical coding software that we use for analysis of the data we collect in the field. This weekend I was given the simple task of drawing a polygon, in R, around some of our points. Easy, right?
 The points in question (then some extras) So first I isolated the points in question.
 So far so good! Then, I wrote the command in R to draw a polygon around these points. And with an extra line of code, I even added a 5-meter buffer around the whole shape. With this polygon drawn, we can now very quickly isolate these points (which all happen to be Echinacea pallida), and do further analysis on them, and any other plants we may find in the polygon area in the future! So without further ado, I present, the polygon!
 Whoops At some point soon I know I’ll be able to figure out how to draw the polygon around these points, but for now it’s back to the drawing board (or coding board).
Thanks for reading!
Michael
Hello Flog!
Did you know that echinacea comes from the Greek word “ekhinos” which means Hedgehog?
Did you know that echinacea can be used as an herbal medicine? It can also help to boost your immune system!
Did you know that the seed heads can make excellent dried centerpieces?
Those are just some fun facts to brighten your Friday! 🙂 Today was another great day at the Echinacea project. In the morning, 5 team members went out to P1 to complete phenology. We have become very efficient and finished in only 20 minutes! However, most of us were very wet by the end of it, as all of the grass was very dew covered. After that, we joined some other team members at P2 and completed phenology there. That took a bit longer becuase we had to check all done flowering heads to see if they needed to be harvested (Stuart and Jennifer had to harvest some heads already yesterday, which is crazy!). After that Kristen, John, and Andy went out to do Yellow Pan Traps, while Michael and I check some of my aphid plants. Michael also completed his pollen addition.
Me completing phenology at P1 Michael demonstrating how tall the Big Blue Stem is at Hegg Lake Michael taking pollen from one of the last flowering heads in P1. Michael adding the pollen to one of his plants. Lunch was filled wiht many laughters, like usual 🙂
After lunch, some team members headed back out to P1 to continue measuring plants, some stayed at P2 to watch pollinators, and some helped Kristen move pan traps. It was a great way to end the week!
Signing off, have a great weekend!
Morgan
Today, we started out the day in task forces and disperse throughout the common gardens and remnants. A number of us worked on p1 phenology and got absolutely soaked from the wet big bluestem. After that, many of us went inside while drying our stuff outside to work on R coding for our projects (I made a map of angustifolia and pallida ranges in the United States). The CoWBee team spent their whole morning at p2 working on their projects as well, and we were all able to convene for lunch, where some individuals gave us updates on the status of their projects.
After lunch, Kristen brought a team to move emergence tents around the prairie. The rest of us went out and did demography at the Loeffler’s corner, railroad crossing, and northwest of landfill remnants! The day ended and we all were happy to be home! I worked on writing a proposal for my project at night (and finished the map), and the rest of the roost team, along with Kristen and legendary Team Echinacea member Laura Leventhal, cooked a fried rice and tofu dinner for us all! The night ended with more intense games of Werewolf!
I kiss an Echinacea at the Northwest of Landfill remnant
Today seemed like any other day. Zeke and I were recording visits, while Mia worked on her hand crosses. However, a rumbling in the distance distracted us from our work. It was a rare sighting of other members of Team Echinacea. Even though we (CoW Bee) were confused about these other people we were able to record visits and hand crosses. When we returned to Hjelm we met Lea, a PhD student who drove up from CBG. In the afternoon we measured in P1. For dinner Riley made tacos for Taco Tuesday (Not sure what else he would have made today). We ended the night with a few rounds of 10 person Werewolf. Tomorrow it looks like it’ll rain in the morning, but hopefully the team will be able to go out and work on our projects.
This Monday morning began with an unusual surprise. The team arrived at the Hjelm house to find numerous googly-eyes covering almost every conceivable surface. Upon recovering from this shock, the team assessed phenology in experimental plot 1. Many plants are finished flowering and we will likely only assess phenology a few more times this season. Following phenology, the team split up into task forces, with different members working on such diverse activities as staking bee tent trap locations, assessing the photosynthetic rate of Echinacea, excluding and adding aphids to plants in p1, and collecting more phenology data from from other Echinacea populations! The team reconvened for lunch, and in the afternoon went to a remnant Echinacea population for our first day of flowering plant demography. I had a chance to use Darwin, the team’s new GPS, for the first time!
A new variety of aphid? In the evening, the Roost held its fifth weekly Journal Discussion Club. For our discussion this week, I chose “The Problem with Wilderness” by environmental historian William Cronon. This essay focuses on the historical development of wilderness preservation and its place in the American environmental movement. Our resulting discussion was rich, and even became heated at times. We’re looking forward to the paper Riley chose for next week on the life-history traits of non-native fishes.
Warning: this post may contain traces of hyperbole and an overdose of alliteration.
To the untrained eye, activity at the Roost today may have seemed mundane, nothing out of the ordinary. But in reality, it was extremely eventful. We decided that laundry had languished in hampers for far too long so we launched into laundering. Meanwhile, in the living room, Mia knitted wildly, Andy ferociously consumed his book, Michael and Riley demolished their opponents in their respective video games. A select few (Zeke and Evan) participated in activities more conventionally accepted as exciting and productive: work. At P2, they spotted 18 bees while Kristen laid pan traps.
Later, Mia labored arduously over a pot, concocting a delectable dinner. The meal of spicy sauce on spaghetti squash with a side of salad was devoured by a ravenous Roost.
After dinner, Riley and Andy dueled via a game of tennis and three brave Roost-ers ventured into the dangerous outdoors to gather some groceries.
Upon return, we engaged in a rousing game called ‘What can Zeke reach?’. This game was a thrilling exploration of Zeke’s potential as the resident tall person.
Can Zeke reach the ceiling?
 Zeke touches the ceiling Can Zeke reach the tallest kitchen cabinet?
 Zeke reaches the tallest kitchen cabinet Can Zeke reach the carbon monoxide detector?
 Zeke reaches the carbon monoxide detector Can Zeke reach the fridge and counter?
 Zeke can reach from the fridge to the counter Can Zeke reach across the table?
 Zeke can reach the soy sauce  Sad Zeke can’t reach the soy sauce However… being short has it’s advantages…
 Zeke can’t fit very well  Zeke can’t fit very well  I can fit People told me that communal living teaches you to live life with peace and balance and helps you achieve self actualization. Little did I know how accurate this would be. Alone, I would be unable to reach many things. But together with Zeke and all the Roost-ers, we can reach anything: ceilings, cabinets, and even our goals.
Post the Big Events you may think that the team’s trips to experimental plot two would be few and far between, well you would be mistaken. Zeke, Evan, Jennifer, and I (hereafter “Team CoWBee”) have been busy working there doing pollinator observations and a lot of painting. Today we went straight to Hegg Lake allowing us to get there while the bees were still sleeping. Zeke and Evan were busy watching the bees. Andy and Morgan joined us to work on phenology. While that was happening I was preoccupied with my independent project. What is my independent project you ask? Well, let me tell you!
Lunch with a view In pollination biology, it is often thought that the more pollen grains a bee deposits the more efficient it is (the better it is for the plant). However, Echinacea technically only needs one pollen grain to make a seed. Once you consider that not all pollen grains are viable more than more may be necessary to ensure a seed is made. My question is how many pollen grains are necessary for there to be a 90% chance that the seed is made. How in the world am I doing this you may ask? Well, I must be the bee. Not literally but I need to deposit different amounts of pollen on styles and see if a seed is made. To deposit the pollen, I have been using toothpicks, a flosser picks, and a patience. Once I deposit the pollen I will come back remove the style allowing me to count the amount of pollen under a microscope. Today I spent the majority of the time being a bee, performing these hand crosses so that I can remove the styles tomorrow. My goal is to perform a total of 480 crosses (80 heads) (half of these are backups) today I did 54 crosses (nine heads).
Toothpicks aren’t only for hors d’oeuvres Who uses flossers for their teeth? A style under a microscope Still, have a lot of work to do so until next time!
Mia
Today the residents of the Roost awoke to a rainy morning in Alexandria. We started off the day with a trip to the grocery store to stock up for the week, followed by several hours of rest and relaxation at the house. Later we got in touch with our inner artists. With Kristen’s help we attempted to recreate some of our favorite paintings (see below). In the evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner of mac and cheese with a jalapeño cheddar cheeto crumble, courtesy of Mia.
Mona Lisa – Leonardo da Vinci
American Gothic – Grant Wood
The Scream – Edvard Munch
The Creation of Adam – Michelangelo
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