The Land Trust Alliance continues to present new and varied ways to address conservation at a local, state, and national level. I found this blog, on the possible beneficial intersection of land trusts with state renewable energy standards and written by Kelly Watkinson very interesting as we at Bur Oak Land Trust clarify our vision of the future: As summer heats up, so do our energy needs. 

Two years ago, when Mark Jagnow and I were building a 50-foot-long trellis across the south side of my house to grow trumpet honeysuckle, he asked, “Are you infatuated with hummingbirds?” My answer was an emphatic yes! And I am not alone. 

Typically in January, after the chill of winter has settled into my bones, I’ll find myself dreaming of springtime on the prairie – the warm touch of the sun, the joyous sounds of birds and insects, and the intricate lovely flowers of spring-time bloomers such as prairie and bird’s foot violet, blue-eyed grass, yellow star grass and violet wood sorrel. 

One of the joys of being outdoors daily is witnessing ephemeral sky phenomena like crystalline sun dogs, rainbowed lunar halos, long-tailed shooting stars, the rare aurora borealis, geese flying across the moon,…, and of course sunrises and sunsets. One of my favorite sunsets unfolded about 15 years ago, created by a large cloud that boiled up out of the eastern horizon so quickly that I wondered whether the Burlington ammunition factory had exploded.