A hornet’s nest to decorate with has long been on my wish-list. Around here, they don’t survive very long in the wild because cliff or chimney swifts tear up their nests to make the plaster for their own nests.
There …
Blog
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Rewind: Between Autumn and Winter: A Liminal Space
We’re in a holding pattern at Wild Ozark right now, which is in its own way a sort of liminal space. Rob has two hernias and we’re waiting for the surgeon’s office to call with his appointment day/time.
So while …
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Imposter by Nature – Hognose Snake
Valerie, don’t read this post… it’s about a hognose snake and there are pictures 😉
Situational Awareness Lesson
This is a negative lesson. Don’t do what I do. Luckily for me, it wasn’t as bad a situation as it could …
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Get in Shape with Nature- Starting out the Day Hot & Sweaty
This morning kicked off my first effort at returning to a daily walk/jog routine. It’s time to get in shape after 6 months of trying to take it easy.
Get in Shape
I can’t *really* jog yet. My knee is …
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Ginseng Growing Season is Winding Down, Digging Winding Up
Ginseng Growing Season
The ginseng growing season is winding down now. The plants set berries earlier and most of them have ripened and fallen to the ground already. Some of the plants will soon begin turning yellow most years. We’ve …
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Unveiling Wild Ozark’s New Logo
It’s time for a new logo, and a permanent one. It’s taken me a few years of working on Wild Ozark to finally figure out what exactly it is that ties all of the things we do together.
Why a
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Homestead: Getting the Chainsaw Stuck … and Unstuck
Today was an outdoor work day, at least until the storm blew in. Feeding critters, excluding chickens, and getting the chainsaw stuck, and unstuck.
Feeding Critters
I did the usual thing first – fed the critters. It was a foggy …
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Ozark Backroad Photo Journey – Come Along for the Ride
Whenever I go away from the house alone, I take my camera. A simple run to the post office or to town becomes an Ozark Backroad Photo Journey. I generally try not to do this when I have passengers or …
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Mushrooms are Rising and Fall is in the Air at Wild Ozark
With all the rain we’ve been having, and the cool mornings for the past couple of days, the fungi are loving above ground life. This morning there were mushrooms galore!
Fall is Coming
Have you noticed fall in the air …
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Tiny Pretty Things
Lots of tiny pretty things catch my eye.
A little flash of red caught my eye yesterday when I was working on repairs to the horses’ gate.
At the moment I was unable to move the grass aside to see …
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Slugs and Dragons and Ginseng, Oh My! Wild Ozark Creations
I’ve been working on a few new Wild Ozark creations lately. This creative streak seems to have no end in sight, either, because ideas just keep coming and I keep feeling compelled to follow them through.
Slugs
This is the …
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Custom Drawing – “Slug on Poison Ivy”
This is a custom drawing of a slug on poison ivy. In this post I’ll show you the process I use for drawing a picture with Prismacolor pencils. This particular nature drawing is for a business card client.
First, the
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Prettiest Rooster Contest
Do you have a pretty rooster?
Wild Ozark is hosting a contest to see who has the prettiest roosters out there.
Send in your entries!
11 Winners will get a free 2017 calendar featuring the prettiest roosters entered into our …
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Balanced Asymmetry and Order in Chaos in Nature, Work, and Art
Note: an edited and better composed version of this is posted over at Medium.
I’ve been in a crafty mood lately. It’s probably safe to say I’m always in a crafty mood. I think I’ve finally figured out why.…
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Mailbox and Back in Under an Hour
Yesterday I brought my camera with me when I went to the mailbox. If I had walked, I know it would have taken more than an hour because I would have seen so many more opportunities to stop and take …
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Top Questions from Readers: Healing Herbs
Healing Herbs: the first of the Top Questions and Topics of Interest from Readers
Healing herbs and using the wild plants for medicine was one of the most often mentioned topics in the recent survey results.
In case you’re just …
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Installing a Culvert Retaining Wall was Today’s Homestead Project
Today I built a culvert retaining wall for the culvert on the shop driveway to keep it from washing out around the sides. I was grateful for the overcast and dreary day so I could do this work without getting …
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No Water
This morning I turned on the faucet to put some water on my toothbrush.
Nothing but a few drops came out. Then, nothing. No water.
No Water
My thoughts immediately led to the question in my mind, which was “Where …
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Homestead Work
We’ve been busy doing a lot of outdoor homestead work since we came home from our gold panning trip to Colorado. That’s why there’s been no recent posts from me.
The weather has been atrociously hot and I’m just too …
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Panning for Gold in the Rockies
One of Rob’s lifelong dreams, panning for gold in the Rockies, has been fulfilled.
After finding out how relatively affordable such a thing can be, we bought mining rights to a small claim, sight unseen except for photos, in the …
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Gold in them thar hills? Ozarkians in the Rockies
I doubt there’s any gold in them thar hills of the Ozarks. Right now, though, we’re on a prospecting mission in the Rockies.
Part of my soul lives out there where the mountains are a mile and more high. However, …
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Avoiding Burnout: Fun Days at Wild Ozark
Avoiding Burnout
Anyone who has ever tried to build a homesteading life will know it’s a tremendous amount of work. So we also work at avoiding burnout.
The list of things on the “to do” list is so long, our …
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Busy Burning Coffee Days at Wild Ozark
My efforts at multitasking yesterday ended with flames, billowing smoke and the awful scent of burnt coffee beans. Surprisingly, I did not stop to get a picture of this event to document it for this post. At first there weren’t …
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A Wild Roast Coupon for Mother’s Day
Let the Wild Roast begin!
Oh yeah 🙂 I’m getting ready this morning for a full day of aromatic and sumptuous coffee roasting. Mmmmmm-Mmmmmmmm all the locals will soon get to try some of our delicious Wild Roast.
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Cedar-Apple Rust : Invasion of Alien-looking Fruiting Bodies
Cedar-Apple Rust
Yesterday we went out to check on ginseng seedlings and found the cedar trees blooming with Cedar-Apple Rust fruiting bodies. It’s caused by a fungus and alternates each year on cedars or apple trees. If there aren’t any …
