Codfish Barnstormers...Big Sound, Small Venue And New Life For An Old Barn

The Driftless Area,  is a unique region of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The area was by-passed by the last continental glacier.   Weathering and erosion have results in a steep, rugged landscape referred to as karst topography.

The land, soils, ecosystems and it's people are diverse, this area is home to Codfish Hollow Barnstormers.
 Codfish Hollow is located in SW portion of the Driftless area in a valley of the Maquoketa River.  The round barn was build in 1954. They celebrated the completion of the barn with a barn dance. The round barn hosted live music again, 55 years later in 2009 with the first Daytrotter Barnstormer. The old farmhouse is used for a makeshift art gallery during every show.
This intimate venue has attracted both national acts such as Norah Jones, Pieta Brown, Counting Crows and John Rielly and Friends to regional singer/song writer and indee bands like The Pines, David Zollo, River Glen, and Blackberry Bushes String Band.   Just to name a few of my favorites.

Tonight's $9.50 ticket featured four bands
Los Angeles rock/pop outfit BUSY LIVING started out the night with an energy packed show.  Closing the set, frontman Mike Moonves handed off his guitar to a guy in front, near the stage then he joined the crowed dancing to the bands pounding drum.


 Next BOOTSTRAPS also formed in LA. kept the night rolling with up beat tunes and layering of sounds.

Between sets we played a little game.  Try to spot the band members of the next group in the crowd.
The lead singer of
NEULORE was easy to pick out of the crowd the Nashville based band did a funky cover of Lorde's  "Team"   and .
 HUNTERCHILD Singer/Songwriter out of Brooklyn, NY.closed out the night


 












Thanks Busy Living, Bootstraps, Neulore and Hunterchild for an AMAZING show!

PLANT A SEED WATCH IT GROW.

 Morel mushrooms are a fungus.  They're not like  plants, that you can start as a seed, stand back and watch them grow.





 While there are some who are blessed to have been able to watch the progress of the morel in its growth cycle, most of us are left to wonder.

It is believed and proven by most that the morel fungus will sprout (so-to-speak) as any other living organism and with the proper nurturing from Mother Nature, it will proceed in a progressive growth pattern.

Last weekend for "Mothers Day".   Our son Beau made the 12 hour drive from Denver back to Iowa to surprise his mother.  And he certainly did.



I'm proud  to say that Susie and I did a pretty darn good job of " Nurturing " the young man he has become.

 After all the tears of joy and the Mothers Day breakfast of tortillas, scrambled eggs, morels, bacon, pepper jack cheese and fruit,

Beau and I several forages into the timber to load up on some shrooms while he was back.

 Beaus girlfriend Kayla and Susie got to get in on the harvesting as well.

 In an undisclosed location.

 With proper nurturing every thing can reach its full potential.

 Susie got creative with fresh mushrooms and our leftovers of steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes  and cherry tomatoes.

I think we've got a winner here and

I know we've got a winner with our son.

A Look At The Hive Enterance

A big part of having bees is observe them at work. To watch them raise their young, collect nectar and build their hives.  On the one hand, the honey bees are tucked away in their hives, hidden from view unless you open up the hive and take a peak.   But if your interested here are some of the things you can see at the hive entrance. 

April until mid-May, there is little activity even in strong colonies except perhaps during the early part of the afternoon on days favorable to harvest.  You should see large bodied Drones, at the hive entrance along Worker bees laden with pollen.

Beekeepers can become better at 'knowing what is going on with their bees' with less interference.
 
 "The master accomplishes more and more by doing less and less until finally he accomplishes everything by doing nothing." --Laozi, Tao Te Ching

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE WHEN YOUR ON A HIKE?

 The sky's reflection off of the pond.

 The stream working its way down the valley

 The dry stream bed and the limestone rock shelf

 The purple phlox growing out in the timber.

 The shed antler along the deer trail.

The Flammulina velutipes, also known as the winter mushroom, velvet stem, velvet foot, enoki or enokitake  by the shed antler.

yes, I eat these.
It's better than coming home with an empty-bag.

 But not these...

or this one...



















oh, I'll eat those too.

FILLING A NICHE AND A CAVITY.

 Cool damp weather gave way to sunshine and our yard is filled with pockets of beauty. 
So many of our spring plants are ready to bust open and the bees are ready to go. 

 Out in the timber new mushrooms are popping up each and every day.  Which makes it hard to spend time in the yard hulling wood chips, tilling, planting, mulching and mowing.   



But, the end result is so rewarding when you take the time to slow down and enjoy it.

 This little fox squirrel scampering around on this old oak snag, kept his eyes on me as I poked around his timber.


I've talked in the past about the importance of these old snags that are left behind after the mature trees have been harvested.   


Standing dead trees, or snags, may appear to be useless, even eyesores, but they are important components of wildlife habitat and frequently in short supply.

 On a sheer bluff overlooking the Mississippi River we've got a nesting box that has been there for two years now.  As I drove by the other day I noticed a smaller bird chasing an eagle.

During the entire nesting season, the adult Peregrine Falcons are very territorial. They dive and chase after almost anything that comes close to their young, including birds and other raptors much bigger than they are! - See more at: http://www.peregrinefund.org/explore-raptors-species/Peregrine_Falcon#sthash.F1ZZNZSv.dpuf

During the entire nesting season, the adult Peregrine Falcons are very territorial. They dive and chase after almost anything that comes close to their young, including birds and other raptors much bigger than they are! - See more at: http://www.peregrinefund.org/explore-raptors-species/Peregrine_Falcon#sthash.F1ZZNZSv.dpuf

During the entire nesting season, the adult Peregrine Falcons are very territorial. They dive and chase after almost anything that comes close to their young, including birds and other raptors much bigger than they are! - See more at: http://www.peregrinefund.org/explore-raptors-species/Peregrine_Falcon#sthash.F1ZZNZSv.dpuf

During the nesting season, the adult Peregrines are very territorial.  They dive and chase after almost anything that comes close to their young, even an Eagle that's much bigger than they are!

I hope that's what I saw!


















Along the trout stream wooden hides created more habitat in streams for adult trout, particularly overhead cover where the fish could hide during the day to escape from winged predators.


Plus stocking streams that contained already naturally reproducing trout populations actually hurt those populations and the fishing.

  Anytime I can save an old fallen cavity that on the floor of the timber I do.   Weather the opening is large or small.  Some one will set up a nets in them.

Several of the birds that nest in cavities tend to be resident species an are more likely to locate  these homes. We've been watching a pair of chickadees  nesting in this one.