Jordan Winter / The Lawrence Times
The government’s traditional approach to hunger has funded merely the consumption — not the production — of food. Pantaleon Florez III, a local farmer and food justice activist, is planting the seeds for a new approach.
Ken Lassman
Look closely and you’ll see a flock of turkeys picking over the newly burned prairie. It is always interesting to poke around a burned prairie.
Ken Lassman
This native “understory tree” is a legume: it has pea-like flowers that produce seeds in a pod. The beautiful red, pink or occasionally white blossoms are edible: try them, and if you like them, sprinkle them on your next salad.
Ken Lassman
Here are some raccoon tracks in the wet creekside soils, one of their favorite haunts. Wet weather this week should enhance your ability to see animal tracks, and even if it doesn’t rain where you are.
Ken Lassman
Leaves are emerging from woodland gooseberries in northeast Kansas, with a few false rue anemone emerging. The dry weather has meant a slower spring woodland wildflower season, but this week’s rains may change that, so go take a look!
Lawrence-Douglas County Sustainability
Douglas County residents will have the opportunity to recycle virtually any electronics next month during a spring e-cleaning dropoff event.
Ken Lassman
Sandhill cranes migrate by the hundreds of thousands annually through Kansas and Nebraska. Now is the time to see them. Spring woodland wildflower plants have emerged as well.
Douglas County Extension Master Gardeners / Contributed Photo
Crocuses that popped out of the ground last week might still be under a few inches of snow, but spring will be in full bloom Saturday with the return of the Douglas County Extension Master Gardeners garden show.
Ken Lassman
The junco on the left happily ate seeds off the deck, while the female redbellied woodpecker was much quicker, looking out the flower pot after grabbing a seed, then flying off to a nearby cottonwood, hopping up the trunk. Winter is transitioning.
Parts of the aquifer in far western Kansas may only have 10 years of water left. Small towns are struggling to provide clean drinking water, and upgrading their facilities would bankrupt them.
