Kaw Valley Almanac
Note from the Times: The Kaw Valley Almanac is a contributed piece that runs each week. Find more information and older editions at kawvalleyalmanac.com, and follow @KVAlmanac on Bluesky.
this week’s Almanac
Kaw Valley Almanac for Dec. 15-21, 2025
This time of year is a great time to lie down in some tallgrass prairie remnant on a sunny day, and it will shield you from the wind and insulate you from the cold ground. See what you see in the deep, blue winter solstice sky.
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Kaw Valley Almanac for Aug. 16-22, 2021
Showy partridge pea, a native annual, yellow-flowered legume, has begun to bloom in area prairies. Ragweed will be pollinating soon.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for Aug. 9-15, 2021
The Perseid meteor shower will be peaking Wednesday evening/Thursday morning after midnight, and with moonless skies, if the clouds don’t interfere, you could see more than 100 meteors per hour.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for Aug. 2-8, 2021
When it gets too hot and dry, some animals aestivate, a type of summer hibernation where they typically hole up in the ground and wait for cooler, moister conditions.
Keith Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for July 26 – Aug. 1, 2021
Now is the time to enjoy the purple wildflower called gayfeather or blazing star.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for July 19-25, 2021
Katydids fill the night with their song and lightning bugs and crickets continue. With cicadas droning in the daytime heat and the full moon, the evening is full of wildlife activity – look for treefrogs on your window, ready to catch a moth or two.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for July 12–18, 2021
There are still wild raspberries and blackberries for the picking, check currants, wild plums and gooseberries, while elderberries are beginning to form and will be ripening in a few weeks.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for July 5–11, 2021
Recent rains have caused many mushrooms to emerge, including fairy rings, which are caused by the fungus spreading out in an ever expanding circle from where it started, living on dead plant material that it breaks down.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for June 28 – July 4, 2021
Wildflower fireworks continue, including yellow black-eyed susans, red butter-fly milkweed and purple prairie clover. This Independence Day, celebrate by visiting a prairie near you to appreciate how everything is really delightfully interdependent!
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for June 21 – 27, 2021
As fireworks season approaches, now is the perfect time to enjoy the pink bursts of color on sensitive brier, with each pink filament tipped with a bright yellow anther like a spark.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for June 14 – 20, 2021
Many animals are becoming more nocturnal to beat the heat these days, and with the waxing moon, expect more night activity, so be careful when you drive in the country after dark.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for June 7 – 13, 2021
Mulberries are ripe, elderberries and blackberries are blooming and wild raspberries are forming. But don’t forget about ticks and chiggers if you are out picking berries!
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for May 31 – June 6, 2021
Sign up for a hike with Kaw Valley Almanac writer Ken Lassman on National Trails Day, coming up Saturday, June 5!
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for May 24 – 30, 2021
Recent rains have begun a significant increase in fruiting mushrooms which will only increase as temperatures warm. There are more than 400 mushroom species in Kansas, so keep an eye out for a wide variety of these fungi in coming weeks.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for May 17 – 23, 2021
There’s been lots of publicity about 17-year cicadas in the Northeast U.S. emerging this year, but the local “Kansas” Brood IV emerged in 2015 and won’t reappear again until 2032.
Ken Lassman
Kaw Valley Almanac for May 10 – May 16, 2021
This may be the time of year with the most variety of bird
species easily visible or heard. Smartphone apps can record birds and ID them by their songs.




