Life Magazine in 1952

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As I looked at the issues of Life Magazine from 1952 (the year before I was born), I noticed:

  • Beginnings that would be big new later – unrest in Saigon, Elizabeth about to become queen, reporting on commercialized whaling, Eisenhower beyond being a General, and polio vaccines

  • Popular science – overabundance of deer and elk, golden trout, enemies of bees, emergence of a dragonfly, poisoning of ducks and other waterfowl, and lawn pests

  • Art – Cezanne and Calder

They were all part of what the publisher thought was newsworthy in 1952!

All the weekly issues are available from Internet Archive.

Life Magazine 1952-01-07 - Winter scenes

Life Magazine 1952-01-14 - Truman and Churchill

Life Magazine 1952-01-21 - Most important wheels in American! (railroad ad)

Life Magazine 1952-01-28 - Bomb in Saigon square

Life Magazine 1952-02-04 - Deer in Salt Lake City/Elk in Yellowstone Park

Life Magazine 1952-02-11 - Ohio City shrugs off flood

Life Magazine 1952-02-18 - Elizabeth arrives in London to take oath of accession

Life Magazine 1952-02-25 - Cezanne

Life Magazine 1952-03-03 - Coca-Cola Ad “Quality you can trust”

Life Magazine 1952-03-10 - Skating stones near Death Valley

Life Magazine 1952-03-17 - Eleanor Roosevelt in Pakistan and India

Life Magazine 1952-03-24 - Olympic Whaling Company processing a whale

Life Magazine 1952-03-31 - Azaleas at Orton Plantation (North Carolina)

Life Magazine 1952-04-07 - Fire at French camp in Antarctica

Life Magazine 1952-04-14 - Coney Island (Steeplechase Pier and Parachute Jump)

Life Magazine 1952-04-21 - Baby “stuff”

Life Magazine 1952-04-28 - Travel by train (in the west/southwest)

 Life Magazine 1952-05-05 - Cotton knit clothing

Life Magazine 1952-05-12 - Summer shoes

Life Magazine 1952-05-19 - Expanding Marine aviation

Life Magazine 1952-05-26 - Texas factory makes plastic copies of skulls and bones

Life Magazine 1952-06-02 - 6 baby elephants fly from Bangkok to U

Life Magazine 1952-06-09 - Belle Grove in Louisiana (decaying)

Life Magazine 1952-06-16 - Eisenhower

Life Magazine 1952-06-23 - Rockel launch (General Electric ad)

Life Magazine 1952-06-30 - Chicago’s Hilton…hosted the Republican convention

Life Magazine 1952-07-07 - White House redecorated

Life Magazine 1952-07-14 - Golden trout of the high Sierras

Life Magazine 1952-07-21 - S.S. United States – newest liner and biggest ship built in the US

Life Magazine 1952-07-28 - Emergence of a dragonfly

Life Magazine 1952-08-04 - Two tots in a tub recover from polio

Life Magazine 1952-08-11 - Enemies of bees

Life Magazine 1952-08-18 - Kodak ad

Life Magazine 1952-08-25 - Calder mobiles

Life Magazine 1952-09-01 - 20 distinguished airlines (Lockheed ad)

Life Magazine 1952-09-08 - Lawn pests and how to fight them

Life Magazine 1952-09-15 - White Sands photograph

Life Magazine 1952-09-22 - Disaster for Utah ducks (poisoned by stagnant water bacteria)

Life Magazine 1952-09-29 - Photos from immediately after atomic bombs in Japan

Life Magazine 1952-10-06 - Mamie Eisenhower and Pat Nixon

Life Magazine 1952-10-13 - Madame Chiang Kai-shek painting

Life Magazine 1952-10-20 - Fall colors in New England

Life Magazine 1952-10-27 - Vaccines promise conquest of polio in this decade

Life Magazine 1952-11-03 - 2,000 year old lotus seed…gets a chance to bloom

Life Magazine 1952-11-10 - Seasons (Coca-Cola ad)

Life Magazine 1952-11-17 - Mexico City is sinking (20 inches/year)

Life Magazine 1952-11-24 - Iron tires and heartaches to cross the country

Life Magazine 1952-12-01 - Feasting as the highpoint of Christmas in Tudor England

Life Magazine 1952-12-08 - Primeval oceans and landscapes

Life Magazine 1952-12-15 - Santa (Arrow shirts ad)

Life Magazine 1952-12-22 - Merry Christmas (Texaco ad)

Life Magazine 1952-12-29 - Tractor (Borg-Warner ad)

15th Anniversary of my Blog

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15 years. My blog has documented my post career life so far and I hope that it will for many years to come. While it provides some structure to a stage of my life with less external schedule drivers, it also encourages me to try new things and document the discoveries made because I am consciously looking!

This past year took a very different turn than I anticipated. I felt compelled to lead my local Missouri Master Naturalist chapter after the abrupt departure of the president in June and the VP declining to become the president in July. I was already dedicated to hosting a core training class in the fall…so just rolled the leadership job into that. August-October became the most work-like time for me since 2011! In my previous volunteering I had used some of the skills I learned during my career in short bursts and very specific; this time I needed to apply many of leadership skills honed over the last 20 years of my career as a package and the need was sustained over several months. It was invigorating….and exhausting. I am glad I managed to do it. The blog posts for the past few months reflect parts of what I did; there was no time to write more complete documentation. Often, I was so focused on the students that I forgot to take any pictures at all! I will still be president of the chapter until the end of the year – still a leadership role but not as challenging as hosting the core training class in September and October.

Last year I anticipated that plastics was going to become my volunteering focus. That hasn’t happened because I was overwhelmed with the core training beginning last spring….and I hadn’t come up with enough of an action plan on my own; I’ve done what I can do as an individual to reduce my own plastic exposure; collaborating with others to make a difference is harder and I am still learning how to do it!

Previous anniversary posts: 14th anniversary, 13th anniversary, 12th anniversary, 11th anniversary, 10th anniversary, 9th anniversary

Fall Foliage

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I’ve been taking pictures of fall foliage since the beginning of the month.

On the day of the midterms, the maples on the islands of the library parking lot were colorful. I took the picture after we voted. There were some dead maples too – the drought was just too much for them.

My daughter brought over the leftover pumpkins from their annual pumpkin carving event. They made the red of the Virigina creeper look a muted, although some nearby Viriginia creeper held the red color better.

The leaves of the Missouri Evening Primrose and the seed pods are colorful too. They are a new discovery for me this year.

A leaf with water droplets looked pale against the grass….another look of fall.

The leaves of the spicebush (the bush to the right in the image) are turning yellow and the young pawpaws (the lower bushes) are turning yellow as well although a little behind the spicebush. The violets are still mostly green.

I took a few pictures from our deck. It was a gray day but there was still some color and most of the leaves were still on the trees. There are some pines and hollies too that are very green!

It has not been a fabulous fall – but there is still enough color to appreciate as the grand finale of the warmer months this year.

Extractigator

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One of the core training field trips was about removing invasives. That was my first experience with an Extractigator for pulling small trees/bushes. I ordered one to use for my yard and my daughter’s yard too. It works great for shallow rooted maples and burning bush – and it breaks deeper rooted small trees at ground level (hackberry and mulberry, for example). I am hoping to get more of the forsythia I want to kill pulled in the next few weeks.

The tool has a gripper that can handle stems up to 2 inches and then the lever provides a lot more ‘pull’ to get the plant out of the ground with roots!

During the field trip we were attacking bush honeysuckle. I recently found a bush honeysuckle in my yard that has been hiding under my holly trees; my first attempt did not go well because the plant is growing in an area that is rocks over landscaping cloth. I’ll have to dig around the base a bit to get a better hold on it. It may be that the roots are in the landscaping cloth which means that I’ll have to cut the cloth around the plant to get the plant out!

We are already planning a round of ‘pulling’ at my daughter’s house after our Thanksgiving lunch!

Plastics Crisis – Another Presentation

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I updated my plastics PowerPoint and did a presentation for a group of retired teachers. They are probably more savvy about the issue than most…already doing what they can to get reduce plastic in their everyday lives. They are also already overly committed to other causes that they’ve accumulated over the years. My lesson learned from the talk was a realization that as we get older there comes a time that we must prune our commitments…and that follows a newfound discipline to not add new commitments!

Still – the talk was a good experience…the interactions were thoughtful and I honed my materials in a way that feeds into what Beyond Plastics Ozarks might do next!

Flowers of Fall

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It’s November and we still have flowers in our yard!

The very tall goldenrod that I cut last July before the flower buds appeared is short (about 3 feet tall)…with lots of yellow flowers for pollinators that are still around.

There are still a few asters as well with bumblebees.

A few violets are blooming – not as many as in the spring but a few flowers. Now that it is not as hot and dry some of the violet beds seem to be greener too!

The roses have recovered as well – are blooming again.

Next year I hope to have more goldenrod and asters. I’ll be cutting them all in June so that they will not be so tall that they topple over!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 7, 2026

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

10/28/2026 I’m Plastic Free Do Plastic-Free Retainers Exist? What the Research Says About Retainer Microplastics - In lab tests, clear PETG retainers, acrylic Hawley retainers and aligners all released plastic particles into artificial saliva (2), with an estimated 59,000 detectable particles per PETG pair over six months of simulated night wear in one company-run test. The leading alternative is the Unplastic Retainer by moses, made from PHA, a biodegradable polymer grown by microbes. It still sheds particles, but its maker reports that they break down. A permanent stainless steel wire retainer is the other low-plastic option.

10/28/2026 Nature How the pandemic changed trust in science — in four charts - Trust in science and researchers has fallen following the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also shows a connection between science and people’s broader experiences, including their perceived financial security. The survey found that countries where people reported high confidence in hospitals and health-care clinics were more likely to have greater trust in science. Levels of trust were also high in respondents who were confident in accessing health-care services when needed.

10/28/2026 The Conversation The deep ocean’s protection against warming started to change in 2016. Nobody knows what happens now - Over the past decade, the Antarctic intermediate water has rapidly become saltier and more dense, and sitting deeper in the ocean. As a result, more heat may reach the deeper waters – with unknown consequences for the world’s climate.

10/27/2026 Yale Environment 360 Industry Knew for Decades That Microplastics Could Infiltrate Human Bodies - The chemical industry has known for decades that ingested microplastic particles can reach vital organs. At a scientific meeting in 1974, a German scientist named Gerhard Volkheimer presented research showing that ingested bits of PVC plastic could enter the bloodstream. In experiments, he had fed bits of PVC to dogs, pigs, and other animals, finding that within two hours, the particles had infiltrated the liver, brain, lungs, and other tissues. In one 1975 memo, an executive at chemical maker Union Carbide said the Volkheimer study had “been cited often as a ‘horror story’ on ingesting PVC resin.” while scientists have shown that plastic additives are harmful to human health, researchers are only beginning to understand what impact plastic particles may have. 

10/27/2026 Planetizen Iowa taxpayers are paying thousands to clean manure out of their water - Iowa residents are accusing factory farms of failing to keep their manure spreads out of Iowa’s streams, including the Des Moines River, which provides drinking water for over half a million Iowans.

10/27/2026 Clean Technica New Whitepaper Shows How Grid Operators & Energy Regulators Can Use Solar & Storage to Secure the Grid, Boost Reliability & Reduce Energy Costs - A new report released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Current Energy Group outlines how grid operators and regulators can deploy distributed energy resources (DERs) like solar and battery storage to boost reliability and affordability of the electric grid. Numerous states have recently passed laws to expand DERs, such as community solar and battery storage, and to maximize the value of these resources by aggregating them through programs like virtual power plants.

10/27/2026 NPR When an invasive fish is also tasty, Maryland schoolkids can help 'eat the problem' - Since spreading to the Chesapeake Bay in recent decades, the blue catfish has become an apex predator. It can grow to more than 100 pounds; its voracious appetite is fueling worries that it's eating too many native species. School districts in both Maryland and Virginia are serving blue catfish.

10/26/2026 Our World in Data How much development aid is spent on climate change? - round one-third of this funding — $50 billion — was committed to climate-related projects in 2024. These projects can fall into two categories. Mitigation aims to reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions; think investments in clean energy, stopping deforestation, or low-carbon transport. Adaptation helps countries deal with the impacts of climate change: flood defenses, drought-resilient crops, or more reliable water supplies.

10/26/2026 BBC Future 'It's offensively cheap': How solar power is quietly becoming bigger than nuclear - The world's solar power is crossing a threshold. A decade ago, it barely registered on a global scale, providing just 1% of the world's power. In 2026, it will almost certainly increase to 10% of power, and overtake nuclear, a mainstay of electricity since the late 1970s. By 2030, the IEA thinks solar power generation will have reached double that of 2025's levels, with solar overtaking hydro to become the world's third-largest electricity source.

10/26/2026 Science Daily Scientists discover Arctic sea ice loss could be far worse than predicted - By using ancient climate records to refine modern computer models, researchers have produced more reliable estimates of how much ice may disappear in the coming decades. Recent observations have also highlighted the Arctic's changing conditions. In March 2025, winter sea ice reached the lowest annual maximum extent recorded since modern monitoring began. The Arctic matched that record again in 2026. The consequences of a warming Arctic may be more extensive than existing predictions indicate. The revised simulations offer researchers a clearer foundation for investigating those risks and understanding how changing Arctic conditions could influence weather elsewhere.

eBotanical Prints – October 2026

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Twenty more books were added to my botanical print eBook collection in October – all are available for browsing on Internet Archive. There is a 10 volume series this month about plants of Formosa (the main island of what is now Taiwan.

My list of eBotanical Prints books now totals 3,463 eBooks I’ve browsed over the years. The whole list can be accessed here.

Click on any sample image from October’s 20 books to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink in the list below the image mosaic to view the entire volume where there are a lot more botanical illustrations to browse.

Enjoy the October 2026 eBotanical Prints!

The Plant World Vol XVI 1913 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1913

The Plant World Vol XII 1909 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1909

Icones of Japanese algae * Okamura, Kintaro * sample image * 1913

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V1 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1911

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V2 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1912

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V3 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1913

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V4 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1914

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V5 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1915

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V6 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1916

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V7 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1918

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V8 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1918

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V9 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1920

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V10 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1920

The vegetation of Mt. Fuji, with a complete list of plants found on the mountain and a botanical map showing their distribution * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1911

Flora montana formosae; an enumeration of plants found on Mt. Morrison, the central chain and other mountainous regions of Formosa at altitudes of 3,000-13,000 ft * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1908

Palm trees of the Amazon and their uses * Wallace, Alfred Russel * sample image * 1853

American Fossil Cycads * Wieland, George Reber * sample image * 1906

Status of the Mesozoic floras of the United States pt 2 (plates) * Ward, Lester; Fontaine, William Morrisl Bibbins, Arthur Barneveid; Wieland, George Reber * sample image * 1905

An introduction to the study of seaweeds * Murray, George * sample image * 1895

ALBUM DE BOTANIQUE Vol. 1 * Prevost-Hersant, Constant Amable * sample image * 1856

Red Leaves

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The fall in our area is not as colorful this year because of drought…but there are still some red leaves in my yard

The Virginia creeper adorns my front steps and the fence by my gate. The red leaves don’t last long but are a welcome splash of color.

I have two types of sumac: smooth and fragrant. The smooth sumac was planted last spring (a seedling picked up ‘free’ from an Earth Dad festival). The aromatic sumac has been around for a few years and is in the same area where I am battling Asian honeysuckle. Sumacs are known for their red color in the fall.

Even oak seedlings can show red color! This is one in a bed toward the center of my back yard; the seedling came up in a good spot to let it grow into a tree; its parent is my neighbor’s oak.

I’m glad that I have these native plants in my yard – enjoying the ‘red’ while it lasts.

Relaxing after Core Training

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My October was so busy with the logistics of the Master Naturalist Core Training that I took some days off to recover from being so hyper focused. I kept up with my email but not necessarily responding so quickly as I did while the class was happening. I made excuses to myself that I needed down time to let the wound from me basal cell carcinoma removal heal – but then decided that working out in the yard was mentally therapeutic too so I was not totally sedentary during my recovery.

I enjoyed the start of the Project FeederWatch season on 11/1. The vegetation around our feeders is a lot denser than last year. I noticed that most of the poke berries have already been eaten. I will trim a holly branch that blocks my view of one of the feeders!

My son-in-law hosted his annual pumpkin carving event for his lab group. It is something I enjoy vicariously through pictures every year.

I am beginning to feel ready to tackle the housework that has been postponed!

Indian Corn

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I hung the Indian Corn on the door recently. It is more than a decade old and looks classic to me…from a time before plastic took over almost everything. I’ll keep it on the door until mid-December.

I am trying to decide how much I will lean into the November and December celebrations this year. I’ll think of my mother on her November birthday; she’s been gone for 2 years. Thanksgiving is about a meal more than anything else; it’s not as ‘big’ as it was when I was growing up and the family had more individuals living in close proximity. My December birthday was part of the lead up to Christmas but now stands more on its own since my parents’ wedding anniversary became a past celebration when my mother died and my father no longer remembers. There are not young children in my immediate family and the last time we tried to put up a tree was a disaster with cats climbing it. I will probably settle for some special meals and some travel for holiday lights close to my birthday…maybe focus on getting the house straightened and clean after the neglect that happened while I focused on Master Naturalist core training.

Basal Cell Carcinoma Adventures

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My daughter and I have both been treated for Basal Cell Carcinoma this fall! The skin cancer was on her nose; mine was on my back. She had gone to the dermatologist because of a spot on her nose that wouldn’t heal and mine was discovered during an annual skin check that started last year because of some questionable skin issues and my age. There was a biopsy first and then a procedure. Both were small – caught early enough to be easily treated. She had MOHs surgery and mine was a shave removal/destruction. She is now an expert at fashioning a bandage for her nose, and I have recruited my husband to get the bandage placed over the wound on my back. My biopsy area was about the size of a nickel and it didn’t heal before I returned for the removal; that wound is about the size of a silver dollar!

I am old enough that I wasn’t overly surprised…but my daughter is younger than the average age for basal cell carcinoma and it’s not clear that she has any of the ‘higher risk’ behaviors. She did not get sunburned growing up; has never used a tanning bed; she is fair skinned and we applied sunscreen frequently. There might be one medicine that might had increased her risk. We also lived on the east coast for her growing up years where the air quality is sometimes yellow or red and I wonder if that might have contributed. It’s interesting that we both were diagnosed in the same month!

 The experience has left me with the realization that skin cancer is not just for the very old. The people in my family that had it were in their 80s…so older than I am now. The earlier diagnosis is probably more to do with environment (something increasing the potency of UV exposure, for example) than genetics for me and my daughter….and probably a lot of other people as well.

Zentangle® - October 2026

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31 days in October….a tile selected for each day.

I created over 51 tiles in October – even with the flurry of organizing my master naturalist chapter’s core training for 30 people. Creating tiles are a way of winding down from higher stress times! It’s worthwhile to make time to create tiles…particularly before bedtime.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 31, 2026

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

01/23/2026 Super Age The 5 Microhabits That Rewire Your Brain for Longevity - Small, daily actions that work with your brain’s natural reward systems to create what behavioral scientists call habit loops (cues, behaviors, and rewards that, when repeated over time) rewire the brain’s baseline. These shifts aren’t just cognitive—they’re structural. Even two minutes of the right activity can nudge your brain toward a more resilient, long-lived trajectory.

10/02/2026 Inside Climate News As Negotiators Struggle to Advance a Plastics Treaty, Iran War Underscores the Urgency - Countries that comprise more than a quarter of the global plastics demand support strong measures to fight plastic pollution. But it’s unlikely to be enough to prevail over the “like-minded group” led by fossil-fuel producing nations that oppose limits on the production of plastics. The bloc, though a small minority, derailed an agreement last year because the treaty’s consensus approach allows even a single country to block a deal. No international standard governs what a country categorizes as plastic in its production, consumption and waste estimates. As a result, some countries exclude entire categories from production figures, including synthetic fibers and polyethylene terephthalate, widely used for food and beverage packaging and better known as PET.

09/22/2026 The Scientist A “Fire Amoeba” Takes First Place for Eukaryotic Heat Tolerance - Researchers recently discovered an amoeba that regularly lives at 63°C, breaking the record for the most heat-tolerant eukaryote. Incendiamoeba cascadenis, roughly translating to “fire amoeba from the Cascade mountain range,” survives and thrives in hot springs in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

10/05/2026 The New York Times The Overlapping Plagues Quietly Devastating American Forests – Wooly Adelgid (Eastern Hemlock), Emerald Ash Borer (Ash), fungus-carrying insect and microscopic worm (American Beech).

10/17/2026 Science Daily NASA discovers hidden fires burning beneath the Amazon rainforest - A dangerous wave of wildfires is spreading across the tropics, and the Amazon rainforest is now facing a growing crisis. Fueled by severe drought linked to El Niño, fires are sweeping through parts of Brazil, filling cities with smoke and threatening forests already damaged by previous fire seasons.

10/18/2026 Planetizen Connecticut is turning landfills into green infrastructure - The state has approved or built 29 solar arrays on top of capped landfills, and intends to keep building. Because the state usually prohibits shady trees from growing over landfills due to contamination risks, they often have ample access to sunlight for solar panels. Landfills are usually town-owned and have limited opportunities to be sold or put to other productive uses.

10/16/2026 My Modern Met OurNature Environmental Photo & Video Award Winners Use Storytelling to Reveal Our World and How to Protect It - The 2026 winners of the OurNature Environmental Photo & Video Award were honored at a ceremony at the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center in Budapest, Hungary.

10/16/2026 Smithsonian Magazine Microplastics Have Been Linked with Myriad Human Health Problems. Scientists May Have Finally Figured Out How They Harm the Body - Lab experiments suggest that tiny bits of plastic can react with water inside us to produce highly reactive molecules. They can lead to damaging oxidative stress and inflammation. When plastics degrade into microplastics—pieces smaller than a pencil-tip eraser—their surface-to-volume ratio goes up. When microplastics interact with water, they spontaneously generate unstable molecules known as reactive oxygen species. Because plastic repels water, or is hydrophobic, the surrounding water can’t form its usual hydrogen bonds. So, contact between the two substances results in electric changes that can help create volatile molecules called hydroxyl radicals. This finding implies microplastics themselves are a source of oxidative species ... and oxidative stress is not a secondary effect of exposure.

10/16/2026 The Conversation Americans want electric cars – they just can’t find them - As 2026 progressed and gas prices began to rise, so did EV demand. New EV inventories declined, shrinking from about 130 days of supply in the first quarter of 2026 to 78 days by August – just two days above the supply level of gas-burning cars. Sales stalled because there weren’t enough EVs available to buy – and there were plenty of hybrids as an alternative. Rather than move to increase electric vehicle supply and make them more affordable, federal policy continues to hinder the U.S. electric vehicle sector. As long as gas stays expensive, the gap between the electric vehicles Americans want and the electric vehicles dealers can sell them is likely to remain. Decisions such as ending the tax credit, rolling back fuel economy standards and banning Chinese technology all make it harder to build them, which means Americans will continue to have fewer affordable electric vehicles to choose from.

10/15/2026 Clean Technica If Modern Agriculture Were a Person, It Would Be a Sociopath: Can Regenerative Farming Save Us from Ourselves? - The agro-industrial sector is feeding people while harming society and starving the planet. In 1962, one farmer fed 25.8 persons; today, it is 155. But according to the UN, global agrifood systems incur roughly $12 trillion annually in hidden social and environmental costs. The Rockefeller Foundation found that in the US alone, the true costs of the food system are $3.2 trillion per year, which is three times what Americans actually pay for their food. Today, international climate scientists (represented by the IPCC) estimate that regenerating our soils could reliably offset 10% to 15% of total global emissions (4 to 5 gigatonnes of CO2 per year), with more bullish studies suggesting that soil could lock away 15 billion tons of carbon annually, thereby reducing atmospheric carbon to preindustrial levels within 20 years.

Native Plants for Stormwater Management

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The book-of-the-week is from Grow Native! – the native plant marketing and education program of the Missouri Prairie Foundation. The books is available as a PDF from their website. It was authored by Daniel Shaw and Rusty Schmidt and published in February 2025.

My yard is sloped  - higher in front, lower in back so my main concern about stormwater is to keep the sides of the house where the slope is steepest with sufficient vegetation to avoid erosion and control slumping. Over the past few years, I have allowed deeper rooted native plants (pokeweed, pawpaw, witch hazel, asters, and sumac) to grow on the slope; this book helped me choose some new ones to add!

I did intentionally plant a buttonbush a couple of years ago and it was immediate decapitated (by a squirrel?) so I know I will need a cage if I try that one again!

Native Plants for Stormwater Management Projects - Species Selection for the Lower Midwest

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2026

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October was a very busy month for me --- with my efforts to help everyone in the Master Naturalist core training class succeed overlaying the normal higher level of activity of my usual October.

Butterfly House finale. The first weekend of October was the finale for the native butterfly house; I volunteered on the last day – and celebrated that the season had been a good one and that the house had plenty to show even on the last day.

Core training. Being the host rather than a student was a new experience for me, and I celebrated the successes of the students in learning and starting their initial Missouri Master Naturalist volunteering.

Sassafras. I celebrated finding two sassafras plants in my front yard native plant garden. They must have been planted by birds, but I was glad to see them. They will provide more food for spicebush swallowtail caterpillars and a different texture in the bed along with the other woody plant anchors (maple and elderberry).

Electric lawn mower. Every time I mow my yard I celebrate how great the electric mower is – no bad smells and it only takes pushing a button to start!

Rain. It had been many weeks with no rain….and then it rained again. I celebrated even though it is probably too late for a colorful fall.

Extractigator. I celebrated a new tool for my yard – great for pulling small trees that are too difficult to pull by hand or dig up. It came from a Canadian company…so cost a bit more than I expected but it was probably worth it.

Fire Ecology webinar. I celebrated the breadth and depth of the talk…it was way more than just about prescribed burning that seems to be the focus of so much training when it comes to conservation and fire.

Orange juice. I celebrated how much my dad seemed to enjoy a glass of orange juice. He drank the whole thing as soon as the glass was firmly in his hand. Simple joys.

Linden’s prairie. Celebrating a short walk on a fall prairie…recognizing a few things…realizing that maybe I want to plant some winged sumac someplace in my yard.

New England Asters. Celebrated getting two free plants when I went to a lecture on native plants….getting them planted in my garden the next day. Hoping I remember to trim them next June, so they don’t get too tall when they bloom in the fall.

Zooming – October 2026

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A more pleasant month than September in terms of temperature. There were some hot days but the trend was a cooling down and we got some rain…too late for fall color probably but still a welcome change after so many weeks of no rain. The field trips with the core training students dictated some locations but I also enjoyed a walk at Linden’s prairie, some volunteering…and my yard! The fall leaves will be part of the November images.  Enjoy some October images!

Native Plants

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I took a short road trip to the Lebanon Laclede County Library for a program about native plants – and to see a native plant garden installed by 2 people in my 2024 Master Naturalist core training class. The garden had suffered a bit from the drought and very hot days, but the plants had survived and will probably come back strong next year. The American Beautyberry had lost most of its leaves already, but it has berries!

The presentation was done by a person from the Wild Ones chapter in St. Louis. I enjoyed her perspective and the pictures of what she had done with her urban yard. She emphasized techniques for formalizing native plantings: clumping, cutting asters and goldenrods in June/July to shorten them before they bloom, and leaving the leaves/standing stalks for winter interest.

The session was sponsored by Master Gardeners (in the county) and a garden club. They gave out pots of  aloe and New England Aster. I got two New England Aster pots and planted them in my front yard garden; they’ll make a nice addition that will bloom next fall!

Cake!

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My Missouri Master Naturalist Chapter celebrated its 20th anniversary recently decorated with butterflies, dragonflies and flowers. There was a cake that was big enough to feed 100 people! Half was chocolate…the other vanilla. There was a little left that was given to the night staff at our meeting place!

I have been the president of the chapter since July and a member since 2024. There are still a few members from the original class that are still active – I rely on them and other long-term members to understand the history.   I’ve spent more focus so far on the path forward for the chapter…holding the core training this fall and maneuvering to get the leadership team back to an annual rhythm. I like using my singing bowl bell to get the group’s attention rather than yelling!

Sustaining Elder Care – October 2026

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It was dark when I started my monthly trek to Texas to see my dad. I saw the beginning of sunrise in my rear-view mirror but the clouds had closed in by the time I made my first stop. The second stop was a little better…patches of sky. I noticed the worn paint in a handicapped parking space; the white seemed to be more durable than the blue.

There is only one road level train crossing along my 6.5-hour drive – and, this time, there was a train! The sky was almost clear. By the time I got to Texas it was sunny….pleasantly in the upper 70s temperature wise.

My dad was in the eating area when I arrived – apparently simply napping after he finished lunch. I woke him up and took him for walk – around to the activity room and then outdoors for a couple of laps around the courtyard.

His itching that dominated my visit in September was seemingly gone but he was walking much more hunched over than ever before and keeping his eyes closed. It is hard to tell whether he can still see light or not; he needs help to find the handles of his walker with his hands and he needs someone to guide his walker.  On the plus side – he can still push himself off from a chair to stand up and then walk using the walker for support.

There has been turnover of the staff at his memory care place, and they tend to help him more than he needs sometimes…but that is probably a safe thing. He needs help eating now that he can’t see his food. I got there for breakfast…he seemed to be sleeping but said he was still hungry when I woke him up and I fed him the rest of his eggs and put his hands around a glass of orange juice; he drank all of it without any more prompting or help from me!

He is probably the oldest resident in the place – in his mid-90s – but in some ways one of the easier ones to help. His memory is not good, but he remembers to say thank you!

I left him in the care of one of the staff to head back to Missouri. As I began the drive, my mood was somber. On a conscious level, I know that he is in hospice….losing his eyesight is something he cannot overcome mentally, and it impacts his physical condition too. He is fading away. I am internalizing that sometime soon one of my monthly trips to Texas will be the last time I will see him.