I love sparkly things… not like cut diamonds and jewels, but rather the important things like snowflakes, rocks, and stars! Nature gives us some amazing pops of sparkle to enjoy.
We finally got some snow in the far northeast corner of Iowa. It was a dry snow, which keeps the ice crystals more separated, and thus more sparkle. It wasn’t a lot, but it created a dazzling layer of sparkly white in the bright winter sun. I tried to take a picture, but to capture sparkle, you just need to be present in person. The snow falling now is supposedly wetter, so it may not sparkle as much.
Iowisota is located in the eroded bluffs of the “driftless area”, which means that any ancient glacial
deposits were washed away long ago, and instead of glacial drift, we have deep valleys eroded through layers of the Paleozoic Plateau. This extremely ancient seabed has distinct layers of limestone, sandstone, and other sedimentary rocks. Over time, water has eaten away at limestone and deposited seams and pockets of silicon dioxide as drusy quartz, creating hard pockets of sparkle. Our soils are loaded with hard chunks of sedimentary rocks, sometimes pocketed with quartz crystals or layered with iron-rich limonite. The ravines (and sometimes even blufftops!) are littered with these gnarly erosion-resistant rocks. Every “gully-washer” rain reveals new sparkle. During my hikes at Iowisota, I never tire of carrying back a handful of sparkly rocks!
The February night sky is another amazing source of sparkle. Once this round of snow passes and the sky clears, you can look for Sirius, the sparkling brightest star in the winter night sky. You will find Sirius in the southern sky, right “below” the dip in Orion’s belt of 3 stars. Until the end of February, the night sky will also treat you to a parade of 6 planets in view at the same time. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn should all be visible with the naked eye (you might need a telescope for Neptune and Uranus) as soon as the sun sets and the sky darkens. I hear that the stars sparkle especially bright in the bitter cold… we can test that out this coming week!
I am blessed to be able to enjoy the sparkly treasures of nature, but I’ve also been busy lining up guest experts and events at Iowisota in 2025. When the weather warms enough for the sap to move, we will be able to start tapping the maple trees and schedule some syruping demonstration sessions (probably early March). I’ll start up the Women’s walks again in Spring. There are still some spots left for Dwight Zietlow’s Kordiall workshop on May 17th. Samuel Thayer’s Spring Foraging workshop on May 3rd is already full, but we are working toward having Sam return to Iowisota in July for a workshop focused on prairies. I’ll do a “reveal” on the plans for that in a couple of weeks. I’m also really excited that Ellen Zachos will come do a Thursday evening workshop at Iowisota on September 11th, before the Midwest Wild Harvest Festival. There will be more “reveal” on this soon too… but if you’ve read any of Ellen’s books or you’re keen on wild-crafted cocktails or bitters, you should save that date on your calendar! This list isn’t complete, as we still hope to add in a couple more spring and early summer workshops. We also have some private group retreats and individual stays scheduled; check with us about availability if you want to get something on the calendar.
You really can’t experience the sparkle in nature in pictures or words, you have to see it in person. In-person learning is kind of like that too. Keep reading the blogs and watching the Iowisota website events page to know what’s coming. So… come to our events, but most of all, get out and enjoy the sparkle of nature!
Comentarios