[Dialogue] AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

[elliestock at aol.com]

David and Lin--
Thanks for sharing re the first National Sierra Service Outing in the Loess Hills.  Having visited you there, it was easy to picture the geography and the eventfulness.
 
Ellie Stock
 
 
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Sent: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 9:29 AM
Subject: [Dialogue] AUTUMNAL EQUINOX


NATIONAL SIERRA SERVICE OUTING
9/17-23/06

Leaders are called to stand in that lonely place-between the no 
longer and the not yet-and intentionally make decisions-that will 
bind, forge, move and create history.

We are not called to be popular.
We are not called to be safe.
We are not called to follow.
We are the ones called to take risks.
We are the ones called to change attitudes, to risk displeasures.
We are the ones called to gamble our lives for a better world.

~Mary Lou Anderson

Once upon a time, in 1946, Don & Luella Reese made their home in a 
little Cottage on the Reese Homestead, one mile north of Turin, Iowa. 
Reese Homestead was established in the 1860's. The homestead house, 
more than a century old, stood right across the barnyard. Don's 
parents, Howard and Nellie Jo Reese (referred to as Jo), lived there.

The Reese Homestead lies on the West Slope of the now recognized 
Loess Hills. Don is known to have said, "I lived in the Loess Hills 
50 years before I knew I was living in the Loess Hills; they were 
just a barrier out behind the barn I had to go over after the cows."

Don and Luella raised a family: David and Christy Zahrt, from 
Luella's previous marriage, and Jo & Karen from their union. The 
children had grown and were off to get an education and see the world 
when Don and Luella became interested in Sierra Club. They were 
actively engaged in Excom at both the state and local level for many 
years.

In 1990 David and his wife Lin returned to the Homestead. Howard and 
Jo were deceased. David and Lin took up residence in the Homestead 
House. Don and Luella were approaching the time in their lives when 
they would need family nearby so that they could live out their lives 
on the Homestead. Don departed this life in 1998, Luella in 2005. The 
Cottage stood empty!

Once Don and Luella's tenant retired, David managed the farm 
operation for 8 years. He instituted managed grazing of cattle in the 
160 acres of hill pasture. While managing the grazing he discovered 
that native prairie had managed to survive. In the mid to late 1990's 
he discovered that he was raising a cow-calf herd as a hobby: money 
in equaled money out, and he had no return on investment or labor. At 
that point he decided to speculate on prairie instead.

Protecting, restoring, and reconstructing prairie on the 160 acres of 
hills is a daunting task. In search of allies, David arranged with 
Holly Johnson and Bob Pauls to host a Sierra Club Service Outing on 
the Homestead.

How can you possibly know what you're getting into when you decide to 
host a Service Outing? Whether you are on the end of the Delivering 
or the Receiving end, there are myriad unknowns!

It is not certain where one goes to establish the claim that this is 
the very first Service Outing in Iowa. The question was raised in the 
initial deliberations, "Who would want to come to Iowa?"

Holly and Bob did a remarkable job of featuring and positioning the 
description of the Service Outing in the SIERRA MAGAZINE. Not only 
did participants fill the registration, there were some who remained 
on a waiting list. It turns out that participants from Wisconsin, 
Indiana, and, can you believe it, Vermont attended. However, of the 9 
participants, 4 of them were Iowans who wanted to know more about the 
rich diversity of ecosystem found right in their own state.

But how do you know what you have? What will the 'chemistry' of the 
outing be when all the participants finally sit down together? This 
is the great unknown that leaves both those on the Delivering and the 
Receiving end in suspense.

Bob was unable to make the outing. Holly convinced Sherie Colman to 
join her in leading the Outing. Holly and Sherie did what was 
necessary to insure a superb Outing. The Outing was administered so 
that it was self-sufficient, self-contained, and operated out of the 
motto 'what is packed in is also packed out'.

As a beekeeper David found himself marveling at the group. A beehive 
will only tolerate one queen bee! This group had two queen bees and 
they worked together seamlessly. The queens were blessed with, or 
perhaps they formed, a group of worker bees that willingly assumed 
assignments so that the life of the group was humming with 
cooperation and good will, effectiveness, and satisfaction of a job 
well done.

Once Holly set the wheels in motion to recruit the Service Outing, 
David began to design the week's schedule. Convinced that the Loess 
Hills on the 'West Coast' of Iowa have much to offer, he created a 
combination of work and education that would make the participants' 
time well spent.

No sooner had they arrived on Sunday than the group was whisked off 
on an all-afternoon tour of the Loess Hills. They concluded the tour 
with dinner at the local Dormitory Inn. After dinner David honored a 
request to tour the Homestead House which is now the Country 
Homestead Bed and Breakfast. Then he gave them their initial 
indoctrination. He told them that Cole Porter had written a song 
about the Loess Hills. He insisted that this is so because the song 
DON'T FENCE ME IN has a line in the chorus which says "I want to ride 
to the ridge where the West commencesŠ" and David thinks the Loess 
Hills are that very ridge. He cited botanical, biological, 
aviatorial, and lepedoptoral evidence and concluded by observing that 
Cole Porter was dead, so he could not contradict the claim. The group 
then settled in at the Cottage. Don and Luella would be thrilled to 
know that the first National Service Outing in history to have been 
convened in Iowa was having its debut in their Cottage.

Monday was a time for briefing. Once the week's tasks were outlined, 
and the group had the opportunity to assume responsibility for 
assignments that would create a cooperative life together, they 
turned their attention to the external work.

David referred to a topographical map of the hills and described the 
kind of work he hoped to get done. The group made its way past a sign 
bearing the message "This way; if you plan to go over the hill"; then 
took a 3-hour hike through the 160 acres of hills that lie directly 
behind (east) of the Homestead House and the Cottage.

They returned in time for lunch. Then, once the participants had 
chosen tasks they dispersed into the hills. Monday and Tuesday 
members of the group were engaged in a combination of efforts: seed 
collection and reclamation by clearing remnants of cedar clear-cuts 
and invasive under-story. In two days they had cleared at least an 
acre of under-story and collected 23.5 pounds of seed. The varieties 
of seed included Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Prairie Clover 
(Purple and White), Compass Plant, Indian Grass, Leadplant, Purple 
Coneflower, Side Oats Gramma, Yellow Coneflower (greyheaded and 
longheaded).

Those returning from the task of removing burnt cedar snags from the 
prairie hillside to be re-constructed were not recognizable. Their 
clothes were charcoal covered. Their faces and arms were marked as if 
they had prepared to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. They appeared 
to be a battalion of chimney sweeps!

The evenings were filled with background information about the 
history, geology, flora, and fauna of the hills. A series of 
top-flight presenters kept the Outing spellbound. Monday evening was 
the Tim and Tom show; a slide presentation created by County 
Conservation directors from Monona and Harrison Counties in the early 
1990's when it became clear that Western Iowa had a secret treasure 
called the Loess Hills.

Tuesday evening Ed Weiner, DNR's Wildlife Biologist, gave a history 
of the Missouri River flood plain beginning in 1804-the Lewis & Clark 
Expedition.

Wednesday morning Ed followed up his graphic presentation with an 
on-site visit to the Missouri River as it exists today. The group had 
the opportunity to observe first-hand the alterations that leave us 
with the Missouri River of today, and witness the enormous efforts 
that have been undertaken to establish mitigation for wildlife. A 
picnic lunch was taken at De Soto Wildlife Area. The group viewed a 
video introducing the US Fish and Wildlife program and the discovery 
of the Bertand Steamer, then toured the museum hosting the history of 
the excavation of the Bertrand. Having seen the museum, Steve Van 
Riper escorted us on an hour-long tour explaining the history and the 
current composition of the Wildlife Area.

Wednesday evening featured the film AMERICA'S LOST LANDSCAPE: the 
tallgrass prairie, produced by Dr. Darrell Smith, of the University 
of Northern Iowa. The film underscored the value of the prairie and 
the necessity to pursue efforts to protect, restore, and re-construct 
the remnants of Iowa's prairie that still remain. The group's 
conversation following the film confirmed their commitment to do just 
that.

On Thursday the weather didn't cooperate! It rained. When the road 
over the hill is wet the loess is like grease. It was clear that it 
would not do to work outside in the rain. But the group had prepared 
themselves to employ an alternative. They selected from among the 
forbs which they had collected, and planted 8 trays of plugs. Each 
tray holds 200 plugs. By noon time 1600 plugs had been planted.

The plugs will be kept inside until Fall has progressed to point 
where the seeds will not germinate. Then they will be placed outdoors 
for the remainder of the winter to experience the kind of journey 
through which Mother Nature would normally send a seed-snow, melt, 
freeze, thaw, etc-so that it will be prepared to germinate in the 
spring. These trays will then be placed in a greenhouse in early 
March to launch germination, and will be transplanted to selected 
spots in late May or early June.

After lunch David reviewed the kind of work he has done using the 
Holistic Resource Planning approach to managing the future of the 
Homestead. He then entertained a brainstorm on the kinds of 
enterprises the group might suggest as being worth considering in the 
on-going effort to make the asset of the Homestead return a profit.

Thursday evening featured the Loess Hills Alliance's Stewardship 
Committee and a description of the multiple efforts the committee has 
been making to protect the prairie that remains in the Loess Hills. 
The group found the report inspiring.

The week concluded with a Celebration of the Autumnal Equinox, the 
point in the year that marks the transition between summer and Fall. 
This is recognized by more than one tradition as an occasion for 
celebration. This is the time of year that introduces Roshi Shana, a 
ten-day period which concludes with Yom Kippur. A way of summarizing 
it is to suggest that it is a time of reflection and redirection-a 
time of spirit introspection.

David may have fallen short on the spiritual dimension-the time of 
reflection and redirection. But he did have a way of engaging the 
group in celebration of the Equinox-the Ciderfest!

Friday promised more rain. Although it was cloudy the rain held off. 
David escorted the group on a 3-hour tour through the countryside, 
during which time they collected 20-25 bushel of apples. Once they 
returned to the Homestead, they set up for the Ciderfest which would 
take place on Saturday. Afterwards, they took a hike through the 70 
acres of wetlands which the Homestead has on the Little Sioux River 
bottom directly west of the Homestead housing envelope.

Saturday morning began with an attack on the 20-25 bushel of apples. 
They were washed, pared for spots and bruises, halved, and put 
through the chopper in the cider press. There was a chopping and a 
pressing operation. Once a bail was filled with chopped apples it was 
moved to the press. The operation began at 8:30 AM and continued 
until noon when there was a break for a potluck lunch. At 
approximately 10 AM the Don & Pat Lamb arrived with horseradish root. 
They engaged a contingent in peeling and grinding the root and making 
a pungent batch of horseradish sauce. The rain held off until shortly 
before noon. The group broke for lunch.

After lunch David invited the group to hear and/or sing, and enjoy 
two selections which he put on the player piano. The first was THE 
SOUND OF MUSIC. "I go to the hills when my heart is lonelyŠ."
and
"Climb every mountain, ford every streamŠ". Holly and Sheri had 
composed a parody of the song written to fit the Loess Hills.

The second was MAN OF La MANCHA.
The entire Service Outing group joined in singing THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM.
"To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go.
To right the unrightable wrong, to love pure and chaste from afar,
To try when your arms are too weary to reach the unreachable starŠ"

It was clear that this was an underlying theme for the whole week.

After lunch cider pressing and horseradish processing continued. In 
addition David ground some whole-grain flours to be distributed among 
the group. About the time the last apple was ground it began to 
sprinkle again. The end result: 20+ bushels of apples ground and 
pressed; 30+ gallons of cider, 2-3 quarts of horseradish sauce, and 5 
pints each of wholegrain flours-corn, wheat, and rye.

The team folded up the operation and returned all of the equipment to 
its original place. It was almost impossible to discern that 
something so monumental had just taken place.

The final task was to leave the Cottage just as it had been found. 
That was accomplished during the remainder of the afternoon, evening, 
and by departure time on Sunday morning. A closing observation might 
be one word: PERFECT! And the participants left knowing that they 
would return home to face the challenge of standing between the No 
Longer, and the Not Yet.

-- 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| David and Lin Zahrt 
| Country Homestead Bed and Breakfast
| 22133 Larpenteur Rd
| Turin, IA 51040     <mailto:zahrt at country-homestead.com>
| (712) 353-6772 Phone  
  http://www.country-homestead.com

-- Doorway to the Loess Hills --
Where a change-of-pace is as good as a vacation,
And a sense-of-place is soothing to the soul.
http://homepage.mac.com/lawrencebenne/Loess_Hills_Seminar/PhotoAlbum75.html

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