Homers: What’s going right
By The Gazette Editorial Board———–SCOUTS HONOR: Eagle Scouts have contributed about 100 improvement projects to Indian Creek Nature Center as part of achieving the Boy Scouts’ top rank. So it’s fitting...
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Homegrown: April 2011 calendar
Dan Bussey 2 (3) Following are gardening and eco-events happening in Eastern Iowa in April:Fri., April 1, 5-8 p.m., Linn County Local Farmer and CSA Fair, Prairiewoods, Hiawatha. Learn how to add...
View ArticleExperiment shows MPG improvement easier than you think
A 9.3 percent improvement in fuel economy might seem to be a solid win in Rich Patterson’s $500 truck mileage experiment.Patterson, director of the Indian Creek Nature Center, ordered up a healthy...
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REPLAY: Live chat on gas-saving ideas
FILE - In this file photo taken March 8, 2011, gasoline is dispensed at a station in Oakland, Calif. Gasoline pump prices across the U.S. fell slightly Tuesday, March 15, for the first time in nearly a...
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Homegrown: June 2011 calendar
Statue and Garden Arch Following are gardening and eco-events scheduled for June 2011 in Eastern Iowa:Wed., June 1, 10 a.m., REAL Walk, Hiking Rim to River in the Grand Canyon, Indian Creek Nature...
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Homegrown: July 2011 calendar
wandalunnlillies Following are gardening and eco-events happening in Eastern Iowa during July 2011:Wed., July 6, 10 a.m., REAL Walk: Sloths in the Woods, Indian Creek Nature Center, 6665 Otis Rd. SE....
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Iowans can, should restore land for health, quality of life
By Rich Patterson—- This year marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most obscure but effective pieces of conservation legislation enacted. In 1911, President Howard Taft signed the Weeks Act into...
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Homegrown: August 2011 Calendar
lattice-tower Following are gardening and eco-events happening in Eastern Iowa this month:Wed., Aug. 3, 10 a.m., REAL Walk: Farming in Iowa Prior to Euramerican Settlement, Indian Creek Nature Center,...
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Homegrown: September 2011 calendar
Luke Urich, age 7 or Shueyville, opens the wings of a monarch butterfly after tagging it with a sticker at Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center near Toddville on Saturday, August 28, 2010. The monarchs...
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Tour de Coop to showcase Cedar Rapids hen houses
A child's playhouse was transformed into this coop in southwest Cedar Rapids. (photo/CR-CLUC)Resembling playhouses, tiny cabins or mini-condos, only the chicken wire provides a clue as to their true...
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Homegrown: October 2011 calendar
seed savers Following are gardening and eco-events happening in Eastern Iowa during October 2011:Sat., Oct. 1, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Annual Solar Tour & Energy Efficiency Open House, Prairiewoods 120...
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City hopes former sandpit will transform into prairie preserve
Douglas McArthur with the Cedar Rapids Parks Department harvests seeds from prairie grasses in a prairie at the Indian Creek Nature Center on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011, in southeast Cedar Rapids, Iowa....
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Urban woodlands precious
By Rich Patterson—- Although details of D-Day were secret, my mother once told me she knew the invasion was imminent. On June 6, 1944, her fiance, who later became my father, helped blast the Germans...
View ArticleHomegrown: November 2011 Calendar
Following are gardening and eco-events happening in November 2011 in Eastern Iowa:Tues., Nov. 1, 7-8 p.m., Frances Moore Lappe presents “Sustainable Foods and Climate Change: Fixing a Broken System”...
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Homegrown: December 2011 calendar
A male red bellied woodpecker picks up a peanut at a residence on Dvorak Drive in Spillville New Year's day as a wind chill advisory is posted for northeast Iowa. Extremely cold temperatures, strong...
View ArticleChristmas tree disposal information
Residents have several options for disposal of their Christmas trees this year. There are many different types of trees: live, flocked and artificial trees. Flocked trees are live trees that have...
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Homegrown: Not a Lot of Plot
Shelby Foley of Cedar Rapids plants yellow onions at Lowe Park in Marion on Monday, April 12, 2010. (Liz Martin/The Gazette) The following is from Deb Engmark of Brucemore, the Indian Creek Nature...
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Homegrown: January 2012 Calendar
Ian Stuelke, 9, of Center Point releases a male downy woodpecker during the winter bird banding program at the Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center release banded birds back into the wild Saturday,...
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Homegrown: February 2012 Calendar
A close up of an Arachnidan Trap daylily in the garden of Linn County Master Gardener Zora Ronan specializes in daylilies at her home Thursday, July 9, 2009, in Central City. Ronan will open her garden...
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Homegrown: February 2012 Calendar
A close up of an Arachnidan Trap daylily in the garden of Linn County Master Gardener Zora Ronan specializes in daylilies at her home Thursday, July 9, 2009, in Central City. Ronan will open her garden...
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Interest in backyard chickens appears to be growing
Indian Creek Nature Center Executive Board Member Rebecca Mumwaw (left) holds her hen, Maxine, as Director Rich Patterson speaks Saturday during a workshop on how to raise backyard chickens at the...
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Homegrown: March 2012 Calendar
Volunteer Mike Duss of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, empties a bag containing maple sap at Indian Creek Nature Center on Friday, Feb. 17, 2012, in southeast Cedar Rapids. Volunteers at the center are collecting...
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Homegrown: May 2012 Calendar
Dennis Carter leading a group tour through the wooded hiking trails at Heritage Farm in Decorah. (photo/Seed Savers Exchange) Following are gardening and eco-events happening in Eastern Iowa during May...
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Homegrown: July 2012 calendar
Greg Brown performs at Seed Savers Exchange Heritage Farm in Decorah. (photo/Seed Savers Exchange) Following are gardening and eco-events happening in Eastern Iowa during July 2012:Wed., July 4, 11...
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Homegrown: September 2012 Calendar
Luke Urich, age 7 or Shueyville, opens the wings of a monarch butterfly after tagging it with a sticker at Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center near Toddville on Saturday, August 28, 2010. The monarchs...
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Few Americans are prepared for disasters
By Rich Patterson—- It was four days after Hurricane Sandy hit before I could make contact with my 89-year-old parents. Finally, Mom’s voice came through a weak cellphone connection.“We’re just fine...
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Give the gift of a stress-free celebration this holiday season
(Getty Images) CEDAR RAPIDS – Cathy Kearns found herself at a holiday crossroads three years ago.Wanting to give back to her community, but unable to do so financially, she signed up to be a volunteer...
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Homegrown: December 2012 Calendar
A fused glass tray made from a wine bottle is displayed with a knife with a fused glass handle in Marge Helsell's workshop on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012, in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)...
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Homegrown: January 2013 Calendar
Following are gardening and eco-events happening in Eastern Iowa during January 2013: Tues., Jan. 1 – First Day Hikes: Begin the New Year rejuvenating and connecting with the outdoors by taking a...
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After Indian Creek Nature Center’s rejection billboard still going up next door
After saying no to an electronic billboard similar to this one in northeast Cedar Rapids, the Indian Creek Nature Center's neighbor is getting the $200K lease and billboard. (Cliff Jette/The...
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Indian Creek Nature Center looking for new director of operations
Rich Patterson, shown here in 2008, will focus on fundraising for the Indian Creek Nature Center after being the center's executive director of operations for the past 35 years. (The Gazette)The Indian...
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Act now to help weather droughts
By Rich Patterson—- September 1967 was a tough time for North Idaho ranchers. Months of heat and drought bottomed out wells, streams and springs. Forest fire danger was extreme.One late afternoon,...
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Think pink: What to look for when buying salmon
Rich Patterson, director of the Indian Creek Nature Center, holds a Sockeye salmon along the Ugashik River in southwest Alaska. Patterson was a fishery biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and...
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Indian Creek Nature Center celebrates 40th year
[View with PicLens] CEDAR RAPIDS — The Indian Creek Nature Center’s first public program was a Groundhog Day walk led by then-director Curt Abdouch.The center, which celebrates its 40th anniversary...
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Culture shift for Cedar Rapids museums
CEDAR RAPIDS — Terry Pitts officially retires from the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art on Sunday. Maybe now he’ll know what day it is.Museums are repositories of the past, but those who run them live in the...
View ArticleIndian Creek Nature Center aims for rare sustainable building certification
If the plans for a new learning center at the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids go forward as envisioned, the building could be one of only a handful of “Living Building Challenge” certified...
View ArticleNature center’s bold plan raises bar on sustainability
By The Gazette Editorial Board—- Iowa’s only private non-profit nature center wants to take its ongoing mission one big step further: become an “amazing space,” become one of the “greenest of the...
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Healthy non-profit funding requires long view
John Myers Rich Patterson By John Myers and Rich Patterson—-A common planning mistake often plagues non-profit organizations. They create a future funding crisis by constructing a new building without...
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Winter stings Iowa’s honey bee population
The buzz in the bee community isn’t good following the harsh winter conditions experienced throughout much of the Midwest.Bob Wolff lifts the last frame-filled box cleans out one of the 12 bee hives at...
View ArticleWinter stings Iowa’s honey bee population
The buzz in the bee community isn’t good following the harsh winter conditions experienced throughout much of the Midwest.Iowa bee experts estimate an upward of 65 to 70 percent of the state’s honey...
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