MISSOURI YELLOWS

Yellow has always been a favorite color of mine, especially in flowers and birds. After a long winter of grays and whites, it brings a lift to the spirit.

Yellow-Belly Sapsucker

Funny how such a cheerful color also has negative connotations, but it does. The color yellow has traditionally been associated with cowardice, treachery, inconstancy and jealousy. Interesting that in France, the doors of traitors’ homes were daubed with yellow. It’s also been used as an insult or challenge. “What are you, yellow bellied?”   I’ve even heard the term, “you yellow-bellied sapsucker!” That term originally applied to birds that literally have a yellow belly, like the yellow-bellied sapsucker. Later came to mean a term for a low down coward. Poor maligned bird.  
 

We do have Yellow-Belly Sapsuckers in Missouri and they forage on trees in forests, orchards, and parks for insects and they also eat fruits, nuts, and berries. Sapsuckers are woodpeckers that drill small, closely spaced holes in trees to reach the sap and insects drawn to the sap. They aren’t bright yellow on the bellies but more of a light yellow wash.

American Golden Finches Male and female at the feeder

Missouri, like many other places, do have bright yellow Goldfinches. We do have them year round although there is an influx of them in March and April.  I smile every time I see them in the trees or at the feeders and they’re like flying yellow flowers. Goldfinches pair up and begin nesting in July and August when the soft milkweed and thistles begin to bloom. They like to use thistle silk for their nests. I keep a feeder with thistle and other goodies for the finches.  I love the contrast of seeing the yellow finches and red cardinals at the feeders.

We also have Eastern Meadowlarks. Very unassuming colored bird and blend right into brown underbrush. In the winter they're much easier to spot against the snow. Like the sapsucker, they’re not obviously yellow, just their bellies.  They’re here year round and I actually see them more in winter as they forage in the fields but I hear them singing throughout the warm season.

Another bright yellow bird that I first mistook for a Golden finch, until I got a closer look, is the Prothonotary Warbler. It’s named after the Roman Catholic clerks who wore yellow robes. They tend to forage for insects in fallen trees or dead standing trees and can be found near water. We have a pond across the county road from the front yard and we have a stream that’s shaped like a giant U around the back of our property. They’re year round residents but, like the Goldenfinches, the rest show up in Missouri in April and begin nesting.

Missouri has lots of yellow wildflowers to delight the senses. They’re common sights along roadways and in fields. I have many, many wildflowers growing in the fields and love my walking track that brings me up close to so many. It makes walking a joy.

Yellow Rocket Flower

 

Yellow Cone-flower, aka Echinea

Finch among the Tickseed Sunflowers

Common Mulleien

Although Missouri has many outstanding features to see and experience, for me, it’s the beauty that surrounds my house on any given day. The animals, birds, and flowers. I love how the birdsong fills the air, the gossip at the bird feeders, the cry of an eagle, the fuzz of yellow-green oaks covering the hills in the spring amid the carpet of wildflowers. It’s a wonderful place to be.

There are so many beautiful places in this world and I hope you've enjoyed a view of my corner of it, here, in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. 

Alley Springs Mill and wildflowers

Photos: Missouri conservation, Missouri field guide to flowers, and personal

MONDAY MUSINGS: MISSOURI'S WINE COUNTRY

When someone mentions American wine country where do you picture the wine country?   

Many would say Sonoma or Napa Valleys and it is true northern California is world renown as wine country. They produce premier wines well able to compete with their European counterparts and many times surpassing them. California accounts for 90% of American wine production.

What many don’t realize is that there are vineyards in just about every state in the United States. Granted, not all are well known, not all vineyards produce wine grapes, and certainly not all are designated federally approved as an American Viticultural Area (AVA). American Viticultural Area is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features such as mountains and lakes as well as climate and vineyard soil.

Nine Winery trails near the wineries in Missouri

Another interesting fact is that Ozark Mountain area, in particular, The Augusta AVA, was the first federally approved American Viticultural Area gaining the status on June 20, 1980, eight months before the Napa Valley AVA in northern California. 

Ozark Mountain AVA is located in northwest Arkansas, southern Missouri, and northeast Oklahoma. 

The sixth largest American Viticultural Area in total size, Ozark Mountain AVA covers 3,520,000 acres.
  

Five smaller AVAs have been established within its boundaries, to recognize those distinct regions whose climate, vineyard soil, or other growing conditions create unique areas for viticulture.  There are now five AVAs within the Ozark AVA in Missouri. In 2009, there were 92,000 wineries. The latest figures I can find (2012) show there are over 100,000 wineries operating in the state of Missouri.
  
In 1855, Frederick Law Olmsted, an American landscape architect and well known travel journalist, said Missouri and Illinois each had 1100 acres in wine. One of the first commercial wineries established in Missouri was Mount Pleasant Winery, founded in 1859 by Georg and Friedrich Muench. They chose the town area of Mount Pleasant (later renamed Augusta) because it reminded them of their home in Germany.

Missouri was instrumental in saving the French wine industry. 

In the 1860’s between two-thirds and nine-tenths of all European vineyards were destroyed by the phylloxera (little aphid like of pests) epidemic. The rootstock of American native species of grapes was immune to the aphids. It was because of Missouri’s state entomologist, Charles Riley, that France’s wine industry was saved. Riley sent millions of rootstocks to France because it was found the french varieties of grapes could be grafted to these rootstocks. There are monuments and statutes honoring Riley and his scientific colleague, J.É. Planchon, in Montpellier, France.

Augusta AVA Wine Area

Meanwhile, back in Missouri, the 1860’s the wine industry centered in the German colony of Hermann, west of St. Louis, and was also known as Missouri Rhineland. Later Italian immigrants also entered wine production. In the mid-1880s, more wine was produced by volume in Missouri than in any other state. Before Prohibition, Missouri was the second-largest wine-producing state in the nation.  Prohibition just about destroyed the United States wineries. It took decades to reestablish wine vineyards and wineries and it wasn’t until the 1960’s that the vineyards recovered sufficiently to consistently produce quality wines. In Missouri, Stone Hill Winery opened in 1965 and Mount Pleasant Winery opened shortly thereafter.

Native Norton wine grapes

Missouri's climate, with its long, hot summers, good sun exposure, and thin rocky Ozarks soil, is excellent for growing grapes. The moderate average temperature allows natural cellaring of wine and many of Missouri’s caves have been used both in storing wine and beer. The most prominent Missouri-grown variety is Cynthiana/Norton, believed to be a variety of Vitis aestivalis. Other varieties grown include native American grapes, Concord and Catawba, as well as French-American hybrids such as Vignoles, Seyval, and Chambourcin. Recently, there has been more interest in planting Vitis vinifera grapes varieties, especially the fine European grapes: Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Petit Verdot and Mourvedre.

Some of  Les Bourgeois Vineyards

The three largest wineries in Missouri are (in order):

 

  St.James Winery

 

 Stone Hill Winery

 Les Bourgeois Winery and Bistro

Missouri is home to nine wine trails which host wine events and festivals year round and encourage weekend getaways to some of the established wine regions in the state.

Photos: wiki commons, Dept of Conservation, Historical Missouri Archives, personal

THE UNUSUAL, UNIQUE, AND UNCOVENTIONAL

 

There are many unusual things in Missouri. We’ve seen the history of Missouri and the unique karst topography of the land and natural wonders—all beautiful and interesting—but what of the cultural aspects? There are many in Missouri but one I find most interesting is Forest Park in St. Louis. It’s history and development as well as the buildings and landscape is an interesting study of unique and unconventional.

Forest Park Map

The idea of a large park was the brainchild of Hiram Leffingwell, a St. Louis developer. He proposed, in 1872, a 1,000 acre park about three miles outside the city limits. It was approved by the Missouri General Assembly to purchase the land for the park. In 1873 it was overturned by the Missouri Supreme Court. In 1874 the battle for a large park was spearheaded by another developer, Andrew McKinley. He put together another proposal that met all the legal challenges from the Supreme Court decision. However, he chose another tract of land for the park that was in a heavily forested area even further out in the rural areas west of the city. This tract of land was 1,375 acres with the River Des Peres and wetlands.

 

Maximillian G. Kern and Julius Pitzman designed the Park's original plan. The park was dedicated June 24, 1876 with a crowd of about 50,000 in attendance.

In 1901, Forest Park was selected as the location of the 1904 World's Fair, known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The fair opened April 30, 1904 and closed December 1, 1904. The Fair had many unique displays but what seemed to cause a great deal of wonder was the relatively new invention, electricity. Imagine what it was like to many who had never witnessed electricity to see electric lighting, both inside and out, of all of the important buildings and roads. They even had a display of an electrical plug and wall outlet. We take these things for granted but it was very unusual to the majority to witness how plugs and outlets worked.

1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition

Keep in mind Forest Park was selected in 1901 to be the site of the world’s fair in 1904 and open its doors to the world. A great deal of work went into the preparation of the park and buildings for displays. George Kessler, the fair's landscape architect, dramatically changed the park: the wetlands areas in the western part of the park were drained and converted into water features five connected lakes were created. Sewer and water lines installed during the fair—again an unusual happening—remained for public use in the park. After the fair, thousands of trees were planted and vistas were created and all the buildings created for the fair were used by the park many remain today.

 

One of the most unique and unusual buildings in the park is The Jewel Box (aka St. Louis Floral Conservatory). It’s an Art Deco greenhouse and was built in 1936. It’s listed in the National Historic Register. It’s stunning.

Photo by Randy Allen more of his (& other photographers) work can be found on http://www.forestparkforever.org/

The Jewel Box consists of 16,664 square feet of plate glass in over 4,000 panes, set in wood and wrought iron supports. Most of the glass is framed by copper with a verdigris (green tint) patina. The Jewel Box is supported by eight fixed arches, which carry the structure's weight. There are also triangular trusses between every other arch. The ceiling is composed of wood planking to prevent damage as Missouri has strong thunderstorms usually accompanied by hail. 

The arches of the floor fountains

The arch theme is further carried out in the constant stream of fountains (seen coming out of the floor of the building) that provide a pleasing sound as well as reflective pools and moisture for the greenery.

The Jewel Box's entrance is a vestibule made of limestone. Inside the greenhouse, there is a concrete-floored balcony located across the south end. A reflecting pool lies in front of the Jewel Box's entrance.

Forest Park Gazebo and Muny

 There are many unusual, unconventional, and unique things located in Forest Park. Just ask the millions of visitors each year that come to look.

Photos: National Historic Registry, Forest Park, Randy Allen