Growing Blue Flowers

03/25/2026

https://www.customink.com/fundraising/support-mni-sota?utm_campaign=mobile-campaign-page-share&utm_content=support-mni-sota&utm_medium=social&utm_source=copy-link

Honoring Dakota Project & Art of the Rural are creating a fundraiser to support the Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County and La Regia Market in Red Wing, in addition to supporting the efforts of community members giving in a time of need. WE SEE YOU and want to support you and the love you all pour i...

03/25/2026

Officially open at the Tribal State Relations Conference at Prairie Island. GBF will be here today & tomorrow till 4pm

03/25/2026

Next week is the biggest raptor migration passage of the year. And it happens directly over your commute.

Between March 28 and April 10, the Broad-winged Hawk migration reaches its annual peak along the Appalachian Ridge system and the Atlantic Coast flyway. On peak days at major hawk watch sites, counters record 10,000-30,000 raptors in a single afternoon. The one-day record at Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania: 21,488 Broad-winged Hawks on September 14, 2006 (fall migration). The spring record: 11,247 in a single day.

The spring passage is earlier and more compressed than fall. 80% of the annual Broad-winged Hawk migration passes through the eastern US in a 14-day window centered on early April. That window opens THIS WEEKEND.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

THE KETTLES: Broad-winged Hawks are the ONLY eastern raptor that migrates in flocks. They stack into thermal columns — spiraling upward in a tight spiral, then gliding downhill to the next thermal. A single kettle can contain 200-5,000 birds at altitudes from 500 to 6,000 feet. At 6,000 feet, they're visible as specks. At 1,000 feet, you can see individual wing shapes. At 500 feet — which happens when thermals are weak — they're close enough to hear their wing beats.

THE MIX: Broad-wingeds dominate (85-90% of the count), but riding with them: Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks, Ospreys, and occasional Bald Eagles. Each species has a distinctive flight shape — learning 3-4 shapes lets you identify species from half a mile:
- Broad-winged: compact, stubby wings, short tail. Looks like a flying barrel.
- Sharp-shinned: tiny, flap-flap-glide rhythm, long tail.
- Cooper's: larger than sharp-shin, slower wingbeats, rounder tail tip.
- Red-tailed: large, broad wings, obvious dark belly band, rufous tail.

HOW TO SEE THEM (anywhere in the eastern US):
1. Pick a day with light SW wind and puffy cumulus clouds (cumulus = thermals = hawks).
2. Find a south-facing hilltop, rooftop, or open field between 11 AM and 3 PM.
3. Face south-southwest. The hawks travel NE, riding thermals that develop over south-facing slopes.
4. Scan the base of cumulus clouds — kettles form where warm air rises. One speck becomes 50 in 5 minutes.
5. Bring binoculars. The big kettles are visible to the naked eye, but individual species ID requires 8-10× magnification.

Peak days: Look for the first warm day after a cold front passes — the high pressure behind a cold front produces the clear, sunny, thermal-rich conditions that generate the biggest kettle days. A warm day after 2-3 cool days = go outside at noon.

You drive under this migration every spring. The hawks have been passing over your commute since March. You just never looked up.

Next week, look up.

03/25/2026

Last Minute post as I just found out a few days ago. We will be set up at the
3/24 & 3/25/2026
Tribal-State Relations Training
Treasure Island Casino

Come by and visit

03/22/2026

❤️❤️🙏🏽🙏🏽

For the first time, scientists have captured high-speed video showing trees emitting a faint, electrical glow during thunderstorms. This extraordinary phenomenon, filmed in the Blue Ridge Mountains by researchers from Penn State University, reveals that trees can generate sparks in strong electric fields without being struck by lightning. The effect, known as corona discharge, produces a blue glow at the tips of branches and leaves. It occurs when the storm’s electric field is strong enough to ionize air molecules near the sharp edges of trees, causing electrons to move and emit energy in a plasma form. Unlike lightning, corona discharge is “cool” electricity, producing light without heat or damage to the tree.

This discovery not only offers a mesmerizing visual but also highlights the broader environmental impact of forests. The corona discharges generate hydroxyl radicals, key molecules that help clean the atmosphere by breaking down pollutants and greenhouse gases like methane. This suggests that forests may play a more significant role in maintaining the Earth’s electrical balance and reducing greenhouse gas concentrations than previously recognized.

The intensity of the glow varies among tree species and is influenced by factors such as canopy size and leaf shape. Evergreen conifers, with their pointed needle-like leaves, are particularly efficient at concentrating the electric field, producing brighter glows compared to broadleaf trees. Over time, as trees grow, their corona activity can increase, further enhancing their atmospheric impact.

Historically, sailors have observed similar glowing effects on ship masts during storms, but only now has modern technology confirmed the phenomenon in natural forested environments. By combining high-speed cameras and sensitive sensors, researchers have captured a visual testament to the hidden electrical activity of trees, providing a new perspective on the dynamic interactions between vegetation and the atmosphere. This study not only deepens our understanding of thunderstorms but also emphasizes the importance of forests in sustaining Earth’s environmental and atmospheric health.

03/20/2026

03/19/2026

Good Morning everyone,
Just thought I should mention that I have been told many times that my Buffalo Tallow soaps work very well as Shampoo. I kept forgetting to mention in GBF Page.

03/18/2026

It took me a little while to get here then a little while to set up (breakfast & visiting in between). I believe I am ready now at MIEA.
Please come visit. GBF is in the WACONIA Room. We will be here till noon Friday

03/12/2026

The most abundant wetland plant in North America produces free flour nobody harvests anymore.
What most people recognize only as a decorative pond plant or a child's brown velvet sausage on a stick actually contains one of the highest-yielding natural starch flour sources ever harvested by indigenous and colonial wetland communities across the entire North American continent.
Meet Cattail Root Starch Flour Settling.
Indigenous communities across North America crushed cattail rhizomes underwater to settle pure white starch flour — a flour production method documented by colonial observers across multiple northeastern and plains wetland regions from the 1600s onward.
While commercial gluten-free flours require industrial milling, chemical processing, and expensive manufactured packaging, cattail starch flour settles pure and white from crushed rhizomes with nothing but cold water and bare hands.
The memory of someone wading knee-deep into a autumn marsh — hands working cattail roots underwater against a woven basket, the water clouding white with released starch around their fingers — is a foraging memory that has vanished from living knowledge almost completely.
Crush freshly harvested cattail rhizomes vigorously underwater in any container, allow the released white starch to settle undisturbed for twenty minutes, then carefully decant the water to reveal pure flour.
If you have always believed that the most complete and accessible foods grow freely in the landscapes most people drive past without stopping, this wetland flour confirms it absolutely.
Save this before it disappears from your feed.
Your kitchen deserves a pure white gluten-free flour that costs nothing, grows in every wetland within driving distance, and requires no mill, no grinder, and no equipment beyond your own hands.
When did your family last harvest any food directly from a wetland or marsh?

03/10/2026

So far for March & April, GBF will be set up @

3/18-3/20/2026
MIEA Conference
Mystic Lake Event Center

3/24-3/26/2026
State Education
Treasure Island Casino

4/21-4/23/2026
MIWSAC Conference
Black Bear Casino

Come show & say Hello

12/19/2025

Ready for chuckles or laughing out loud?

🔗: bit.ly/4pOa9zy

President Donald Trump said he's been told by a former White House physician that he's the "healthiest" when it comes to himself and former President Barack Obama.

📷️:Anna Moneymaker/Getty; KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty

12/19/2025

Saddened that Growing Blue Flowers will not be able to be be there tomorrow … an Event I booked fir Bob’s 75th birthday switched dates on me. From Joy & Love, I gifted my vendor space to Black Roots Seasonings .. check them out!❤️