Category: columns-all

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Mysteries Revealed

By Christian Begeman

In the July/August 2021 issue of South Dakota Magazine, John Andrews and I collaborated on an article about the unique fens of the Glacial Lakes. This photo essay was a highlight for me, as I helped pitch it as well as provided the photographs. The last few years I have found myself drawn more and more to botany photography, primarily because of the wildflowers, but I’ve also learned how long, slow walks in the tall grass can be good for the soul. And not just walks in the tall grass, either. I’ve found amazing blooms in hillside springs of the Northern Black Hills as well as the warm waters of Cascade Creek in Fall River County. But the fens continue to be a favorite place to take my macro and telephoto lenses on a walk.

The article mentioned a”fen walk” organized by The Nature Conservancy in late August. I marked that weekend on my calendar as a great opportunity to learn more about these areas from folks who’ve studied and/or managed them over the years. I figured the tour would also make for a great follow-up column here, as well.

It was a foggy morning when just over a dozen fen walkers met at Jacobson Fen Preserve in rural Deuel County. The weather seemed fitting since many of my notions and ideas about fens came from English literature that often describe fens as foggy, misty and mysterious. Before the morning was over, there would be wind gusts, mist and then sunshine. The inconsistent weather did not stop us, however. Soon we were striding through cattails and bull rushes well over 6 feet tall into the heart of a calcareous fen and all its treasures just below one of the northern slopes of the preserve. Blooms of note included lesser-fringed gentian, Kalm’s lobelia and American Grass of Parnassus.

Just below the fen, Owen McElroy, who accompanied from the Game, Fish and Parks Department, discovered what was likely the find of the day. From a muddy side bank, he pulled out a bison horn. It has been more than 150 years since the last wild bison roamed the area. Other finds of interest included Riddell’s Goldenrod, arrow grass, jewelweed and tiny fringed willowherb blooms that I’d never noticed before. And that is the beauty of taking the time to do such walks — meeting and learning from like-minded folks as well as spending time in a small piece of wild nature, right here in our own backyard.

Once the sun emerged, I left the group to return to the Grass of Parnassus blooms to get macro photos in good light. From there I wandered south to 7-Mile Fen, nearly due east of Clear Lake. Just beginning to bloom were wild orchids that I’d never seen in my life before the previous summer. Great Plains lady’s tresses were waving in the breeze, just beginning to show their lovely white blooms. It was a wonderful way to end my time in fen country, and great motivation to come back.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midco he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

A Decade of Photos

By Christian Begeman

On Aug. 19, 2011, South Dakota Magazine published my first photography web column. The magazine had just redesigned its website and the editors were looking for new contributors to help the cause. I took on the opportunity with some trepidation as well as excitement. At the time, photography was a growing passion, but I knew that contributing to the magazine just raised the bar. The last thing I wanted to do was contribute mediocre material. I was just given the focus I needed to not only get better but learn a lot more about life in South Dakota.

Sometimes I’m asked if I have a favorite photograph that I’ve taken over the years. I truly don’t know the answer. As I look back over that last decade’s worth of columns, there are standouts. Learning about and photographing the northern lights ultimately got one of my photos shown on the CBS Evening News on St. Patrick’s Day of 2015. Shimmering green-tinged aurora in the early morning hours of that particular holiday is newsworthy, I guess. Speaking of amazing sky scenery, I’ve witnessed wondrous skyscapes over the last 10 years. The most striking vistas come in the aftermath of storms, when the first rays of sunlight appear. The resulting rainbows and/or colored clouds have been more beautiful than any master painter could conjure.

My side project of finding and photographing the region’s country churches was born from this column. The”Prairie Sanctuaries” project opened another door to a new passion project that I’m very honored to be a part of. I first saw and photographed tiny Rabbit Butte church in early July of 2014. Singer, songwriter and author Eliza Blue had recently been married there and she reached out to me by commenting on my photos. We met a few years later to do the first of a short video series for the Prairie Sanctuaries Facebook page and have collaborated on various projects ever since. The most recent is a half hour television show called”Wish You Were Here with Eliza Blue.” After four experimental shows and a holiday special last year, we decided to go ahead with new episodes starting in September to air on South Dakota Public Television’s social media channels as well as their traditional broadcasting channels. The irony is that I typically don’t feel comfortable putting people in front of my lens. Even so, the folks I’ve met and worked with along the way have all been worth overcoming that hang-up. Plus, the travel and planning for the shows have given me more excuses to travel the region, camera at the ready.

As I look back over a decade’s worth of columns, I can’t help but notice when other photography interests were born. The first photo of a migrating Magnolia warbler at the Dells of the Big Sioux in May of 2016 is one example. That little guy has caused me to go out chasing warblers every May since. Most recently, botany photography has been the driving force to my wanderings. With wildflowers comes other wonders, as well: butterflies, hummingbirds and, of course, the signature South Dakota sunsets on the drive home. The last 10 years have been an amazing journey. Thanks South Dakota Magazine for the opportunity. It’s been a privilege.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midco he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

A Tradition of Stewardship

By Michael Zimny

On a Sunday in June, a group of former Boy Scouts and troop leaders gathered at an austere grave site, hidden in a corner of Badlands National Park, and commemorated the interred with a Psalm reading and a chorus of”The Old Rugged Cross.”

The grave is where the Tyree family — who homesteaded in the Tyree Basin before it became incorporated into a national park — buried Eugene Tyree, who lived only a few hours after his birth in 1916. His twin brother Howard survived.

The Tyrees migrated to this arid landscape from West Virginia in 1911. James Tyree, son of Howard, recalls stories his father told him of how they lived here. “They attempted to do a little bit of everything,” he says. “They captured wild horses and broke them, sold them to the military. They did some work for the railroad. Back then they used to have problems with the coal-fired trains starting fires on either side of the track. They would have people that would take a big drag line, like a farming disk — I heard they were twenty or twenty-five feet wide, and they were usually pulled by a six or eight horse team — they would go out to a certain point on the railroad line and drive till the end of the day. Then at the end of the second or third day, they crossed the tracks again and came home the next day.”

Howard Tyree was the youngest of seven children. At some point, the family moved closer to the town of Conata. “I was told that Conata was a place where they had early rodeos, that were just out in the plains, in the open,” James Tyree recalls. “They didn’t have the big bleachers and gates and stuff like that. My dad was quite a horseman. He was kind of a horse whisperer. There never was a horse that he couldn’t train. In the rodeo he did the bulldogging, bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, whatever.

“He got disqualified one year out there from calf roping. He had adapted a method of throwing his rope underhanded and he could catch three feet in one loop, yank him up. And then when the calf was in the air, he’d throw two half hitches overhand and tie the knot. So he never got off his horse. He was disqualified for that, which was rather unique.”

Eventually the family moved to Minneapolis. Howard Tyree and the other Tyree brothers enlisted in the service (Howard in the Air Force) during World War II. Later, Howard ran a small ranch in Golden Valley, Minnesota, where James was raised.

In 1954, Howard Tyree drove his family out to the old homestead and visited the grave site of his twin brother, Eugene, marked only by a pile of rocks. “He took a bottle,” James says, “and he wrote a note identifying the site and set it in the pile of rocks. Sometime later the Boy Scouts came along and they found the grave site and they contacted my dad.”

Bill Tines was part of that scout troop, based in Wasta. “The Scout leader was George ‘Junior’ Gunn. His dad had homesteaded not very far from the Tyree grave and Junior knew about the grave. And somehow our Scout leaders decided that’d be a good project for us to fix up his grave. So probably in the late fifties or so we went down and we found the grave and we put the posts up and the cross and everything.”

“My dad and [his brother] Roy went up there for that,” James Tyree recalls. “And a few years later, when I was older, they had a reunion out there from the group that took care of the grave site. My dad, Roy and I went out there, around 1960, and we rode horseback in there and spent a few days out there.”

Over the years, Scouts became troop leaders. Wasta could no longer support Troop 30. Bill Tines moved to New Underwood and led the Troop there. The tradition of stewardship over the infant’s grave continued, as did the relationship with the Tyrees.

When Howard Tyree passed away in 2007, James Tyree, accompanied by his son Danton, honored his request to scatter his ashes at the site of his twin brother’s grave. Bill Tines and several generations of Scouts joined the family at the memorial.

Last year, Sioux Falls resident Lance Smith was running the unmarked Sage Creek Wilderness Loop in the Badlands when he came across the lone grave site. He made it a personal mission to do some maintenance and set out to contact the Tyree family.

In May, Smith and some other volunteers, accompanied by Danton Tyree, Bill Tines and some former Scouts, made the trip to repair the fence — which bison use as a scratching post — around the site. Many of them returned for the reunion and memorial service, more than 60 years after Junior Gunn decided to improve upon the Coke bottle and note left by Howard Tyree.

“They always say things happen and you wonder, ‘Lord, why do you do this?'” Tines says. “I’m sure when that little baby died, they thought, ‘Lord, why do you do this?’ Well, a hundred years later, there’s people going down to take care of that grave. We’d like some of these young kids from these families that have been down there to kind of take it over and keep it going. There’s four generations in my family that have gone down there to the grave and took care of it.”

“There’s so much I don’t know, or didn’t know, about my grandfather and his growing up that this all kind of brought up,” says Danton Tyree.”So hearing stories with the Scouts has been fun, and hearing those things from my dad specifically. Sometimes you don’t start thinking about those things until they’re gone.”

“Not very many people have their name on a map, where there’s significance to the land, from your ancestors. There’s not a lot of people that can have that connection. And for me it was kind of lost. Then when Lance came around, he just completely reinvigorated the whole thing for our family. There’s a lot of grave sites out there. And for this one, for some reason, to draw the interest that it has, it has certainly benefited me and my family.”

Michael Zimny is a content producer for South Dakota Public Broadcasting and is based in Rapid City. He blogs for SDPB and contributes columns to the South Dakota Magazine website.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Natural Fireworks

By Christian Begeman

Independence Day has come and gone. It has been a dry spring and early summer. The weather reminded of my days growing up along the Dewey and Ziebach County line near the Moreau River breaks. The’80s offered up dry and hot summers but we Begeman boys were always allowed to buy fireworks from a mail order catalog that would arrive around the first of June. I still remember watching anxiously for the UPS truck when the last week of June came around with about as much excitement as Christmas. That UPS truck would soon bring all the $10 to $15 worth of firecrackers, smoke bombs and bottle rockets that our allowances could afford. If it was dry, we always had the garden hose at the ready. If it was windy and dry, we had to wait. But the wait was always worth it.

I still enjoy a good fireworks show, but nowadays the kinds I actively seek are the tiny explosions of color and beauty found in the varieties of wildflowers blooming this time of year. A dry year, like this one, makes them a little tougher to find. A strong wind or even a mild breeze makes them difficult to photograph. Their beauty attracts insects galore, and some of those can be quite annoying, but all those troubles are a trifle when standing in a native prairie remnant under a vast blue sky surrounded by wildflowers waving in the wind. These scenes of the fleeting loveliness of summer are something I am compelled to search out and enjoy in South Dakota, not just for photography, but also to recalibrate and find that elusive center again.

Late June and early July found me in search of new wildflowers. From the Northern Black Hills to the fens of the northeast I searched for orchids and butterflies as well as the old favorites. Flowering prickly pear, yucca and black-eyed Susan found their way in front of my lens as well as stormy skies and even a short-lived rainbow. I re-established the fact that I’m a tick magnet. I ripped another pair of jeans while losing a battle with downed white spruce tree. Poison ivy somehow found its way to a single point of my elbow, much to my dismay. Deer flies, gnats and many other unknown harassing insects tried their best to annoy, but even so, the treasures found made up for the pains. Bog orchids, stream orchids, twin flowers and so much more was new to my eyes and camera. The vast array of flora that can be found in South Dakota is incredible, from alpine and mountain species through short-grass prairie country to the lush tall grass prairie remnants in the east. Throw in the ever-changing but always amazing Dakota skies and capturing images to share in this column was actually quite easy, incredibly fun, and truly a joy.

Lately rain has been finding its way to our region. Let’s hope that trend continues (minus the hail) and the late summer bloom continues to bring nature’s fireworks up from the good earth and into our view. And here’s to hoping each of you reading this can get out and experience a bit of summer’s visual poetry on the prairie yet this season. Trust me, it is good for the heart and soul.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midco he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Bob’s Last Story about Jack McCall

By John Andrews

Bob Hanson knew all about Yankton’s history. Fortunately, he was also a mason, so whenever he came to inspect the nearly 150-year-old bricks of the Pennington House — the home of Dakota Territory Gov. John Pennington and today the publishing headquarters for South Dakota Magazine — he always had a story.

Jack McCall, the man who murdered Wild Bill Hickok at Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood in August of 1876, was one of his favorite subjects. After being acquitted at a hastily assembled miners’ court in Deadwood, U.S. marshals arrested McCall and brought him to Yankton, where he stood trial again, was convicted and was hanged just north of town.

There’s a theory among historians that government officials set out to arrest McCall and retry him in order to establish Dakota Territory’s jurisdiction over the Black Hills, an area still on the fringes of the legal frontier in the 1870s. Bob believed in more sinister motives: that federal officials could have orchestrated Hickok’s killing to assert such authority. He became even more convinced when he discovered a mystery at the Mead Cultural Education Center, which houses the Yankton County Historical Society.

Among the society’s treasured pieces of local history is a ledger book from the U.S. marshal’s office. It’s mostly a record of correspondence between the marshal in Yankton and Washington officials. Entries begin in 1862 and conclude in May of 1877, just two months after McCall’s execution. Bob’s interest was piqued by two missing pages that would have contained entries between April 3 and 9, 1877. For someone who believed a much larger conspiracy existed, those two pages were the equivalent of the missing 18 minutes of Watergate tape from the Nixon scandal.

I visited the Mead building to examine the ledger book. It measures about 12 by 18 inches, contains more than 600 pages and weighs about as much as a cinder block. The pages are filled with the beautiful script handwriting common on documents from the 19th century, although much of the reading is mundane unless you’re captivated by expense reports, requests for 2-cent stamps, expense reports, applications for vacation time and expense reports.

Four pages are bookmarked with thin white strips of paper. A curator told me Bob requested the book so often — right up until his death in 2018 — and read those pages so religiously that they marked them for him. One strip with the word JAIL written across the top marked a passage that explained the origins of Yankton’s first jail on Linn Street. Other pages include correspondence between Marshal J.H. Burdick and Attorney General Alphonso Taft that clearly show the subject of jurisdiction over the Black Hills was an issue.

After several hours of reading, I concluded there was likely no smoking gun — either in the book or the missing pages. Local historian Jim Lane, who has also extensively researched McCall’s time in Yankton, agreed.”Bob loved a good story, and he had a lot of fun with it. He kind of pushed the conspiracy theory,” Lane says.”When they hauled McCall back to Yankton, the territorial capital established legal authority over the Black Hills. That’s when they say that if there’s going to be a trial out here, it’s going to be decided by Dakota Territory. Bob was a little bit right with the theory that they wanted this to happen. But I don’t think anyone assassinated Wild Bill Hickok for political means.”

Jack McCall spent just seven months in Yankton, and he’s been dead for 144 years, but he’s never far from the minds of people in Yankton, as we discovered for a story in our March/April 2021 issue. The courthouse in which he stood trial at Third and Capital still stands. A plaque on the side of the building notes the courtroom’s location”directly back of this marker.” It is to be taken literally given the sign’s placement well above eye level.

The jail where McCall was held is now an apartment building at Fifth and Douglas. Its owner told us that before renovations there were still bars in the basement. Another marker stands at the corner of 31st and Broadway where the gallows stood, and a memorial headstone was placed in Sacred Heart Cemetery in 2017, though it does not mark McCall’s actual grave, the location of which within the cemetery is another local mystery.

I bet Bob would have had a lot to say about that.

Bob Hanson repairing Custer graves at Bon Homme Cemetery
Bob Hanson repairing Custer graves at Bon Homme Cemetery
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Clams of Buffalo Gap

By Michael Zimny

Remnant of an ancient sea are sprinkled throughout the Buffalo Gap National Grassland.

The Great Plains were long ago inundated by a shallow sea called the Western Interior Seaway. Scientists say that marine fossils are evidence of this sea, not that Sasquatch carries a sack of fossils around, scattering them hither and yon to confound the trackers on his tail. You be the judge.

Marine fossils can be found in certain geological formations throughout the Western Interior Seaway region, including the Pierre Shale, which is notoriously fossiliferous. Ancient sea monsters like plesiosaurs, prehistoric sharks and big fish like Ichthyodectes have been plucked from its obsidian mounds. There are also beautiful ammonites (ancient mollusks that resemble a nautilus) and plain old inoceramids (ancient clams).

A portion of the Buffalo Gap National Grassland in the southwest corner of the state has a reputation for ammonite and other fossil finds in scree fields surrounding Pierre Shale and limestone exposures. To get there, take Highway 18 west about a mile and a half past Edgemont, turn right on the 9A, then after about 7 miles, a left on Fall River Road, which will take you into forest land near the Wyoming border. You’ll need a map, as BGNG lands are fairly checkerboarded.

The landscape’s euphoric undulance is so liberating you can understand how people invested in imposing grids would oversell the people they imported to work them on arability. Time goes soft and loses its linear oomph here. You can almost imagine a cowgirl riding the seaway on a mosasaurus like its name was Tilikum.

I still have much to learn about the art of fossil hunting, probably missing ammonites beneath my feet. Inoceramids are everywhere.

Think of how different your day is from that of your ancestors, say a thousand years ago. Clam (and pre-clam) life hasn’t changed much in 70 million years or so. The predators may have changed, from pterodactyls to Italians, but what’s that matter to a clam? Clams have always hung out in the sand, waiting for high tide so they can screen floaties with their siphon. That’s about it.

Their presence is a reminder of the Western Interior Seaway (or Sasquatch and his bag of fossils) and the epochal changes witnessed by these lands. Will our present human episode leave traces as permanent as those left by these bivalves?

Michael Zimny is a content producer for South Dakota Public Broadcasting and is based in Rapid City. He blogs for SDPB and contributes columns to the South Dakota Magazine website.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Growing in the Wind

By Christian Begeman

The last few years I’ve found myself in knee deep grasses, spongy fens and alongside muddy sloughs more times than I can count. Why? Well, photography would be the easy answer, but in reality, the reason is more nuanced than simply getting an interesting photo.

First of all, you should know this about me: I’m a bit stubborn. Don’t believe me? Just ask my mom. I have learned this stubborn streak has an interesting way of working itself out in regard to my photography. It takes me a while to get interested in something. I mean really interested. But once I’m hooked, I’m a goner. Put another way, I’m initially reluctant (stubborn) to take on a new interest, but after a while I realize the interest that has caught my attention is what I’ve been searching for all along. This has happened to me in regard to country churches, spring birding and now botany (wildflower photography in particular).

Three Junes ago, I remember sitting in the middle of tall, green grass that swayed and flexed on a warm wind at Oakwood Lakes State Park in Brookings County. I was surrounded by blooming meadow anemones, blue damselflies and flitting orange skipperlings. I had my camera, but just sitting there quietly under the warm, early summer sun watching a little bit of nature just be, just wonderfully exist, was a revelation.

Three years later, you’ll find me wandering a Nature Conservancy prairie preserve, national park or state park nearly any time I can in the warmer months. I’ve heard folks say that being in nature is their”church.” I understand that sentiment, but it is something different for me. My time in nature is a respite, a reminder and a teacher. I find relief from the daily grind, and I’m reminded of the intricate creativity and knowledge of the Creator. As for the teaching, let me try to explain.

As a photographer who enjoys macro photography, I have learned the importance of getting down to a wildflower’s level to look a butterfly in the eye. In order to obtain clear and crisp focus as well as the best composition, I’ve learned to wait out the wind, to pause under cloud cover and make the most of sunshine. I’ve learned to look behind and above, even though I’m focusing on what is right in front. I’ve learned to take my time and not be in a hurry. I’ve learned that our prairies consist of far more than grass.

Up until the last few years, I had no idea that both our tallgrass and shortgrass prairies harbor so much diversity. It is something we South Dakotans are taught from an early age, but it wasn’t until I looked long and walked slow upon the grasslands that the truth really sunk in. Growing up West River, it wasn’t hard to find pastures never put under the plow, but on the east side of the state, the remnant tallgrass prairies are a lot harder to find. Thankfully they still exist in places. I’m grateful to those who’ve strived to maintain the tallgrass prairie and all its intricate glory. They are not only lovely places to wander with a camera, but also places to learn and grow.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midco he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

They Are A-Changin’

By Christian Begeman

The transition from winter to spring this year has been interesting. There wasn’t much snow to melt, but that didn’t mean winter was ready to leave. Most of April was a tug-of-war between warm and cold with strong winds being the only common theme. Early April saw a day with temperatures reaching the 80s followed by a very active thunderstorm. In early May, mornings of frost and snow still lingered across large portions of the state. We Dakotans are used to such things. The good news is that spring eventually wins out. The subsequent return of life to our lands is always a joyous sight. For the last nine years, I have endeavored to journal the transition between seasons in this space. Looking back over the column’s imagery and dates, it is interesting to see how each year played out. This particular spring has been dry — far too dry for many of us. So here’s to a wet, late spring and a happy summer to come!

March 19

The evening before the first day of spring found me in rural Lincoln County looking due west down a ribbon of road with the sun setting almost perfectly above it.

March 22

Taking a chance, I traveled to my favorite pasqueflower patch in Hanson County to see if our state flower had appeared. A few had, including lovely bouquet just opening to greet the world. On the way home, a signature South Dakota sunset colored the sky in western Minnehaha County.

March 28

I took my macro lens to Newton Hills State Park in search of snow trillium in bloom. I found a few, including one that had retained frost melt at the base of the bloom. I also found an intriguing ground snail shell in the leaf litter.

April 4

An early Easter found me on the road in rural Hand County where sandhill cranes foraged in a corn field during a brief stop on their spring migration.

April 5

A loud and boisterous spring thunderstorm rolled through southeastern South Dakota complete with rainbows and sharp lightning.

April 11

I spotted and photographed more pasqueflower blooms while traveling the backroads of Deuel County.

April 17

I spent some time watching waterfowl and a pair of kingfishers along the east fork of the Vermillion River in Lake County when a bald eagle swooped in and caused the ducks to scramble.

April 18

I watched pollinators, including this mining bee, enjoy bloodroot wildflower blooms at Union Grove State Park and spotted my first butterfly of the spring. A mourning cloak soaked up the sun at Terrace Park in Sioux Falls.

April 21

Three tom turkeys were strutting their stuff just south of Garretson in the evening light.

April 27

I visited a friend’s place in rural Turner County where I was entertained by month-old lambs and days-old barn kittens.

April 28

A ruby-crowned kinglet allowed me to take his portrait in an ornamental tree just beginning to bloom at Terrace Park in Sioux Falls.

April 29

Tulips in bloom along a Sioux Falls boulevard are always a sure sign that spring is truly upon us.

May 1

I traveled to Hartford Beach State Park along Big Stone Lake in Roberts County to do some birding and hiking and found Canadian white violets just beginning to unfurl on the forest floor.

May 2

While walking the trails of the Sioux Falls Outdoor Campus, I spotted a snapping turtle in the shallows.

May 4

The lovely sight and sound of yellow warblers returning highlighted an evening hike at Newton Hills State Park.

May 8

Much-needed rain fell throughout the state, including these drops on blades of grass in my front lawn.

May 9

I spotted a lone prairie smoke wildflower just about ready to bloom at the Jacobson Fen Preserve in rural Deuel County.

May 10

I hiked Palisades State Park searching for migratory warblers and found one of my favorites, a Magnolia warbler, in a chokecherry thicket with blooms setting. The Magnolia warbler was the first one to really catch my attention many springs ago. Going”warbling” in May has become a favorite pastime.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midco he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Going Green

By Fran Hill

It is Earth Day. Countless sources are providing us with information about recycling, reducing pollutants and other ways to minimize our effect on the Earth. Some of it is just common sense, but other ideas are more innovative and creative. It is encouraging to know that people are paying attention and making an effort to protect our resources.

Hubs and I may not make as much of an effort as we should. Recycling processes out here on the prairie just aren’t as simple as curbside pickup. We have to consciously work to reduce, reuse and recycle, and honestly don’t always do as well as we should. I know our household could do better to be more energy efficient and aware of our environment. Earth Day is a good time to contemplate making a change for the green.

Gardening is one seasonal change for green that I am greatly anticipating. I can’t wait to get some seedlings in the ground and am even more anxious for our first harvest. The moment the temps start consistently warming (and the weekly little snow squalls end), you can bet my hands will be in the dirt.

Spinach will be one of the first producers from my garden, and I have a myriad of favorite recipes for this green. Its mild flavor is a perfect complement for so many dishes. I add it to almost everything to boost the vitamin and nutrient count, but it is a featured ingredient of one delicious side: Spinach and Potato Gratin.

Layers of thinly sliced seasoned potatoes and spinach are bathed in cream and topped with beautifully toasted cheese. It is the ideal side dish for everything — beef, pork, fish or poultry. What bite of protein couldn’t benefit from a swirl through the creamy sauce of these potatoes? The green of the spinach in Spinach and Potato Gratin is the perfect earthiness for my plate.

Spinach and thinly sliced potatoes are layered in this creamy, comforting dish.

Spinach and Potato Gratin

4-6 medium red potatoes

10-12 ounces fresh baby spinach

2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

kosher salt

fresh ground black pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/16 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Scrub potatoes and slice (skins on) into 1/4-inch rounds. (I use my mandoline slicer … but watch your fingers.)

Arrange 1/3 of the sliced potatoes in the bottom of a greased casserole dish, baking pan or cast-iron skillet.

Layer 1/2 of the fresh spinach on top. (I press it down a little.)

Brush with melted butter and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange a second layer of 1/3 of the potatoes on top of the seasoned spinach. (Again, I press down to try to get tighter layers.)

Repeat layering with the remaining spinach.

Brush again with melted butter and season with salt and pepper.

Layer the last of the potatoes on top of the spinach, again. (And … yes, again, press down to tighten the layers.)

Brush with the last of the melted butter and season with the salt and pepper. (Beware of over salting with the repeated layers. However, the dish really needs the flavor at each layer, so don’t skimp.)

Whisk the nutmeg and cream together.

Pour over the potato and spinach layers in the casserole dish.

Cover and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until potatoes are tender and cream is bubbling up around the layers. (You may want to place the baking dish on a rimmed baking sheet or slide some aluminum foil on the rack below to catch any bubble over and potential drips.)

Remove lid or foil and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Heat oven to broil and carefully melt the cheese to toasty goodness. (Serves 4-6)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

High Plains Heaven

By Christian Begeman

Every April, the Fort Pierre National Grasslands staff set up three blinds in the prairie hills southwest of the capital city. The reason? To provide the public an opportunity to watch something quite special in the early-morning hours. Greater Prairie-Chickens and Sharp-tailed Grouse gather at their respective leks and begin to dance. Rain or shine, cold or warm, snow or sun, the males arrive in their respective areas about an hour before sunrise and start to coo, cackle, woo and whir, all with a singular goal: impress the ladies. In my years of watching, I’ve never seen hens actually respond receptively as they make their shy and diminutive way through the leks. But they do watch the dancers quite closely, often right up until the closest male gets a little too close for comfort and then the hen moves quickly on. Who knows? Maybe playing hard to get is all part of the process.

I’m not a scientist, but I love our wild grasslands and the hidden treasures they sustain. I grew up in Sharp-tailed Grouse country, but I never saw their spring dance before sitting in a blind at the Fort Pierre National Grasslands. As a photographer, the colorful and quick displays are challenging to capture. The Greater Prairie-Chicken’s style is a little different in that they aren’t quite as fast on their feet but employ a bit more color and sound into their routine by filling bright orange neck sacs with air. The”wooing” sound that comes next is referred to as”booming” and can be heard from miles away on a clear and calm morning.

Unfortunately, the two mornings I spent in the blinds this spring were not very calm. The wind has been extra active this time around the sun; the first morning it was gusting above 20 mph well before dawn. The temperature dropped below 20 degrees, and although the blind cut down the wind’s bite it was bone chilling, and I was happy for extra blankets and long johns. Still, the prairie chickens danced and boomed. When the sun finally climbed above the horizon, the warm light revealed around 18 males spread out on the hilltop along a two-track prairie trail. Some were fighting, some were squawking, and I even saw a few hens stroll through. To be smack dab in the middle of this ancient dance on the prairie made suffering through the cold worth it.

A couple days later, I was in another blind a little farther south. Here, sharpies danced all around the blind. They clicked and clucked and stamped their feet so rapidly that even my fast shutter speed couldn’t capture the action without a blur. More hens arrived and all the fellas picked up their pace. A couple meadowlarks joined in with their signature song and I was in high plains heaven.

A heartfelt thanks to the grasslands staff for providing this opportunity at no cost every year. They say that birders and enthusiasts come from all over the world to watch our prairie dancers. You can too through the rest of April. Simply contact the office to reserve a blind, get up well before the sun, settle into your blind and prepare for show like no other.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midco he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.