Whiterock Conservancy Journal 3

On the ninth day, we visited the farm again (and I took some photos of a few farm animals and the inside of the historic Garst Farmhouse!) because I wanted to wander around the large and relatively clear Garst Home Pond; I brought the underwater camera I purchased for scuba diving with me and hoped to take some cool fish photos! However, I didn’t think this plan through very well, as I wore my normal tick-prevention gear of long pants and sneakers (sprayed thoroughly with Off! Deep Woods repellent), so I didn’t want to wade in if I could help it. Luckily there were a few spots with large enough rocks at the edge where I could get on top of them and then submerge the camera to capture initially flighty but ultimately curious bluegill fish (Lepomis macrochirus)!

We then stopped off for a wardrobe change and I forded the river with the walking stick this time to harvest some more “blue” clay, which made the whole journey much easier! After this, my last two friends departed, and I was on my own for the rest of the residency.

I spent the whole of the tenth day working on the base drawing and then some of the sculptural elements for a mixed media frog relief.

On the eleventh day, I worked on artwork some more as well as investigated the town of Coon Rapids a bit more - I visited the antique store, the bakery/café, and the Mexican restaurant. I also stopped into Adel, IA, to check out Harvey’s Greenhouse as I’d been told they have multiple greenhouses, with one entire one being devoted to cacti and succulents. In the evening, Liz Garst stopped by and we chatted, I showed her my work thus far, and she tried to tell me of a site she thought I might try for red clay… but when my navigational ineptitude was making it clear I’d never be able to check it out based on her verbal instruction, she then took me on a short Gator ride to physically point to the location!

On the twelfth day, I worked on artwork some more.

The thirteenth day brought a thunderstorm! This was welcome in that the area desperately needs rain, but unwelcome in the sense that I had planned to try to go to the potential red clay site but couldn’t given the weather. I also couldn’t bike either! Instead, I continued to work on artwork and during a pause in the rain took a stroll down to the river beach.

On my last full day, I adventured again! In the morning I took the Gator the same route Liz showed me to try out a different site for red clay; the way becomes impassable by UTV at a certain point, so I had to hike the rest of the way without a trail. This meant wading through grass that in some cases was taller than me, and the ground in some areas was still sodden from the rain! I made it though, only to find it was much the same as the other cliff my friends and I had tried. Ah, well; I gave it my best efforts this go-round and perhaps this unfinished business will call for a future residency here again at some point! I worked on artwork in the afternoon, as the daytime temperatures toward the end of this residency were in the mid-90’s, and in the evening, I biked the Steve Garst trail from the Visitor’s Center into Coon Rapids. Along the way, I passed by a pond that had wild river otter in it! I felt blessed, but also a bit frustrated; I was wearing shorts since I was biking and the very tall grasses, nettles, and other plants surrounding the pond made it impossible to photograph through well but were also not pleasant on the skin as I tried to get closer. I also had a height disadvantage! So the best photographic proof I have is pretty Nessie-level in quality, which also means I don’t have good artwork reference imagery, but it was a really cool experience nonetheless.

The following morning, I packed up all of my artwork and belongings, cleaned the place up, finished my entry in the Whiterock River House Journal (a physical guest book), and headed out in the early afternoon! The final photos in this slideshow are of the River House itself.

Whiterock Conservancy Journal 2

The fourth day of my residency at the Whiterock Conservancy involved taking the Gator UTV out to the Garst Farmhouse Historic District - a long trip! We saw a coyote for just a moment, and several turkey vultures. There was also a ridiculously friendly miniature donkey at the farm who I enjoyed making the acquaintance of. I didn’t take many photos on this day as I had discovered to my dismay the previous night when attempting to swap out and recharge my very low camera battery that I had somehow managed to overlook packing my charger and spare battery (which was charging in it). I’m still not sure how that happened; it’s one of the most important items to bring along and I’m usually so good at packing! I think it’s a combination of not having traveled much the past year along with a more procrastinated packing approach (admittedly in part due to the proximity of the residency).

I was just beginning to resign myself to needing to drive a round-trip five hour journey to retrieve it when my friends all came together for me and managed to send the charger and spare on their way with a friend who was arriving to join our party that evening. After she got here with my fully charged spare and the charger itself, I was so relieved! We celebrated by going on a five-person evening hike of the Shooting Star Trail. It has a lot of beautiful ferns, and I found two absolutely tiny wild strawberries which I harvested for chromatography purposes.

The fifth day of our residency brought another two of my friends and their children! We set off as a group of eight on a hike of the Pond Hopper Trail with its abandoned log cabin, explored the beach again, and checked out the River House Barn.

On the sixth day, the eight of us hiked the Riverside Trail and explored the 805 Cabin area. We then went on the Templeton Rye distillery tour in nearby Templeton, IA! In the late afternoon, we returned to the beach and I harvested some of the “blue” clay that is a part of the cliffside across the river while a couple of my friends played in the river and were nibbled upon by minnows. To get to the clay, I needed to cross the river, squelch through the very-eager-to-eat-shoes opposite bank, and then climb up a relatively steep cliffside before digging it out and trying not to gather too many rocks, roots, dirt, and other materials in the process. I didn’t get a ton of it - maybe six or seven pounds - as after the vein I was digging became exhausted, the others were all even higher and I thought they were too steep to tackle. Plus I was worried about trying to manage too heavy a weight on the return journey!

It was an even more precarious climb back down with the clay in hand, and crossing the river while laden also proved difficult! I resolved to go a second time and make use of the walking stick in the house to get some more from a bit higher up. The rest of the evening I cleaned most of the clay of rocks, pebbles, sandstone grit, and roots. One of my friends departed to start her own adventure hiking the Loess Hills for four days.

We took it pretty easy on the seventh day in the morning. I had been told that there was both “blue” and red clay in the land trust, but while I was told explicitly where the blue clay could be harvested, the red clay was just an aside. In the afternoon, we went on a Gator adventure to try to see if there was red clay harvestable in this other cliffside we’d seen on the way to the Garst Farmhouse. Unfortunately, when we got up close and started poking, it was all sandstone and solid rock; we managed to harvest about a teaspoon of red clay from one tiny little pocket! Later on I asked the groundskeeper who told me about the red clay where it was located, and he tried and failed to find it as well. He said it’s only harvestable in particular seasons/weather events and it’s just not possible right now.

Late that afternoon my two friends with their children also went back home, so it was just me and my two remaining friends who had arrived at night on the second day. We went on an evening Gator trip to see the final stretch of double track trail that we hadn’t yet explored on the other side of the bridge near the Garst Farmhouse, and were rewarded with a swooping show by a flock of swallows (which was nigh unphotographable due to their speed and size).

On the eighth day, we visited Des Moines as none of the three of us had been there before!

Whiterock Conservancy Journal 1

On my first day here, I unloaded my car which I had packed with art supplies, groceries, my bicycle, and a small suitcase. I’m staying at the River House, which is a very nice three-story house filled with art and books. I then headed over to Liz Garst’s house - she is the founder of the Whiterock Conservancy - and spoke with her and a couple members of her family for a while before heading back to the River House and testing out the Gator UTV.

The second day I met two of the groundskeepers here, and one - Amanda - took me on a small tour of the prairie loop, the abandoned log cabin and turtle pond loops, and discussed with me some ideas on good pigmentation and animal sighting opportunities. I shared with her that I have had a deep desire to see a wild tree frog for the past few months, and she replied that she sees them occasionally and will keep an eye out. I also rode my bicycle on the main trail loop that goes down through the campground and out past the turtle ponds, and met a couple of very nice women camping on the way! I spotted a number of turtles from afar as well as some frogs, geese, and dragonflies. I also harvested some plants and soil samples with the intent of doing some new chromatography artwork. In the evening, two of my friends joined me as my guests for about a week of my two-week residency!

On the third day, my friends and I ate breakfast together and then took the Gator UTV out for a spin, and I taught one of them how to use it. Then I biked the turtle pond section while they Gatored it, and we met at the top of the hill and hiked the Bluebell Trail together. It took us about 4 hours to get back to the UTV, but that was at a very leisurely pace and we collected a lot of chromatography material along the route! On the way back home, I passed Amanda and stopped to say hello; she remarked that she had seen a tree frog as well as a toad about five minutes previously near a tree and pointed it out. I hopped off my bike and went to search the radius, and I miraculously found the tree frog! He even held really still on the branch he was on while I took him out of the brush and permitted a decent amount of photos before he got froggy on me. That evening we were all invited to cocktails at Liz’s house where she shared more about Whiterock’s mission of conservation and sustainable agriculture as well as her family history - including a visit from Soviet Union premier Nikita Khrushchev during the Cold War to learn about hybrid corn from her grandfather!