The Natural Gait: Northeast Iowa's rustic retreat

Taken from Radish Magazine
by Rich Patterson

The view from Grandview Cabin is startling at The Natural Gait in Allamakee County, Iowa.

The notebook in a rustic cabin overlooking Northeast Iowa's Yellow River captured the essence of The Natural Gait.

"We enjoyed being away from television and telephones for a few days to just let the natural beauty of the area sink in," reads one longhand entry. Others mention the cozy joy of curling up with a book by the wood stove as snow enveloped the cabin. Another entry relates a long day riding horses through the woods and prairies of this unusual Iowa location.

The Natural Gait and its sister, Ion Exchange, aren't just businesses. They are places to connect with natural Iowa. In a way, they are a state of mind as well as a beautiful and interesting place.

"These are creations from the heart and passion of two people in love with each other and the land and a desire for everyone to get connected to the natural world," says Howard Bright, who with his wife, Donna, started The Natural Gait.

Back in 1980, the Brights were working in Burlington, Iowa. Howard was a district conservationist for the Soil Conservation Service and Donna served as an agent for the Extension Service.

"Our jobs were good, but we started to question spending 10 hours a day apart doing separate things. We wanted to live in the country and own a piece of land that had trees, water, hills and valleys that faced in all directions. So we started to actively look." It took a while. Four years later, they found 160 acres of rugged hills, forests and river bottom in Allamakee County.

In what they describe as a magical moment along the Yellow River, they decided to buy the place. Their Realtor/banker tried to dissuade them by pointing out that the property had few visible financial assets. There was only about 35 acres of cropland and the forest had been logged.

"We had an idea to collect native plant seeds from remnant prairies and wetlands and sell them to people wishing to restore native ecosystems. Back then this was a novel concept, especially to rural bankers who wondered why anyone would want to grow what most folks considered weeds. But we bought the place and started collecting," Bright says.

Their native plant business was named Ion Exchange in honor of a chemical exchange that takes place in the soil and for a nearby ghost town named Ion that had flooded and washed away in 1916.

In the early 1980s, anyone wishing to reestablish a prairie faced an immediate problem: finding a seed source. There simply weren't many nurseries that sold native plant materials. The Brights' timing was good. Interest in prairies was blossoming, and they soon found a ready market in the growing number of people interested in restoration. Ion Exchange gradually has grown and today offers dozens of different species of seeds and plugs. They've expanded beyond prairies and also sell wetland and woodland seeds and plants. The business includes fields where seed plants thrive and a cluster of buildings where plants are allowed to dry, seeds are cleaned, and plugs are produced.

In 1999 the Brights created another business associated with the land. "We called it the Natural Gait because it was our intention of helping others find their own 'gait,' or direction in life," says Bright.

The Gait is a place where people wanting to enjoy natural Iowa can stay. Its bunk houses, cabins and apartments attract people wishing to spiritually connect with nature, hold family reunions and business retreats, and hike or horseback ride. Some of the buildings are near Ion Exchange's seed business. Other cabins and a campground are on the steep river bluff. They're within sight of Ion Exchange, but it's a six mile drive to reach them.

Our weekend at the Natural Gait started on a cold, windy October night. We found Grandview Cabin and soon had a fire crackling in the woodstove. Most of Iowa is so settled that it's hard to get away from lights and towns and we were pleased to see a mostly dark sky and horizon.

Just four of us stayed in the cabin, although it easily could hold ten. Phones and televisions were blissfully absent, but the cabin is set up for wireless Internet, an interesting combination of rustic and modern.

Shortly after dawn Saturday, we were amazed to look out the front porch and see the land drop to the river. No slope in Wyoming could match the dizzying steepness of the Yellow River bluff. In the distance below us, we could see the fuzzy growth of Ion Exchange's recently harvested prairie plants. The field's texture was surprisingly different from that of Iowa's common corn and bean fields.

That Saturday we toured the seed processing buildings and hiked above them to a large cave in a limestone outcropping where Native Americans once lived. Today the Brights sponsor concerts in this massive rock cavity high above the river. That afternoon we headed for nearby Marquette and Prairie du Chien for shopping and a coffee-shop lunch. As the sun dipped below the horizon, we grilled steaks behind the cabin and enjoyed total silence, broken only by the haunting call of a barred owl.

Following a brisk walk Sunday morning we packed and headed back to the busy world, but the quiet weekend at the Natural Gait remains a pleasant memory.

For more information, visit thenaturalgait.com or call (877) 776-2208.

Rich and Marion Patterson of Cedar Rapids are freelance writers.

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A Holistic View Of Life Essential For Survival

Taken from an article on The Speaking Tree

17 December 2009

There are two limits to knowledge. One set by the intellect and the
other set by experience. The comprehensive way to meditation and
penance is experience, not intellectualisation. Intellectuals might argue
against this, for the nature of the intellect is to argue. Those who practice meditation > and restraint do not use only logic and intellect as the touchstone.
Their path is paved with experience. The one who has tasted the
sweetness of experience will know there can be no other viable route.
This is an optimistic perspective. It is possible that one who prefers
going the intellect way might find this perspective pessimistic. Logic
has its own path, which can become complicated but the path of
experience is less complicated.

A head clerk told the other clerks, "During office hours you go for a
shave and that takes a long time. Do not shave during office hours."
One clerk replied, "When hair can grow during office hours, why can't
they be cut also at that time. If you find a way of stopping hair
growth during office hours, we will also not cut it during office
hours." This is the language of logic. Those who live within the
limits of the intellect and logic speak this language. There are three
limits. One is that set by the consciousness of the senses. The other
is set by the consciousness of the mind. The third is set by the
consciousness of the intellect. We have experienced the limits of all
these three. Till experience does not enter the limits of the
conscious, everything seems as above.
One who has not experienced meditation cannot enter the field of experience.

Those who have sat down for meditation for the first time say this
after 10 days - that they could never have imagined such an experience was possible.
When there was no question of imagination, how could they have imagined?

How can a man sitting on the shores of an ocean estimate its depth?
Only the one who has dived into the ocean can describe its depths.
Many spend their lives knowing just their outer self. They never get
an opportunity to go within. Are they able to see all that is within?
They do not know what lies within. Many of those who see the body get
scared on seeing its vibrations. Where have they come from? Are they
something new? They are not new. They were all within. They are
constantly working. The energy of the body is also working. But as we
concentrate we get to know of them and get scared. We are faced with a
new world. The vibrations were on even earlier but we were not aware
of them. As soon as the mind gets more stabilised, the inner self emerges clearer.

We need to engage more with the inner world. We should be less
obsessed with what others do and pay more attention to our selves.
Only then will there be opportunities for major changes in our
consciousness that will enhance our personality. If the transformation
were to continue, then there is the further possibility that we could
reach the final point. Our perspective should become more and more
gentle and the perspective of anekanta should always be with us. We
need to work towards promoting a balanced and mutually connected
individual, local and global perspective with equanimity, taking into
account every possible view. That is, giving equal consideration to all things, howsoever small or big.

Put together by Lalit Garg

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The Origin of Christmas Colors

How Green and Red Became Symbols of Christmas

by Nicole Skutelnik

Surprisingly, conventional Christmas colors weren’t inspired by holiday characters or festive decorations. Red didn’t come from candy canes or Rudolf’s nose or Santa Claus’s suit. And green wasn’t inspired by Santa’s elves, holiday wreaths or sprigs of holly. In fact, the convention began very long ago:

The Origin of Christmas Colors

There are two accepted beliefs about the origin of traditional Christmas colors, one based on Christian faith, and the other based on historical fact.

Christian Belief

The color green is a natural representation of eternal life, specifically the evergreen tree and how it survives through the winter season. That’s why, in Christian belief, green represents the eternal life of Jesus Christ. The color red symbolizes Christ’s blood which was shed during his crucifixion.

Historical Fact

Back in the 14th Century, churches presented Miracle Plays—religious plays used to educate the illiterate public. Traditionally on December 24, the church presented The Paradise Play, the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. And in place of an apple tree—as they weren’t available in winter—they fastened apples to the branches of a pine tree. Using a pine to represent the Tree of Good and Evil became a common practice among churches and they began incorporating the tree into their Christmas displays each year. But it didn’t stop there. Following the church’s example, people began assembling pine trees in their homes and decorating them with red apples. This act introduced two modern traditions: the Christmas tree and our seasonal colors, green for the pine tree and red for the apples.

Cultural Symbolism of Green and Red

While green and red may be the widely accepted colors denoting the Christmas season, the individual colors have had different meanings from one culture to the next.

Red

Depending on where you are in the world, red can represent anything from anger and sin to fortune and fertility. In some countries, like China and India, red is worn at weddings. In central Africa, red symbolizes health and life, whereas in South Africa it’s the color of death and mourning. Red can represent power and status, a good example being the red carpet. Roses and hearts associate red with love and passion, whereas traffic signs and stop signs associate it with danger and warning. And red is also a patriotic color for many countries, such as Britain and the USA, symbolizing blood, sacrifice and courage.

Green

Nowadays green dominates as the color of environmentalism, but like the color red, it also has many other conflicting connotations. It can represent nature and growth, as well as mould and decomposition. In the Middle Ages, green represented love and fertility, and brides often wore green on their wedding day. But at the same time, it was also the color of poison, devilry and evil. In some countries, green is considered the luckiest color, representing fortune, wealth and prosperity. But in Ireland, where green is the national color, it’s actually considered unlucky. The Irish wear the color in hopes that things will take a turn for the better. In most parts of the world, green represents life, growth and balance; however, in some countries, like South America, green is a symbol of death.

Together, green and red inspire warm thoughts of the Christmas season. But separately, they represent an entire world of different meanings.

Read more at Suite101: The Origin of Christmas Colors: How Green and Red Became Symbols of Christmas

At The Natural Gait we start celebrating Christmas colors in August and September by enjoying the Royal Catchfly and Cardinal Flowers.

http://www.ionxchange.com/species_pages/s/silene_regia.html

http://www.ionxchange.com/species_pages/l/lobelia_cardinalis.html

Trout Fishing in Northeast Iowa as Reported in the New York Times

Hey, Earthyman here! I was just reading the article in The New York Times about trout fishing in Northeast Iowa and what a coincidence that turned out to be. My friend and I were fishing just out the backdoor of The Natural Gait on Thanksgiving Day and caught Rainbow and Brown Trout on the Yellow River here. Take a look at Terry latching onto two Rainbows View Video

Taken From The New York Times

Brad Johansen, my guide for this day of fishing in the Driftless Area of northeastern Iowa was discussing our fishing options between bites of biscuits and gravy at a diner. Mr. Johansen, a high school science teacher who guides on the side, said the bull had chased him over a fence the previous week.“It doesn’t matter, though,” he said while laying a $5 bill on the table to pay for his breakfast. “I caught a 31-inch trout a few days ago in the area we’re headed to this morning.” Cow pastures and cornfields are the milieu for trout angling in this hidden landscape of limestone valleys and cold-water streams. The Driftless Area occupies 24,000 square miles along the Mississippi River in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The word “driftless” refers to the lack of gravelly drift in the region from the last glaciation 12,000 years ago. The Wisconsonian glacier that plowed under much of the upper Midwest missed this pocket of more than 600 spring-fed creeks, and so the Driftless endures as 500-million-year-old karst country, where steep forested valleys descend into shadowed coulees.“Trout in the Driftless Area are as big and you can catch as many as the trout rivers out West,” said Bill Kalishek, fisheries biologist for the Iowa Natural Resources Department. Mr. Kalishek said some streams held as many as 4,000 trout per mile. “Fishing the Driftless is just different,” he said. “The streams are smaller. The setting is more intimate than those big Western rivers.”After miles of driving through croplands out of Decorah, Mr. Johansen guided his minivan down a one-lane gravel road in the Pine Creek Wildlife Management Area. We bushwhacked through willow thickets along a five-foot-wide stream, scaring up bluebirds, wood ducks and a pileated woodpecker.“These are wild trout now, so you have to be on your game,” Mr. Johansen said in a whisper. “You only get one cast. If you miss your spot or get tangled up, you’ll spook the hole.”Our party of four included two men casting spinning lures (me and Mr. Johansen), a bait fisherman using worms (Dennis Evelsizer, a friend of Mr. Johansen’s from Decorah) and a fanatic fly angler (Mike Dvorak, a friend of mine from St. Paul). A survey by the trout advocacy group Trout Unlimited found that 74 percent of Driftless Area fishermen were fly anglers, though Mr. Johansen said most of his clients use spinning gear. Casting spinners lacks the romanticism of waving a fly rod like an orchestra conductor, but there’s a skill and an art to it, as Mr. Johansen demonstrated. He padded through the oak understory to within a few feet of the stream, then flipped his spinner — sometimes overhand, sometimes underhand, sometimes sideways — with surgical precision to land with a “plip” in the water near a snag of fallen branches on the opposite bank. “My fly-fishing clients spend a lot of time untangling their equipment,” he said with a grin. On we pressed through more thickets until we reached a beaver dam with a deep pool behind it. Mr. Johansen spotted an otter sliding away. “That’s not good,” he said. “Otters eat lots of fish.”But his worries dissipated on my second cast, when an electric jolt shot up my rod, the tip bent, and in moments I was holding a 12-inch brook trout in my hands. It was a strikingly handsome fish, with a forest-green speckled back and orange fins.The region teemed with brook trout when European settlers arrived in the 19th century, logged the hillsides bare and planted croplands from which topsoil washed into valley bottoms, burying streams under 12 feet of sediment in some places. By the 1930s federal farm programs to control erosion started the comeback of the Driftless’s cold-water streams, which were stocked with brown trout, rainbow trout and more brook trout. By 1980 five trout streams in Iowa’s Driftless Area supported natural spawning, with only one stream harboring the last surviving lineage of Iowa’s native brook trout. With the 1980s and the rise of the Conservation Reserve Program that paid farmers to idle erosion-prone crop fields as grasslands, the Driftless Area’s prairie character began to re-emerge. Today 33 trout streams in Iowa’s Driftless support natural spawning. But now Driftless trout anglers worry that high corn prices because of demand for ethanol could erase those gains, as more lands are put back to agricultural use. Mr. Dvorak, the fly angler, caught and released 10 brook trout in the pool behind the beaver dam. Mr. Johansen and Mr. Evelsizer both kept foot-long brookies. On our walk back out, I cast my spinner by a log pile in a stream bend and landed a 15-inch brown trout. Mr. Johansen unceremoniously threw mine in his plastic grocery sack with the three others.

Earthyman Harvests Big Blue Stem at Ion Exchange

As the fall draws to a close Ion Exchange our sister site is busy harvesting all the wildflower and grass seed. Enjoy Earthyman's video.

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A Walk In The Park A Day Keeps Mental Fatigue Away

The Natural Gait provides its guests with many marked trails through timber, meadows and along the Yellow River. There is an abundance of wildlife to enjoy in any season.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 23, 2008) — If you spend the majority of your time among stores, restaurants and skyscrapers, it may be time to trade in your stilettos for some hiking boots. A new study in Psychological Science reveals that spending time in nature may be more beneficial for mental processes than being in urban environments.

Psychologists Marc G. Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan from the University of Michigan designed two experiments to test how interactions with nature and urban environments would affect attention and memory processes. First, a group of volunteers completed a task designed to challenge memory and attention. The volunteers then took a
walk in either a park or in downtown Ann Arbor. After the walk, volunteers returned to the lab and were retested on the task. In the second experiment, after volunteers completed the task, instead of going out for a walk, they simply viewed either nature photographs or photographs of urban environments and then repeated the task. The results were quite interesting. In the first experiment, performance on the memory and attention task greatly improved following the walk in the park, but did not improve for volunteers who walked downtown. And it is not just being
outside that is beneficial for mental functions—the group who viewed the nature photographs performed much better on the retest than the group who looked at city scenes.

The authors suggest that urban environments provide a relatively complex and often confusing pattern of stimulation, which requires effort to sort out and interpret. Natural environments, by contrast, offer a more coherent (and often more aesthetic) pattern of stimulation that, far from requiring effort, are often experienced as restful. Thus being in the context of nature is effortless, permitting us to replenish our capacity to attend and thus having a restorative effect on our mental abilities.

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