Air's Wild Acres

Small goats and small batch cheesemaking on a small farm, all with big laughs.

  • Insect IDs

    Recently, I was asked why entomologists spend so much time google image searching arthropods for something similar to a specimen they are trying to ID.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, it seems like there are many, many families I am less familiar with, and google images are an excellent way to… Read more

  • Echinopla melanarctos

    Echinopla melanarctos I want it.  Came across this guy randomly while trying to ID a minute beetle with fossorial legs (in part, by googling “Minute beetle with fossorial legs”).  HT Splendor Awaits. Nobile, April, photographer (2009).  Specimen: CASENT0178497.  Available from: http://www.antweb.org/bigPicture.do?name=casent0178497&shot=p&number=1&project=allantwebants.  Accessed 16 July 2013 Read more

  • Inspiration

    A conversation I just had with a 41 year old coworker: Me: Where did you meet your wife? Him: In Tierra del Fuego Me: Aww!  That’s one of the places my Grampa rode his motorcycle to. Him (with much enthusiasm): REALLY?!? I would have LOVED to do something like that! Me: He was 65 when… Read more

  • Exploring Texcoco de Mora.

    CIMMYT is located about 5 km from the town of Texcoco de Mora, which is roughly 25 kilometers north and east of Mexico City.  Apparently, Texcoco was once a major Aztec city, located on a former lake of the same name.  There are several archaeological sites nearby, although I’m told that the town itself does… Read more

  • A few days at CIMMYT

    I spent a lot of time planning research and a lot of time meeting people this week.  It was awesome.  Being at CIMMYT is something dreams are made of, and no one ever told me the food would be so good on site, too. Read more

  • Vintage Frost and Dew – Archives Photo Gallery – National Geographic Magazine

    National Geographic Gallery of Snowflakes – Wilson Bentley was a farmer in Jericho Vermont, according to Radiolab.  Citizen science right there. Photo: Bentley, Wilson. Available from: http://snowflakebentley.com/00013.htm.  Accessed 26 January 2014. Read more