Ohmerryoutdoors

08/23/2026

About 150-230M birds are predicted to migrate across the U.S. each night this weekend!

Lights at night can be very disorienting to birds during their long fall migration. To help prevent deadly bird collisions, turn off or dim unnecessary lights!

Graphic: CornellLab, BirdCast

08/19/2026

Anyone curious about how the Sangamon river begins and flows, take a look at this graphic. All the water eventually ends up in the Illinois river which eventually winds up in the Mississippi.

08/08/2026

08/04/2026

07/29/2026

Don't Deadhead Flowers

A mid to late summer culling of blooms might seem beneficial, but there are several instances when leaving the flowers is the better option.

-- For new plants, removing spent blooms will encourage resources to be drawn up out of the roots to produce more flowers, thus taxing the plant. There is little else that’s more energy and resource intensive than flowering. If you have a young plant resist the urge to deadhead so the plant can focus on root development instead.

-- Leaving spent flowers means you’re leaving seeds for autumn and winter wildlife. Feeding the entire ecosystem should always be our goal.

-- The seeds that wildlife don’t get will turn into free plants for you. More plants means more flowers and more coverage on the ground so weeds can’t get a foothold. We design gardens with self sowing in mind — thinning seedlings is easier, and cheaper, than buying new plants and allows the garden to teach us what it wants naturally. Use plants natural tendency to spread and you can also eliminate the need for wood mulch.

-- Have you ever seen snow piled atop a coneflower or rattlesnake master? Winter interest isn’t just about tree structure or bark color or evergreens. So many of our perennial native plants offer outstanding contrast and architecture in winter — which is one reason of many not to cut down the garden until early spring.

07/26/2026

Tomi raised a few eyebrows with her 4-H project at the fair this year. We are super proud of her for taking an interest in soil health and wanting to try this “Soil Your Undies” experiment. This experiment shows the difference in soil microbe activity over an 8 week period in a No-till field with cover crops (left) vs a field that uses conventional tillage (right). Minnesota Soil Health Coalition

07/25/2026

Nearly half of Illinois counties now have fewer federal staff helping farmers with soil and water conservation. Champaign County saw the largest reduction, while 17 counties lost at least half of their conservation staff and seven lost all of them. Farmers say the cuts mean less local expertise and fewer resources to protect the land for future generations.

Read more at the link in the comments.

07/18/2026

Ticks are becoming harder to ignore across Illinois.

Stories about Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome (yes, the condition that can make
you allergic to red meat!), and expanding tick populations can make spending time
outdoors feel intimidating. But fear shouldn't keep you from enjoying nature.

University of Illinois Extension experts break down what Illinois residents need to know about ticks, including:

✔Why tick populations are growing and spreading
✔How to reduce your risk outdoors
✔Proper tick checks for people, pets, and gear
✔Safe tick removal
✔Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome
✔Free tick identification and citizen science opportunities

Learn more: go.illinois.edu/tick-info