HPPR's Spring Membership Drive has ended, but if you didn't have a chance to pledge your support, you can still help  close the gap! You can keep public radio on the High Plains strong by pledging now.

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Suffering from a bout of spring fever, Skip succumbed to the purchase of a plant that produced beautiful blossoms even before planting time.  However, balmy spring weather was quickly replaced by a spring snowstorm, forcing the shower of flowers indoors.  There it still brightened the corner where it was with scarlet colors and a promise of a garden show to come.

The mid 1930's were the dry years on the high plains.  The drought has taken so much, a tornado took their home, but one young couple continue to persevere.  Velma and Ted Wancura were creative problem solvers.  They had 150 head of cattle, but no grass in the pasture. so   Ted and his brother harvested the cactus that remained for feed.  After burning the spines off with a blow torch, the cactus were placed in a cattle tank where the were well received.  When they were gone, Ted fabricated a truck bed to haul beet tops from the Garden City sugar factory, approximately 50 miles away, where the farm land was irrigated.  That solution worked until weather conditions worsened. 

Kansas' water-rights laws had encouraged consumption rather than conservation of Ogallala Aquifer groundwater used by irrigators in the western part of the state. Gov. Sam Brownback talks about his initiative to change laws in the 2012 legislative session to encourage conservation and self-regulation among ag producers. This story is part two of a four-part series on Ogallala aquifer conservation which originally aired on HPPR 01/22/13.

When Jim Weaver purchased his ranch in southeast New Mexico in the 1980s, some decades of mismanagement had left grassland overrun by shinnery, short shin-oak plants that impede grass growth by sequestering water in the root system. Weaver Ranch manager Willard Heck discusses benefits of limiting shin-oak to let the tall grasses return.

This Episode of Playa Country originally aired as part of the Grazing Management series on November 6, 2012. I was repeated April 9, 2013 as part of the Landowner Stories series.

Last week, Captain Mike Williams was on the show, and we talked about catching shark.  Today, I got him on the line, and we started talking cooking shark.  One of our favorite sharks to eat is a Black Tip, and the best eating size is the 30-50 pounder. 

For some, spring heralds the arrival of green leaves and flowers.  For others, it is a time to plant the garden in anticipation of summer’s bounty.  For me, spring signals the opportunity to fall asleep each night to nature’s jam sessions and to awaken to her symphonies in the morning.