• 3 chicken breasts, diced
• 1 (16 oz.) bag mixed vegetables
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• biscuits, for serving

Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker.  Add the vegetables, chicken broth and garlic.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour until well-blended to make a roux, approximately 5 minutes.  Add the milk.  Pour the mixture into the slow cooker.  Continue cooking on low for 30 minutes.

Serve with biscuits.

YIELD:  4 to 6 servings

Jim Field visits with Cass County Naturalist Lora Kanning about the Wildflower Walk on April 29 at Pellett Memorial Woods and the spring native plant sale.  Click the link below for a copy of the order form.

Native Plant Sale Order Form

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(Radio Iowa) – The U-S District Court for the District of North Dakota has granted a preliminary injunction, stopping the Biden Administration’s new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule for Iowa and 23 other states. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird issued a statement saying the ruling is a huge win for Iowa farmers, builders and landowners. She says the new rule expands the definition of “WOTUS” under the Clean Water Act and would impose additional federal regulations to as much as 97 percent of Iowa’s land.

Bird says that would likely raise costs and cause delays for infrastructure projects. She says they will continue to fight back against the Biden Administration’s aggressive federal overreach and will turn this into a permanent win.

(Radio Iowa) – After a long, snowy winter, this week’s warm weather has many Iowans leaping at the chance to get into their yards and start beautifying and landscaping for the seasons ahead. Adam Thoms, a turfgrass specialist at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, says it’s probably still a little early for mowing our lawns, but when that time comes, he suggests you don’t sharpen the mower blade first thing.

“There’s a lot of debris in yards from the winter, whether it be rocks, if you had a gravel driveway and you moved snow, or twigs that have fallen over the winter,” Thoms says, “so if you spend the time sharpening your mower blades, you’re just going to go out and dull them up on that first mow, so just mow with it the first time and then sharpen them up.” The home improvement stores are stockpiling pallets of weed-and-seed products, and Thoms says now is an ideal time to start spreading those tiny pellets.

“Crabgrass is going to be germinating here in the next two to three weeks, especially with the warm weather we’re having,” Thoms says, “so we’d like to see you put that out here by the end of this week or by at least early part of May, at the latest.” Creeping Charlie, or ground ivy, is one of the hardest weeds to control in Iowa. Thoms says he gets calls about it almost daily, and there -is- a chemical out there that can kill Creeping Charlie. The problem is, now is not the best time to try.

“It’s going to be two to three weeks where you could start to try to get after it,” Thoms says. “Typically, you get best control if you wait until the fall. You’re going to want to try to treat it with something that contains a lot of Triclopyr in it. That seems to be what controls Creeping Charlie the best.” There may be a few dead spots in your yard where you need to plant new grass, and there are a variety of turf-building products on the market, but again, Thoms says the ideal season to do that is in several months.

“Springtime is not the best time to seed your yard, and a lot of people think it is,” Thoms says. “So we typically say wait on that until the fall. That’s the best time to seed your yard.” When it comes time to start mowing your lawn, he suggests the ideal cutting height is between three and three-and-a-half inches, and he recommends you never remove more than a-third of the leaf blade. Find more spring lawn care tips, here: https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/

(Iowa DNR News) – The new Armed Forces Hunting and Fishing licenses are now available to residents of Iowa who served in the armed forces of the United States on federal active duty. The new annual fishing license, or hunting and fishing combo license, is $5, with a $2 processing fee.

To qualify, veterans will need to submit a one-time application for the Iowa Hunting/Fishing License for Resident Armed Forces Veteran along with a copy of their DD214. The application is available online at
https://www.iowadnr.gov/Hunting/Hunting-Licenses-Laws/License-Applications under Residents Only Applications.

Upon approval, the applicant’s account will be updated to reflect their status. They may then purchase the new license anywhere Iowa hunting and fishing licenses are sold. Qualifying veterans who have already purchased a hunting or fishing license for 2023 may submit the application, and then purchase the veterans license once their current license expires.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa)  – A ban on outdoor burning is in place effective immediately, for Adair County and Guthrie Counties. The ban was implemented at 8-a.m. today (Wednesday, April 12, 2023). The ban prohibits open burning in Adair County and Guthrie County, including all the cities within the counties. The current dry conditions throughout the region have caused an increase in fire responses throughout Adair and Guthrie County. As dry conditions and winds persist, dead and drying vegetation is the perfect fuel to spread fires rapidly.

Adair-Guthrie County Emergency Management Deputy Coordinator Jeremy Cooper says “Adair and Guthrie County Fire Departments have seen the effects of fires in extreme conditions, and we want to do everything we can to help mitigate life threatening incidents from occurring. These Fire Departments are volunteer departments and are responding to numerous calls a day that pull them from their everyday life and work and becomes very taxing on those volunteers.”

During these dry conditions, he says, citizens are reminded to not throw out cigarettes from moving vehicles and to discontinue burning yard waste, piled tree debris or other items during the ban. Small recreational campfires are permitted only if they are conducted in a fireplace of brick, metal or heavy one-inch wire mesh. Any campfire not in an outdoor fireplace or left unattended is prohibited. Fire Departments will still be able to proceed with their scheduled controlled burns of CRP land and citizens can also obtain a burn permit from their local Fire Chief approves such a request and signs the permit.

Violation of a burn ban can subject a person to citation or arrest for reckless use of fire or disobeying a burn ban. For more information on burn bans and the law or to check the current status of burn bans statewide on the State Fire Marshal’s statewide burn ban website: https://dps.iowa.gov/divisions/state-fire-marshal/burn-bans.

Jim Field visits with Cass County Assessor Mary Anstey about the recent tax assessment notices that may have taken people by surprise with some of the highest increases ever.

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w/Kate Olson.

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• KJAN, Atlantic  .18″
• Atlantic Airport  .07″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  .17″
• Elk Horn  .13″
• Red Oak  .42″
• Oakland  .12″
• Corning  .15″
• Manning  .02″
• Logan  .07″

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s lone prairie chicken population appears to be struggling to sustain itself. The Iowa D-N-R and Missouri officials brought in about 500 birds from Nebraska between 2011 and 2015 to bolster a small, existing flock. The chickens were released in the Kellerton Grasslands Conservation Area in Ringgold County and a nearby natural area in Missouri. Iowa D-N-R biologist Chad Paup says there are now fewer than 50 birds in the area. “We cannot really put our finger on it,” Paup says. “Do we still not quite have the habitat they need? Do we not have the size that they need? Do we not have the large enough expanse of grasslands that they really need?”

Kellerton is a roughly four-thousand acre grassland area, and Paup says the birds might need a larger, contiguous area to sustain a bigger flock. Paup says the species’ future in Iowa doesn’t look bright. “There’s not going to be a lot of support, quite frankly, for going out and spending tens of thousands of dollars to transport more chickens back here,” Paup says.

When European settlers first arrived in Iowa, the prairie chicken was everywhere, and unlike almost every other wild creature, its numbers increased during the early years of the settlement movement. After a few decades though, they were overharvested by the millions for meat and nearly wiped out. Paup made his comments on IPR’s Talk of Iowa program.

(reporting by Michael Leland, Iowa Public Radio)