The Eastern Cottonwood is native to all of Iowa — usually found along streams and wetlands. If you’d like to enjoy its beautiful music (and foliage), go for a walk in your nearest state park. Guest columnist

Susan Koch lives in Iowa City. She and her husband, Dennis, farm and raise Angus cattle in Muscatine Country.

Autumn on our Muscatine County farm provides a medley of sensory experiences. The sweet smell of silage ground and stored to feed cattle through winter months. The leathery feel of a soybean pod as you check to determine its readiness for harvest. The satisfying sight of a combine moving through rows of corn as the grain tank fills with bright yellow kernels. The tart taste of a ripened Honeycrisp from our neighbor’s orchard.

But autumn after autumn on the farm, the experien

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