Leland Searles, Photographer & Consultant

09/14/2026

My new post is the third about our woodland ecosystems. Here, I encourage you to visit the woods at times after the flush of spring ephemeral flowers. There is so much to see; it has the potential to be as mind-blowing as the Spring Beauties, Wild Ginger, Bloodroot, Wild Leeks, and others.

Any woods, even a thicket, is an ever-changing assembly of beings.

09/09/2026

A new Substack post, inspired by an experience while cutting firewood over the past few days. The best learning comes during an intense experience, such as the one that frames this piece.

This Labor Day weekend past, I was honored and saddened to salvage around a quarter – from the upper half – of a living Burr Oak that had fallen.

08/15/2026

As promised, here is a commentary on "the end of the world," as envisioned through the thinking of one anthropologist, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, and applied to close-to-home circumstances in Iowa. For many here and on Earth, the world of the 20th century has ended already, and we struggle on in the ruins to find sources of hope and meaning. If you value this writing, let me know somehow - Substack posting itself may be another activity in the ruins of recent desires and dreams.

A Commentary on Human Ecologies

08/14/2026

I have two Substack posts in the works, so please be patient with me. One requires a little research and some map-making, and my GIS platform has become glitchy. Microsoft probably is to blame; at least the company makes a good scapegoat. (I’ve tried downloading again.)

The other one you’ll likely see sooner. The working title is “The End of Today’s World? A Commentary on Human Ecology.” It is inspired by a book by anthropologist and colleague Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World. You’ll have to read the post to understood what Tsing means by “the end of the world,” because it’s not the obvious one, an apocalyptic event like the shutdown of the Gulf Stream Current or nuclear war.

I’ll “see” you soon!

LMS, Milo, Iowa, August 13, 2026

08/06/2026

Stray thoughts sometimes organize into coherent ideas. See "A Note in Passing" at my Substack site. Thanks!

Botanists have made rankings of naturally occurring plants that tell, based on expert opinions, how sensitive a given plant species is to disturbances to its ecology: its typical plant communities, the soils in which it grows, and other factors.

08/04/2026

After a lull, here's my latest Substack post. This one introduces the fungi that cause wood rot. Wood decay is mostly beneficial to us and the rest of the life world. Enjoy and subscribe if you like this and others of the sixty-some posts I've written to date, all on ecology in some way.

Wood-Rotting Fungi, Nutrient Cycling, and Decay as the Basis for Life

07/20/2026

Small, unnoticed things often run our world: gut bacteria, ants, mycorrhizal fungi, and plant gall makers. In this post, I explore a little about the insects and mites in the Midwestern US that make galls on plants and the insects that form mines on plant leaves. One or two may be familiar, and you may have seen damaged leaves and wondered what happened. Often, one species specializes on a specific plant and creates and identifiable gall or leaf mine. Ah, but I'm rewriting the post. I hope you find it informative and enriching for your outdoor time.

Galls, Leaf Mines, and Other Signs of Tiny Herbivores