He was up before the sun and the last one in at night. He cleared the land, broke the prairie sod, and passed down everything he knew — not in a classroom, but in a barn, behind a tractor, in the mud of an Iowa spring. The American Farm Dad was steward, teacher, neighbor, and backbone all at once. He raised crops and children with equal devotion, tied his family to the land and the land to his identity. For generations, the family farm wasn't just a livelihood — it was a legacy, measured in century farms and callused hands and quiet pride.
Gary L Hightshoe captured one such farm on Stagecoach Road in the Skunk River Valley in 1972 — a wood silo and barn that were demolished shortly after, taking a piece of that legacy with them. This one's for every Farm Dad who gave everything to the land he loved.
Gary L Hightshoe is an Emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University, where he taught plant materials, planting design, and landscape resource management for more than 47 years. Over the course of nearly half a century, his colleagues, clients, students, and family have known him by many names — the Tree Whisperer, the Grandfather of the Prairie, the Godfather of Savanna Studio — and every one of them fits.
A lifelong conservationist, ecologist, historian, illustrator, hunter, angler, photographer, and artist, Gary is the author and illustrator of two landmark works: Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Rural and Urban America and North American Plantfile — books that continue to shape the field of landscape architecture. His most enduring legacy, however, may be Savanna Studio at Iowa State: the only traveling landscape architecture studio of its kind in the world. Over two decades, Gary led more than 1,000 students out from behind their desks and into the field — to the Boundary Waters, Yellowstone, Theodore Roosevelt, the Badlands, and beyond — because, as he has always believed, "you can't develop a relationship with the landscape from behind a desk."
Gary loves the great White Oak, the Pagoda and Flowering Dogwood, and any native prairie forb. His granddaughters will tell you he is decidedly not a fan of petunias, lilacs, or red-leafed varieties. And he has spent a lifetime restoring 40 acres of never-tilled original Iowa land — wetland, prairie, and forest — to the way it was always meant to be.
"Long after we've come and gone, a tree still stands." — Gary L Hightshoe
Gary L Hightshoe is one of five Kate Shu Collective STAR Resident Artists and a treasured member of the Monarch Shoppe family. His mugs are an invitation — to hold something handcrafted, to slow down, and to remember that the land has stories worth telling.
About this Mug:
• Available in 11 oz, 15 oz, and 20 oz
• Premium white gloss finish
• Printed using dye sublimation technology — the image is fused directly into the ceramic surface for vivid, true-to-life color that won't fade, crack, or peel. Ever.
• Handle stays cool even when your coffee is boiling
• Microwave and dishwasher safe
• Print quality is exceptional — exactly as pictured
He was up before the sun and the last one in at night. He cleared the land, broke the prairie sod, and passed down everything he knew — not in a classroom, but in a barn, behind a tractor, in the mud of an Iowa spring. The American Farm Dad was steward, teacher, neighbor, and backbone all at once. He raised crops and children with equal devotion, tied his family to the land and the land to his identity. For generations, the family farm wasn't just a livelihood — it was a legacy, measured in century farms and callused hands and quiet pride.
Gary L Hightshoe captured one such farm on Stagecoach Road in the Skunk River Valley in 1972 — a wood silo and barn that were demolished shortly after, taking a piece of that legacy with them. This one's for every Farm Dad who gave everything to the land he loved.
Gary L Hightshoe is an Emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University, where he taught plant materials, planting design, and landscape resource management for more than 47 years. Over the course of nearly half a century, his colleagues, clients, students, and family have known him by many names — the Tree Whisperer, the Grandfather of the Prairie, the Godfather of Savanna Studio — and every one of them fits.
A lifelong conservationist, ecologist, historian, illustrator, hunter, angler, photographer, and artist, Gary is the author and illustrator of two landmark works: Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Rural and Urban America and North American Plantfile — books that continue to shape the field of landscape architecture. His most enduring legacy, however, may be Savanna Studio at Iowa State: the only traveling landscape architecture studio of its kind in the world. Over two decades, Gary led more than 1,000 students out from behind their desks and into the field — to the Boundary Waters, Yellowstone, Theodore Roosevelt, the Badlands, and beyond — because, as he has always believed, "you can't develop a relationship with the landscape from behind a desk."
Gary loves the great White Oak, the Pagoda and Flowering Dogwood, and any native prairie forb. His granddaughters will tell you he is decidedly not a fan of petunias, lilacs, or red-leafed varieties. And he has spent a lifetime restoring 40 acres of never-tilled original Iowa land — wetland, prairie, and forest — to the way it was always meant to be.
"Long after we've come and gone, a tree still stands." — Gary L Hightshoe
Gary L Hightshoe is one of five Kate Shu Collective STAR Resident Artists and a treasured member of the Monarch Shoppe family. His mugs are an invitation — to hold something handcrafted, to slow down, and to remember that the land has stories worth telling.
About this Mug:
• Available in 11 oz, 15 oz, and 20 oz
• Premium white gloss finish
• Printed using dye sublimation technology — the image is fused directly into the ceramic surface for vivid, true-to-life color that won't fade, crack, or peel. Ever.
• Handle stays cool even when your coffee is boiling
• Microwave and dishwasher safe
• Print quality is exceptional — exactly as pictured
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