This week I spent several hours during a couple visits just seeing what was coming in different areas of the restorations, including the Huggett ground, 20 acres a half mile north of the main restoration which was seeded in November, 2020. I have lower expectations and hopes for that land, partially because I have different goals there, and partially because it borders a neighbor on the north who is likely to allow spray drift to affect my planting. As a smaller piece of ground it is inherently more prone to edge effects, and perhaps not the best place to put my efforts. Still, a lot of gathered seed was spread there, and there are significant areas that might contribute to the seed bank project. Here’s a couple views of what the better half of it looks like now.

Of course, as I stated, this is the best half. There are areas that are blanketed in cheatgrass, and other areas in the richer soils which are filled with Canada thistles, both of which can preclude desirable natives from growing. Here is the plan to start to remedy this. First, there will be 25 cow/calf pairs that will go out there very soon, perhaps in a couple days. Even now, after three growing seasons, there is not a full stand of grass here. There are many bunches getting a start, but probably less than 25% of the ground has perennial grass cover. Much of the open space that isn’t covered in thistles has weedy winter annual grasses such as the cheat and foxtail barley. To be blunt, after three growing seasons some of it is still a bit of a mess. The cows will hopefully help hold down the annual grasses and start to provide a bit of additional biology with their manure, allowing more space for the perennials to expand. That is only the beginning, however. By mid-June the cows will be in a neighboring pasture, and I will hopefully get over this to spot-treat some of the worst thistles with herbicide, hopefully less than an acre of the thickest thistle growth. The downside of the herbicide, obviously, is that this is likely to kill some of the few forbs which have been establishing themselves with the prickly thistle neighbors. I will be conservative with herbicide, however, and try to only spray those areas where the thistles are so thick that all other growth has been shut down.

Then, I hope to allow this to grow the rest of the year undisturbed in preparation for a fall burn. We will try to do a fall burn, rather than a spring burn, for two reasons. First, a late fall burn, perhaps in early November, should kill the little winter annual grasses I don’t want. Second, this will prepare the ground for a late fall/early winter seeding with as much damn seed as I can get my hands on, the burn having disrobed the ground so seed hits soil, letting the oncoming winter overcome the dormancy of the seed, and allowing all this locally gathered seed to begin filling in the spaces in 2025. Thus, there are several moving parts that I am not totally in control of, such as the cattle and the fire, but it is reasonable to hope that between all of these activities I can make a significant improvement to the wildflower population here by the end of next year. In total, I have planted about 230 acres to native prairie plants, but I am really concentrating on the 120 acres in my southwest quarter. If I can get this additional 20 acres rocking, that will make 140 acres, all connected to truly native prairies in a 267 acre complex, and all that adjacent to several hundred acres of native pastures owned by a couple neighbors. Those neighboring acres, while not pristine, have at least a smattering of native forbs. This then enlarges the “island” of native plants, providing larger home territories for all prairie life, from sharptail grouse and marbled godwits to native bees and butterflies to native fungi and bacteria.

All this is a grand vision, which is a hell of a lot less grand when I allow my rose-colored lenses (that usually seem to cover my eyes) to refocus on the messy issues blocking this path to prairie nirvana. But what truly is nirvana anyway? Nirvana is ultimate enlightenment, the acceptance of both the tawdry messiness of life and the beauty of our attempts to spread peace and kindness in a chaotic world. It is seeing all of creation hooked together in a beautiful loop of activity. We are all on that path to nirvana whether we recognize it or not, as we just try to survive our busy lives. Who can I connect to in my part of the loop who might see these prairies as a gateway that helps them achieve their own peace, their own progression to nirvana? What will karma allow? Working on that is part of my path in 2024, to make progress in relationships that can use these prairies for their own future. We will return to this thought later, but for now I will leave you with a couple pictures.

The first picture is of a Pennsylvania cinquefoil (Potentilla pennsylvanica) in a native prairie, a humble little plant that is adapted to the gravel hills. I just planted 20 of them in the restoration, with many more to go. The second picture is of a small milkvetch (Astragalus sp.) which I planted as a seedling plug last year. While most of my transplants failed to survive a hot, dry summer, some made it through, and can further the vision of hills covered with wildflowers providing seed for others to do grand projects of their own.