Seventeen Acres

17 acres water tower viewIn addition to a garden going like gangbusters, we’ve had another gorgeous unfolding to view this summer. Out on the edge of our property is a new 17-acre prairie.

This prairie has been rented and planted in corn by a local dairy farmer for decades. The corn has been Roundup-ready, with applications of the herbicide a couple times each summer. A little more than a year ago, Steve and Jeff began preparing it for prairie. As part of CRP, a government set-aside program, it will be in prairie for at least ten years. our plan is to start saving seed from the prairie (to sell) after that ten years is up. It is possible the seed won’t ever be harvested from that prairie, as it isn’t grown in distinct plots (which is happening elsewhere in Steve’s tree nursery as we amp up the seed part of the landscaping business).

17 acres with houses
This prairie has come in more quickly and more beautifully than any other prairie plot on the farm. Mostly that is due to the fact that the space was not filled with Reed Canary grass and other invasive weeds at the time of planting. The Roundup has done it’s job of eradicating all the weeds. In fact, unlike with most prairies, Steve didn’t bother mowing it last summer. A season of mowing is the common practice to keep the annual weeds under control and stop them from seeding out. It gives the slower growing native grasses and flowers a chance to grow to a height where they can hold their own.

The steps of a prairie are normally these: 1. Spray with Roundup to kill the sturdy weeds. 2. Plant the prairie with a mix of flower and grass seed. 3. Mow to keep the weeds that have been stirred up by tilling or remain in the soil under control. 4. Enjoy the first great flowering and cut the heads off the thistle and remove any invasives like yellow clover if possible. 5. Burn the prairie the second spring to clear out dead weed vegetation and give the newly established natives a chance to shine.

hyssop close

Last fall we already saw signs of greatness in these seventeen acres. I harvested hyssop out there, something I hadn’t seen in our other prairie plots.

 

17 acres grassesBut nothing prepared us for this summer. The seventeen acres already looks like a mature prairie. The grasses especially have taken off. Uncrowded by weeds, there is space between the clumps of grasses, a real sign of maturity. We have big and little blue stem, gramma grass, side oats, and I think two other kinds as well. The flowers, including black-eyed Susan, sawtooth sunflowers, milkweed and yarrow, are also making a strong showing.

17 acres field viewThis is the face we show to our neighbors, the strip of land between us and the subdivision. What a joy it is to have this space for them to walk through and to see each day driving home.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the field just behind my garden, another beautiful thing is happening this summer. Last year the rains and cold lasted so long that the farmer didn’t get a corn crop in at all. This year, instead of corn, he planted wheat! It has been beautiful coming up, and now, just in time for the Fourth of July, we’ve had “amber waves of grain.” It ripples in the wind and satisfies every romantic notion I’ve ever had about the Midwest.

wheat fieldHow lucky we are with these acres and acres of beauty.

wheat

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2 Responses to Seventeen Acres

  1. Pete says:

    Nice post Susan. I enjoyed reading it.

  2. susansink says:

    Thank you Pete!

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