Restoring our native prairie has been one of the most exhausting and frustrating experiences. Read on to see what's happened in the past 3 years and where we are headed next. We chose to restore the 12 acres of tilled field to native prairie in order to restore the land. Our farm has been cropped … Continue reading Native Prairie Restoration Years 1-3
Once upon a time, we actively tore out "invasive" plants. We participated as volunteers with our local soil water conservation district and with our parks department. We thought we were doing a good thing....and maybe we were....sometimes. But after a few years of helping to rid Minnesota of invasive plants, we started to realize that … Continue reading The Truth about Native and Invasive Plants
Our prairie is now 2 years old, but we forgot to report on it's first year growth. Maybe it's because we were embarrassed of how it looked. There was so much uncertainty and fear that first year. We planted at the end of May 2017. Right after planting, we had a month and half without … Continue reading Why does a first year prairie look like garbage?
From the very first day we walked the land, I have been looking for bees. And they were scarce. I would occasionally see a bumble bee and I did see a honey bee or two - but not very many. Any flowers at the property were usually devoid of life. Maybe it was because the … Continue reading If You Build It – They Will Come….. Attracting pollinators and breeding a better berry
Quick Rundown: ~ 11 acres of prairie planted the end of May 2017 followed by dry hot summer. No noticeable germination of prairie seeds in 2017. Spring 2018 was very dry but the early summer was quite wet. Black Eyed Susan came out in full force by mid summer 2018 followed by spotted bee balm. This … Continue reading Black Eyed Susan is Dominating our Prairie – Uses, Plans, and Lessons to provide adequate honey bee forage
