Orchard Street Pocket Prairie

06/11/2026

06-11-26. More rain this morning. I am grateful but wish I could send it west.

06/10/2026

Wild Side is June 20! See residential landscapes that focus on native plants.

Mark your calendars! It's almost Tour the Wild Side time! We love working with fellow community partners, Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center and this is one of the events we cherish! Mark your calendar for our annual Tour the Wild Side!
This is a free event! A big thank you to our incredible sponsors, Lincoln Electric System (LES) Union Bank & Trust Runza Restaurants Schrader Landscape Design Wild Bird Habitat Store Prairie Legacy Inc.-Native plants and seed Lower Platte South Natural Resources District, U-Stop Shops Midwest Natives Nursery and to all the garden participants and wonderful Tour the Wild Side committee!

06/10/2026

Many plants can still be grown this summer! (Stratification code A)

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2821135091557736/?fs=e&mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e

06/10/2026

06-09-26. I have been learning about gardening with ecology in mind for the land I manage in what was once tall grass prairie.

When I married a man from Minnesota, he brought 20 acres of boreal forest along Lake Vermilion with him into our partnership.

I am learning what it means to steward a very different ecosystem than my background. Unlike my Lincoln plot, this one still has apex predators, which indicates there is still enough intact and functional web of life there to support them. It is
beautiful and I don’t want to mess it up by my actions or inactions.

It is not pristine. The oldest trees are estimated by the forestry expert that walked with us to be about 125-150 years old. (Most of the forests were cut down at some point and not much actual old growth forest remain). Age matters because there is interdependence between life and decay. Layers matter. Complexity and diversity are necessary to sustain life at all levels.

I want to be responsible and restore what I can. (I acknowledge that putting a small cabin does shift the balance). I am learning what impact means but have a ways to go and from time to time, might tell stories here about what I am learning about stewardship as it overlaps my intentions here.

06/09/2026

06-09-26. I returned from a couple weeks of traveling. It was fun to see so much blooming when I returned! (Weeds also made heroic progress).

05/28/2026

05-28-26. This post is a little derivative. I grew natives for Lincoln ecosystem but also grew some for Northern Minnesota too. They tolerated a long drive nearly to the Canadian 🇨🇦 border! I have been getting educated on which plants should and should not be here and will try to steward it as responsibly as I can. I have been planting seedlings here for several years and will see how they are doing later on a hike. 🌱 (Water lily was torn up by a critter or a storm. I am going to give it a home in a self-contained water garden.)

05/27/2026

05-25/26-26. Preparing for travels, weeding, planting, seeding warm season prairie grasses, dreaming.

05/25/2026

05-24-26. Much weeding.

05/24/2026

05-24-26. (10:42). This is a nearly 11 minute video tour of Orchard Street Pocket Prairie with commentary on bindweed, non-natives in a rewilding landscape and paradigm shifts. Impromptu and rambling but a record of now.

05/23/2026

05-23-26. Productive day of pulling weeds and planting in the original pocket prairie.