Planted Prairies



When we bought our land, 150 acres were rented to a farmer who was planting them with alternating crops of corn and soybeans.  We continued to rent out the land, but every year we took 15 to 20 acres out of production and planted it with prairie seeds.

We planted the last 20 acres in the fall of 2007.  Now all 150 acres are reconstructed prairie.

To see information on what we did and the techniques we used, click here.

The last project is to transform some old abandoned hay fields into prairie.  We started this in 2009 with the upper section of East Center Valley.

Here’s an aerial photo of our land showing all the fields we planted into prairie.

 

These are the prairies in the order we planted them – East Center Valley, Pat’s Prairie, and Pine Point Prairie were planted in the winter of 2000/2001.   Western Prairie was too big to do in one year, so we did it over 3 years, the last section in the fall of 2007.  Volvo Meadow, Sheep Hill Bluff Prairie, upper Pat’s Prairie, and upper East Center Valley were formerly hay fields.  (The wetland is a mix of remnants and planted wet prairie.  I’ve documented it under ‘Remnants’ at this link.)

East Center Valley

Pat’s Prairie

Pine Point Prairie

3 Finger Valley

Cat’s Paw Prairie

Narrows Prairie

Buffalo Ridge Prairie

Western Prairie

Volvo Meadow

Sheep Hill Bluff Prairie