Prairie Day 2013

All week I was looking forward to our special Saturday: Prairie Day!  

 Mama and Papa Mersydotes are planning to restore an acre of farmland to a natural, indigenous prairie.  Land that was under corn for years will be slowly be nurtured back to its well-balanced, fruitful, diverse natural state.  It is such a wonderful feeling to be part of this project- I can feel a part of my own soul tying itself to the land.

The first step was to clear the land of the detritus of the corn harvest- stalks, cobs, and husks-thousands of pounds of it!

At first we thought we could rake it all up, but it proved to be too heavy for our rakes, so we all stood in a line across the field and began shuffling our feet along the grounds, so as to build up piles of corn bits.  It was like wading through a snow drift!

Then we had a grand idea- scoop up all the corn bits and take loads of it in the pickup truck and create a mountain on the other side of the field.  A plus was getting to ride along in the bed of the truck- just like a hay ride!  It was nice to stretch out and relax after scooping all the corn!

Then it was time to mix the prairie seeds- fifty different varieties!  Black-eyed Susans, compass flowers, purple and yellow cone flower, and many more!  We had to mix the seeds with oats as a carrier seed as well as various grasses.  The seeds smelled wonderful!  So fresh and clean smelling!  There was also a special mixture of bacteria and fungi spores that we mixed in so as to restore a good balance of living matter to the starving earth.

It was super windy that afternoon, so we drove into town and sheltered behind the grocery store as we mixed the seeds so that they wouldn't blow away in the wind!

Scattering the seeds was lots of fun.  Half of us walked side-by-side along the rows that we had tilled, scattering the seeds in a not-too-thick and not-too-thin blanket on the ground while the others walked behind, gently stepping on the seeds to press them into top of the soil.

This year, many of the varieties of plants will bloom, and more will follow in the years to come.  As I sprinkled the seeds, I had the most beautiful feeling of creating a future paradise for my family and children- a lush and thriving prairie where we can experience the seasons and be a part of the natural word!

Lots of love,
~Mersydotes