The Midwest, back in the day, was covered in prairie, which has since become corn and soybean fields. One of our dreams in moving here was to take some of that field and restore it back to prairie. And part of why this home is so perfect for us is that it is set up to do just that.

This strip of field is part of our property. The formal homesite ends with the trees, but because of zoning laws, our land needed to be bigger. So it came with this bit, about an acre in size, perfect for a small prairie.

So far, we’ve met with Rebekah, the DNR’s Habitat Specialist for our area, and applied to the state for help with the project. Now we are dreamily looking through seed mixes. We’ll hopefully have seeds in the ground before summer is in full swing, and have a vibrant prairie established in a few years. It will be beautiful, it will be a buffer between us and the surrounding fields, it will be native habitat, and it will be good foraging for my bees. And we will be able to look out on it and walk through it and think about what it must have been like when the whole middle of the county was covered in a sea of prairie. Oh, and we’ll get to have prairie burns, too!