Our 60 acre sanctuary is at present moment diverse timber. A neighboring landowner who has a century farm himself regales us with the most delightful stories and anecdotes about our properties and visitors to them over the years.

He remembers our property being pasture when he was a kid. It had numerous giant oaks that dotted the land, and many of them still stand. What was once an oak savanna has evolved into woodland, each distinct ecosystems.

Prairie

After clearing much of the invasive briars and downed trees and limbs, areas of bare ground became exposed, seemingly begging for roots. Plant diversity brings nutrients, air, and life back down into the earth, turning dirt into soil, controlling erosion, and even locking away carbon to boot.

We thought we could utilize native woodland, savanna, and prairie plants to nurture the ground we were revealing. During the spring seasons following the clearing of an area, nature started doing the work for us. More and more species of grasses and forbs began popping up.

We decided to try a couple experiments to help expedite the process. The first involved germinating prairie grass seeds on our little, suburban deck and transplanting them to our property. I picked four native species that tend to germinate easily without a period of cold stratification. I first started them in seed trays and then transplanted several seedlings together into one gallon pots.

They took off without too much trouble and showed no signs of slowing.

Transplant day came quickly. We picked two hillsides; one had been cleared, and one hadn’t. They overwintered great and are still thriving a year later.

The second experiment took place at the same time. In an area between two giant oaks, we decided to spread prairie seed. We picked a cool, wet day in March, raked out the leaf cover to get good soil contact, and threw out a native prairie seed mix from a local company.

Then we waited. Low and behold, grasses started growing! Most forbs need a winter of cold stratification (or at least a simulated one) in order to germinate.

By the time fall rolled around, we had a couple other areas we wanted to seed too. We decided to try winter seeding. With a dusting of snow on the ground in late November, we threw more seed out; one area was between the same oaks, and we seeded two other locations as well. Prairie establishments have a history of being more diverse with winter plantings, so we kept our fingers crossed.

We need three years for the prairie to fully establish, but it’s very exciting to watch the progress. Every winter, we plan to seed new areas, and we hope the birds are eating some of the seed and planting them elsewhere for us!

Wetland

When we bought the property, we learned there was a pond on it…somewhere. We found it, but it was tough to get to. Two major ravines linked up to the pond, one that fed it, and one from which it was leaking. An old barbed wire fence surrounded the whole thing, and so did a natural fence of briar.

We made ourselves a little path to get down to it, and our son was delighted. That was his spot; he could often be found at the water’s edge catching frogs and toads or breaking off chunks of ice and sliding them across the surface.

We eventually worked our way around the pond, taking out both the barbed wire fence and surrounding briars.

Each year the water level drops. Early on, turtles were seen swimming, and the remnants of fish carcasses littered the banks. Now, the water level is too low to support much aquatic life. We plan to rehabilitate our dilapidated pond to its former glory as a thriving wetland habitat, bustling with wildlife. Stay tuned for that transformation!