I have about 5 acres that I have restored to the original prairie that was once here in area's of Indiana and even more so Illinios and Iowa and most likely the Dakota's....It is very interesting to watch and imagine what it must have been like in those days of the Indian and the Buffalo...
I selected Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indian Grass, Switch Grass and Side Oats as the mix for my Prairie Restoration. Native Prairie grasses are almost totally drought resistant and they root so deeply into the soil...I have read that most of them will root as deep as 15 feet into the earth. So you can imagine at that depth that they could find moisture and never be stressed even in the worst of droughts. Thus God in his wisdom perpetuatued the Grasses thus the Buffalo and thus the American Indian. So think about it, if the Grasses never quit florishing, the Buffalo never wanted for grass to eat, and thus the Indian never wanted for meat to eat and skins for their clothing and housing...
My little 5 acres in the late summer gets to a height of about 6 to 8 feet tall. I kid my friends sometimes that come in the late fall to harvest some of the seeds from the grasses that if while they are out there they stand very quiet and very still they can with a little imagination actually hear the grunt of the buffalo...
And maybe an occasional Indian creeping along hoping to bag the big Tatonka as they did in the movie Dances with Wolves....
I have read stories of the Pioneer farmers who first plowed these praires and what a time it was to cut through the deep roots of the grasses and I have read that there was almost a constant popping sound of these roots being severed by the freshly hand sharpened plow shares that they used. But what soils these grasses produced through the centuries before the white man came...Each year this enormous growth would decay and add more humous and food for nightcrawlers who would then devour the last years growth and then take it deep into the soil and pass it as waste...Much as they are building soil even now in my no till acres each year as the residue from the previous years crops lie there on the surface to be eaten by the same soil builders the night crawlers....
But my main reason for reestablishing this small part of the original prairie is to attract and make habitat for Pheasants and Quail. The Quail have returned and have florished here. Constantly all summer long providing someone for me to talk to while setting on my back porch..The "bob white" is always good to hear and sometimes try an immatate...I think they enjoy it as much as I and always return the bob white right back to me.......
I have it sectioned off in 3 parts with a 12 foot wide bluegrass fire break between the sections. This allows me to burn one section each year so that it gets burnt about every three years. It is very interesting to watch the growth then in the section that was burnt each year. It starts very quickly and is always the most agressive and lush all summer long. So in those days of old when lightning set it on fire in early spring it was actually good for it but the fires being so huge no doubt destroyed more than the grass sometimes. This year my mono delayed me and I for the first time in years did not do a burn. It is too late now as nesting I am sure is taking place and that will be protected...
Ok thats my prairie, it is off to a new start as you can see in the picture to the right and I will maybe update the story a bit later this summer when it gets full height and especially so if the buffalo and the Indian should return....
No comments:
Post a Comment