Life on the Prairie

It is arguable that what was once endless prairie is now just cultivated fields and human settlements and no longer qualifies for the estimable title "prairie". However, when I look around me at the way the sky dominates the landscape and when I see vestiges of native prairie plants in the roadsides and forgotten corners, in my mind the prairie is still very much with us.  

This afternoon Pete and I visited Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, an amazing place just half an hour from home.  Midewin is the only national tallgrass prairie east of the Mississippi River and contains about 20,000 acres of restored prairie lands and forest.  In 2015 bison were reintroduced to the prairie and studies are ongoing about the relationship between grazing bison and prairie health and restoration.  Right now in July many of the tall grasses are coming into their own and many, many species of native prairie plants are in bloom.  I find it a magical place and one that inspires me to keep at the task of planting prairie plants here on the farm.  

It's been just over a year since we planted 1,972 (!) plugs of native prairie plants around the house here at the farm.  Most of them survived the first year and first winter and have even reproduced beyond my wildest imaginings.  Some bloomed early in the spring but the summer ones are just now coming into their own.

Culver's root

St. John's wort (a shrub)

Rudbeckia (Brown eyed Susan)

Joe Pye weed - this picture doesn't give you an inkling of the height on these plants!

Great blue lobelia

Royal catchfly

Purple coneflower with monarch and rattlesnake master in background

Coneflower with one of my bees

Yarrow

Pokeweed (which we didn't plant - it moved in by itself).  This can become invasive but it is just such a danged interesting plant that I can't bear to yank it out.  Maybe next year....

Hoary vervain

Joe Pye weed again

And here are a few photos taken at Midewin this afternoon.  We didn't walk out far enough to see the bison but will definitely be taking our bikes over for longer explorations soon.

Yellow coneflower just coming into bloom

Beebalm in back, royal catchfly and purple coneflower in foreground

Yellow coneflower

There are many more natives in bloom out in our yard that I didn't photograph today and each variety makes me so happy.  Out in the prairie grasses by the creek the beebalm and yellow coneflowers are putting on a show as the tall grasses begin their midseason climb to full height.

But of course we have lots of non-natives around the yard and buildings, too!

Anne's hummingbird garden

A black hollyhock by the barn

Blackberries coloring up!

We plant lots of dill for the tiger swallowtail butterflies.  And there are many, many milkweed plants for the monarchs!

The prairie sky was spectacular this evening, too...

June days on the farm

Cherry pickin' days

Cherry pie nights!

New expanded dog run for Phoenix and Henry.  This is just the north end - the whole east side of the barn is enclosed, too. 

Early Summer Scenes at Home Again Farm

Our "prairie galleons", sailing the wide blue sky of June

Hot dog (literally), cooling himself in the water tank

Bilbo loves to paw the water and make it splash.

I thought I'd put the paddle pool out so the dogs could cool themselves better.  My first two customers were Skip and Dude.

June brings the Gebhard Woods Dulcimer Festival to Morris.  It's a nationally known event for both hammered and mountain dulcimers.  The park was alive with music and music-makers at performances and instructional workshops.  We always used to help by hosting performers in our home but this year I worked at the admissions booth.

June also brought swarming hives that needed to be captured and settled in new hive bodies.  Anne and Kenji jumped into bee suits to help me save the swarms.

 True friends load up their chicken butchering equipment and trailer it over AND help with the whole process!  We butchered 44 broiler chickens in about an hour and a half.  Now they are in the freezer and prepared for good eating.  We KNOW what went into our food when we raise them ourselves.

Kenji maintains the dubious honor of the Chicken Killing Meister.  There's never joy in killing animals but these had a great life on the farm and were quickly and humanely killed when their time came.  

Micah is running the plucker.

Chicken processing crew

Tee's first experience cleaning chickens.  She did great and learned a lot, especially about chicken anatomy!

Micah and Lucas, of their own free will, chose to help with the processing.  Lucas carried birds from the plucker to the processing table and helped wash the cleaned birds.

"Dyed-in-the-bibs" farmers cleaning up at the end of the process.

As you can tell from the photos, Joel, Tee, Micah and Lucas are now living here on the farm with us so we're eight people in the house.  Fortunately there is room for all and communal living has been so fun.  The boys are loving farm life - riding bikes, building dams in the creek, discovering fireflies and the joy of endless space to run and explore.  We're finding that 6 adults to 2 kids is a good ratio for always having someone to keep an eye on them.  They especially love having Auntie Mei-Mei (Anne) play cards with them and that's when things get out-of-control-silly.  They are also her garden apprentices.

Preparing decorations for the big Uno night - this is serious work, getting ready for the fun.

Home Again Farm

Back on the farm again after 10 days in California.  The contrast to city life couldn't be greater.  We have our share of troubles on the farm, too, as for instance this evening when our foolish puppies decided to play with two hens.  I rescued the hens and Anne saved them with her chicken whispering and healing touch.  We hope the puppies will get some sense as they mature and learn that they are there to guard and not destroy.  

There were some storms while I was gone and apparently a tornado must have touched down near our church cemetery.  Four huge old trees, all in a row, were uprooted and laid flat. 

Grandmother Days

Babies Don’t Keep

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Author: Ruth Hulburt Hamilton