Prairie Road

Today marks eight years since I moved to the farm– my wedding day to Steve and the beautiful, dare I say perfect, reception we had in front of my sister- and brother-in-law’s house.

Back then, there was corn on 17 of our 80 acres, between my brother-in-law Kevin’s pine grove (on the right of photo above) and the subdivision beyond. However, three years ago we took it out of production and Steve and his worker Jeff put it in prairie. I hear them refer to it as “the seventeen.”

It has come in beyond our expectations in terms of resisting weeds and producing a variety of native grasses and flowers. The weeds were probably suppressed by years (decades?) of Round-up and corn cultivation. It was a dairy farmer who grew corn there, and he also injected a lot of manure in the off-season. Whatever it was, that prairie is a beauty, maybe never so much as right now.

In this photo: bergamot, coneflowers, hyssop and more

The queen of the prairie, in my opinion, is the gray-headed coneflower. When she is in bloom, especially in such a large prairie, it is like the scene from The Wizard of Oz with the poppy field, when Dorothy and gang wake up and see the Emerald City and run through a field of flowers. And lucky me, I drive past this field or walk out to it every day and then back to a home which there is no place like. It is impossible to capture in a photo.

But soon, five acres of the seventeen are going to be turned into a road. It makes sense, given development and the plans for more development on the other side of us. Still, it is so sad that this prairie will be cut by a road.

I think we will keep calling it “the seventeen” even though it will be a highly disrupted twelve.

Of course, given the state of my mind and body right now, a road cutting through beauty for practical purposes parallels my thoughts about my upcoming surgery. After 20 weeks without alcohol or sugar or any baked goods (all of which taste foul because of the chemotherapy), I have lost 20 pounds and my body looks particularly good to me! I’m at what for me is an ideal weight. How sad to cut into and scar this body from top to bottom and across when it is in full bloom! And yet, we must be practical!  In my case it is a matter of life and death.

For the seventeen, it makes sense. We knew it was coming and can see it makes sense for the city. Why else would Kevin have planted all those pine trees years ago?

our current driveway: corn on one side, grove and 17 on the other

At some point our 80 acres will be the largest plot left open this close to town. The cornfields to the east of us will go– that is what the road gives access to for more development. As for us, we will have prairie.

I have to think the seventeen, very near the area where the greenhouse is located, is responsible for so many boxes being added to the bee operation this summer. A place of buzzing and stings where the beauty of the flowers is transformed into sweet honey.

Can’t get enough…