frosted cup plant...

frosted Silphium perfoliatum...

An April morning sun salutation.

For those of you, who unlike the author, are not in a constant state of learning and then as quickly forgetting the scientific names of plants, may God bless you. This is the same plant that I was watering last year at the whopping rate of one-tenth of a mile per hour. When a guy spends fifteen hours in a Bobcat his mind has only so many directions to go. I used that time to actually put to memory Silphium perfoliatum.

The view from the Bobcat watering cup plants last summer.

I had hoped that the harsh winter of 2013-14 and the late start that we gave these plants wouldn't be their doom. A few days ago, I saw the first Silphium peak through the cold, wet soil. It would appear that we all have truly made it out of winter. I will try and keep you posted as to how my study of scientific names go and to the progress of the cup plant.

Prairie in progress!

Remember when our prairie field looked like this:

And then like this:

Now it looks like this!

Save the Cup Plants!

The last week has been warm and dry, prompting us to dive head-first into a plant advocacy campaign:

The plugs got a good drink on planting day and a couple days after when 0.4" rain fell. However, the sun has been relentless lately. We have a thirsty field of cup plants crying for H2O. 

Arik, the Tree Farm's Bruce Wayne, heard their plea and effortlessly came to the rescue with this rigged up watering system: 

Who is Susan? And how did she get a blackeye?

I cannot say with certainty that this is the first of our black-eyed Susan to bloom, but it is one of the first. On Sunday we received almost a half-inch of much needed rain which must have provided the catalyst for the plants flower. On my Monday morning commute, this lovely sight greeted me. 

The overall status of the black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) field is promising. The first three weeks after the seeding, Arington Tree Farm like much of Wisconsin, had an abundance of rain.

I have continued to mow a perimeter around the planting to prevent Canada thistle from going to seed and infiltrating the field. However, we do have two weeds in the field: common lambsquarter and pigweed. Agrecol will soon be spraying Prowl, a water-based herbicide, to control these weeds.

Stay tuned, I will post more photos of the field once more black-eyed Susan bloom and keep you updated on the cup plants.

20,000+ plugs later...

Last week we finished our prairie project by putting in roughly 20,000 cup plants!

Agrecol brought out a tractor, the planter, and a truck-full of plugs.

These plugs started as seeds at an Agrecol green house.

It is a good thing we had a whole crew lined up to help - all of those hands were needed! Six people sat on the planter and fed plugs. Another 6-10 were needed to walk behind the planter to ensure it was calibrated correctly, make sure the plugs were going in okay, and quickly break up any clogs in the planter.

Getting the planter loaded with cup plant.

Part of the work crew in front of the fully loaded planter.

Prairie update: soil is good to go!

Field trip to Agrecol: Rob explaining the seed collection process to Rachel and Arik.

Last month we traveled over to Agrecol to meet with Bill and Rob, and talk more about implementing a prairie here on the Farm. We learned that our proposed site (an approx 5 acre field that has previously grown soybeans) is best suited to two species: cup plant and black-eyed susan.

Making way for a prairie

While looking at the photo below, squint your eyes a little and picture a bright yellow patch of Black-eyed Susans waving in a hot July breeze.

Under that thick layer of snow and ice, it might be hard to imagine right now. But come spring, we'll be taking this 8-acre agriculture crop field and planting it with Black-eyed Susans, a native prairie plant. 

This venture is part of a partnership with Agrecol, a native seed and plant company near Edgerton. The flowers will be harvested in the fall for their seeds, and then sold by Agrecol. 

We will definitely keep you posted on how this new venture goes! In the meantime, we're excited for this partnership and look forward to the splash of color this will bring to the Farm!