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Sweet Smelling Early Blooms
The big spring green up is just a couple of weeks away…
Our forests and woodlands have rested and are ready to wake up
from their deep sleep, explode back to life, and treat us to the sweet smells
of the new season.
Among these smells are some of the blooming flowers that burst
forth in late April and early May. There are two species that come
to mind that put out a light, but distinctive sweet perfume:
Sweet white violets (Viola blanda) and wild plum (Prunus
Americana).
Sweet white violet
Viola blanda is...
Sweet white violet
Viola blanda is...
Spring Flooding
Spring has finally arrived and with it so has flooding
here in the Red River Valley. Although we have had and ideal melt that has
mitigated much of the flooding impacts, we still have issues with surface water
runoff. This is due to the meltwater not being able to be fully absorbed by
frozen soil. When
runoff flows along the ground, it picks up soil sediments and contaminants like petroleum, pesticides, and fertilizers that become discharged into rivers and lakes as
nonpoint source pollution. The sedimentation and pollution can have
major effects on water quality and wildlife.
Using proper disposal of unused contaminants, good soil
tillage plans, and following label instructions...
Spring Renewal
Spring is the time of renewal.
Think about how exciting it is to hear the first red-winged blackbird sing. To look out into the wetland to see one clutching to an old, exploded cattail showing off their red and yellow shoulder badges. Think about the first evening you hear the hardy chorus frog calling creeee from a shallow melting pond.
Beautiful reminders that sometimes we have to go through a harsh winter but in the end spring always comes.
Heidi Sjoquist
Director of Retail Operations
Princeton, MN
...
Spring is coming…
It was -9 below zero this morning, the snow drifts are waist deep in some places, but believe it or not, the spring rush has already begun in the PRI products department. In our greenhouses tiny seedlings are beginning to sprout, soaking up the sun and enjoying 70 degree temperatures, protected from the freezing cold by a mere thin sheet of plastic. In just a few short weeks, crews will start hand transplanting each of these seedlings into its own container for resale, a process that will be performed over 250,000 times here...
Driftless
La Crosse, WI 1867
About 85% of the Driftless region lies within Wisconsin and
is host to more than half of the world’s rare Algific slopes. It is
characterized by its Karst topography, bluffs, effigy mounds, river ecosystems,
world class trout fishing, rare and fragile species, abundant wildlife, cave
art, and goat prairies.
I’ve lived in the Driftless region for 23 years of my life,
yet, it hasn’t been until the last couple of years that I have grown to truly
appreciate how special this area is....
Winter Restoration Work
This time of year most people in our industry are looking to the coming season or plugging through busy work in preparation for spring. There are however a few rugged souls still out in this obnoxiously cold weather doing the good work. In all honesty, their determination detracts my focus from any task at hand, from busy work, from spring, even from family and friends. I’m instead forced to look inward. This has been my first winter spent indoors. I’m no longer the go-to winter field work...
“What Do You Do All Winter?”
Working at Prairie Restorations, Inc., we are often asked this simple question: “What do you do all winter?” It is fair question, given the nature of our work. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, there is a lot going on this time of year… During much of the winter, our services crews are still out in the field working on projects. Most of this involves working in the woods, removing buckthorn and other invasive woody species on both public and private properties. Other types of...
A Brief Year in Review
We have been fighting our way through another wall of buckthorn, but are getting close to having it wrapped up before Christmas, no pun intended.
It was a short summer, weedy as ever, but managed to get our projects done and improve our relationships with our great customers, even though we didn’t get to see some of them until the middle of the season.
There are a few small restoration projects to keep us going, but we’re looking forward to enjoying our slow...
Musings while Cleaning Native Seed
Seed cleaning season is here, and as we started working on this year’s harvest, an as-of-now unidentified invader (see photo) was spotted crawling around our work area. This unknown larvae has been pouring out of our drying Aster piles in large numbers and appears to be residing in a re-purposed seed husk and crawling around with it like a hermit crab. In a crop-based line of work, one’s thoughts can quickly jump to the question of whether or not a particular creature is a pest. Though some of the things...
Winter is Coming…
No, I am not referring to the dramatic HBO TV show Game of Thrones, but the honest truth that winter and all of its lovely attributes like slippery roads, shoveling driveways, and 40 below wind chills is right around the corner! Here at the Princeton office, we are working hard to get all of our fall work wrapped up before that nasty white stuff slows us way down. The main projects that we have been working tirelessly on since Mid-October have been the installation of a native grasses and...
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