During 2020 when I was reading books at a rapid pace some asked "How do you remember it all?" I replied "I don't, I'm not going to be tested on it!" 😀 Thinking I knew about prairie I picked up To Find A Pasqueflower: A Story of the Tallgrass Prairie, Greg Hoch, and discovered how little I know. It was comforting to learn that I'm doing somethings right with my grasslands. For example, I've wondered about the wisdom of cattle grazing on some of it. Hoch claims that grazing next to ungraced is advantageous to wildlife. Not all wildlife needs unbroken, uncut grass. The mixture of cut and uncut, grazed and ungrazed, is better than all of either.
The book is not an easy read, partially due to the author's writing style. Yet, it full of valuable information and a good reference for anyone managing grasslands. Three separate fields of my property are virgin prairie, that is, they have never been plowed. The hills and rocks have protected the land from the plow. With seasonal grazing on one field until July 1, the invasive brome grass has been slowed allowing the late summer, native big bluestem, to emerge. Biologists walking in the fields that are pastured all season point out a plethora of native forbs thriving in the midst of the grazing.
Perhaps not a book for the general reader it's a treasure for those interested in prairie...
Takk for alt,
Al
Standing in a field of big bluestem.
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