Prairies

Dear Ones,

When I was a little girl, I read Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was enthralled by several of the books in that series and I used to image running through prairies. I grew up in forests & prairie seemed like an exotic landscape that I could daydream about when 3rd grade spelling seemed too hard (this could perhaps explain a lot about my spelling). I could imagine myself following after herds of bison and making friends with prairie dogs.

There were once more than 170 MILLION acres of prairie. Today, scientists estimate that there is between 1 - 4% of that prairie remaining in the United States. The reason that we are dragging sticks into piles is to help make space to restore prairie lands because so many animals need them, not just those prairie dogs that I have been trying to make friends with but also monarch butterflies and pronghorns and plains pocket mice and prairie chickens and hognosed snakes and burrowing owls and many, many, many more.   

Last Sunday we were also restoring prairie, but not by dragging sticks into piles the way we have in the past.

Last Sunday we rolled down the hillside of the dam on the edge of the property. As an early childhood professional, I highly recommend rolling down hills. First of all, it is the best, fastest, most fun way to get to the bottom of the hill. Second, it is a great workout to so many systems within the body that we tend to forget to feed. It makes you dizzy, so your vestibular system has to work to make you stop being dizzy. It’s hard to stay rigid and keep your arms & legs tucked in, so it is building core strength. You are crossing the midline over and over and over and over again which helps with visual tracking which helps with reading. Your body is moving very quickly through space which helps your proprioceptive system feel space (that is the job of that system & it needs shaken up occasionally). And, I know I already said this, but it is just plain fun!  

Bonus! We were helping to restore prairie! The hillside of the dam is riddled with KR bluestem grass, an invasive type of grass brought to the King Ranch in South Texas because it was thought that it would be an excellent source of food for their cattle. It has only turned out to be a pest & is all over the side of the dam. When we roll down the hillside of the dam we a practicing a form a prairie management called high intensity low frequency grazing. We spend 15 minutes to half an hour knocking down all the KR bluestem where we roll. In its place new prairie plants are emerging. Less invasive KR bluestem means more space for a more diverse and native group of plants and animals. 

Win! Win! Rolling down hills is GREAT for our bodies and GREAT for the prairie.
Now, if only there was a prairie dog somewhere for me make friends with.

Peace,
Ms. Linda