Turning Old Nursery into a 7-ACRE NATIVE "INSECT" MEADOW - Ep. 077
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- When we saw the vestiges of an old plant nursery in a 7-acre area below the future common house, we thought: "How are we going to manage this?" The first idea that came to mind that stuck was a native, "insect" meadow. No, not just a pollinator meadow-but an insect meadow. Let's choose plants that are not only beautiful throughout the seasons-but that that also feed larval stages of native insects to promote more ecosystem health and native and migratory bird populations. That's what we went with-save for a few exceptions.
A meadow also seemed like the best bet because we didn't want to block the views of the the common house and future homes. The top area of the meadow looks out over distant views of the valleys, so we would want to maintain that. Of course, putting in and establishing a meadow is easier said than done, so have to admit, it's taken a lot of work, and we won't know what comes from it for years to come.
Video is brought to you by American Meadows, www.americanme..., which we worked with to source the majority of our meadow seeds.
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Great! We planted 2 acres down here in Owego! We're a certified monach weigh station! Lots of local native plants in stratification right now. I love what you're doing.
That's so cool that you have an official monarch waystation. There are so many great Asclepias that grow in this area. We have a ton of swamp milkweed and common milkweed that were already here. And dogbane. Though its in the same family as milkweed-I don't think it's a host for monarch-but it is one of the more important plants for native pollinators in this area, so we're going to promote that as well.
@@FlockFingerLakes amazing to hear from the people directly doing this!
Thank you for all of the crazy hard work that you did to reclaim that mess of adulterated land, and putting in a native meadow! It’s so amazing that you will be providing a haven for your local wildlife!!!
Well, let's hope the hard work of cleaning it up pays off. We suppose that's still to-be-determined. But we feel good that we're at least getting some new, diverse seeds into the seed bank. Now let's see if they establish!
This is an amazing project, and I’m really happy to see more content like this on TH-cam so people can learn from your work. There’s a lot of comments giving specific pieces of advice on every step you’ve already made and picking apart every choice, so I won’t add to that, but I think it’s awesome you’re learning as you go and I’m sure the finished project will be an incredible experience. It’s obvious you spent a lot of time researching this! Most decisions if you aren’t happy with them can be reversed, so the learning and observation aspect is key!
Thanks Kristina, we're looking forward to seeing how this pans out and learning from it.
I can't wait to see everything in bloom!
Its going to be beautiful!🌻🌱🌺🌿🌼🍃🕊
We'll all have to have patience I suppose. The first two years are usually designated to root growth. So maybe, maybe year 3 we'll see some significant changes. Here's hoping!
I'm so excited to see this project come through. Meadows are so beautiful and important for the environment, I hope we see more people doing this on their land than a large area of lawn.
The best way to start a meadow is going out every day to pluck baby weeds and reseeding areas every time you pluck the weeds out to establish those types. However I’ve never done it in gravel like yours. So for those gravel stones you have, that’s going to be a hindrance for many meadow types of flowers that try to grow.
You really needed more time to add in layers of planting, then raw leaf cover so the added benefits of worm castings could help eat away at those leaves, the leaf cover will insulate in the winter and bring beneficial diet to insects, fungi’s that wouldn’t otherwise be there. Leaf cover also kills off weeds and brings the soil acidity to very high levels depending on your leaves. This leaf cover eventually neutralizes over time and creates balance after the first spring when it essentially becomes dirt again. After that time you will need more reseeding.
planting more cover crops adding clovers and more buckwheat if it doesn’t establish itself over the gravel, repeat one or two more years with leaf cover and crop cover. Buy a load of native worms to eat it the leaf cover and allow the soil to breathe life with out damaging it with tilling, as it adds more years to your work. Eventually you’ll have enough built up layers of dirt and soil to plant a healthy meadow were it was once gravel and stone. There’s other ways like digging up soil and turning it but rains and snow eventually cause the gravel and stone to push up again unless done every year which is lots of soil lost when it rains.
I’m not sure if my comment will help or be read but I’d love to help you you in your endeavors as I’m figuring out ways myself to create soil in the world.
I really hope you add an update to this wonderful video I have stumbled upon. As I’m all for watching others doing their best to create beautiful natural habitats for insects birds and wildlife that are beneficial to the area. Thank you for making this happen and good luck.
Respect! My goodness, to remove all that crap - wow.
I have a tiny wild meadow (30 X 15 m) up here in Nova Scotia and this is my 4th year. I buy a hardy native East Coast 31:15 seed mix from Canadian supplier Vesey’s each year. I removed the grass/turf layer in ‘20 and seeded it. I mow once a year, in September.
And yes, the lupines are conquering the girls, next year I’ll have to actively cull them, no matter how much I do love them. I also have lots of golden rod. But the Echinacea and Beebalm are also massive, as well as a medium sized yellow flower of which I don’t know the name. The whole thing remains a fascinating experience. I planted a Cortland Apple and a Bosc pear at each end, a few meters from the edge.
Good luck!
As someone that has made offerings to the seed bank gods, so much of it is about faith that nature will find a way. I don’t have gravel soil like you, I mulched 6 inches over everything and sucked all the nitrogen out of the earth for two years, but this year will be the test to see what comes up. I can’t wait to see how your meadow does. I also love that you just committed to throwing seed at it and didn’t do a test patch somewhere. Fingers cross all the seeds take and you have a beautiful canvas of plants like you envisioned.
Sheer joy that such an abused piece of this beautiful planet has been delivered into loving caring hands 🌻🦜🐟🦖
You’ve done so much work to be proud of, plus doing your best to be good stewards of your property. I have purple coneflowers, I wanted some in another area of the yard and I just cut and dropped the spent cone heads on the ground in the late fall. I was pleased to see the whole area full of baby coneflowers in the late spring. I suspect the squirrels and the birds may have pushed them around but it couldn’t have worked out better.
Oooh that gives us lots of hope. As we were spreading the seeds, we were thinking, "even if only a few of these come up-at least we'll have that new genetic material in the landscape"... Last year, we planted cardinal flower, and it really started to take off around the ponds and gardens-and the hummingbirds LOVE it. It's really nice "re-introducing" some of these plants back to the landscape and seeing them grow/thrive and seeing the respective wildlife enjoy them too.
That was incredible sheer hard labour ~ it looked a little like you were 'terraforming' an old Moon base...with all that dusty gravel to disk in, and all the geotextile, ducting & cabling to be hauled out! The ground must have given a huge sigh of relief ~ for being able to breathe again. You have chosen all my favourite flowers for the mixed meadow, and it will be a joy to see them steadily grow and blossom. It certainly is a privilege to follow :)
Thanks for your note. We sure hope that this land can breathe again. But as we were hauling out that 32 tons of trash, we kept on thinking, "Well this has to go somewhere else!" Sigh. So it's in the environment somewhere [else]. But let's see how this turns out. It's a journey for sure!
@@FlockFingerLakes You've given the land a chance to 'heal' itself, one element being soil-processing invertebrates that can now reach the surface (no geotextile blocking them!). If I remember correctly I think earthworms play a significant role in such land enrichment, as they fetch soil up (digested?/excreted) from deeper levels [though you may need to boost your local worm population!]. As for the tons of trash, someone somewhere at sometime for sure, will inevitably invent a financially viable & sustainable recycling process for such material.
I think deep down many of us fear snakes, that is why we fetichize shorn uniform lawns. But meadows are far more interesting. Great video by the way.
There's some really interesting history around the creation of "lawn" and the idea of continuous, well kept, manicured suburban lawn. Cannot recall all the details, but something you'd probably really enjoy reading up on more-and obviously a relatively recent cultural "invention" that we haven't been able to shake. But the snake thing: It's funny because my mother is absolutely deathly afraid of snakes (something I took advantage of as a kid, tsk tsk), but there aren't many snakes to really fear around here. Maybe a timber rattler (saw one once, though not here) and copperhead, but they are really few and far between. I've seen more garter, milk, hog-nose, and rat snakes than anything else...
@@FlockFingerLakes yes, my mother is also deathly afraid of them. I try to explain to Hershey ones here Arnaldo benign, except maybe copperhead (which you usually can’t even see because they camouflage so well and are more nocturnal apparently, but it’s no use. Since she grew up in Brazil I think she gets a pass though. Those are something else entirely and is part of the reason the Atlantic coast forest was so deforested.
@@suburbanhomestead I would say -yes-anyone from those tropical climes gets a free pass. I recall river walking through Trini and Tobago, for instance, and seeing FAR too many poisonous water snakes for my liking. Luckily they had better things to do that day. :) The whole fiasco with the Atlantic Forest is gut-wrenching. So much of that area has been lost. ... Another snake story that I just recalled: just 4 years ago in Mozambique, my friend had found a man near his land who had been struck and killed by a mamba. They often slept in the branches above the makeshift shower, but think he must have stepped on one while he was walking. Stories like that I guess is what makes the locals revere / fear / respect / abhor snakes.
@@FlockFingerLakes precisely. I heard Hawaii doesn’t have snakes (or didn’t until recent escapees or something like that.) tropical climate and no snakes is a win win for gardening.
Before lawnmowers, it was also a flex. Because it meant you could afford to have servants/employees to maintain it.
So glad this came up on my feed! I just put a variety of Wildflower and Clover seeds out in parts of my suburban lawn. We moved in here a year ago now and I'm determined to breathe life back into the 'new build' landscape. Much MUCH smaller scale than what you are going for. I'm excited to follow your progress.
We planted a prairie over our septic field 22 years ago, gravel bed based and still going strong! Many of the plants you just seeded in. My favorite is is the gray-headed coneflowers, they're over 7 feet tall!
I see your response is a couple months old. Will be moving onto a 3 acre plot this fall. I have intentions of about an acre and a half putting it into native prairie plants. Pollinators, monarch butterfly plants. Central Iowa, any advice from your experience would be appreciated. Part of this will be over our septic field. Thanks
@@jerrybarnes3104 I did get your reply. I'll be out of town until next week. Would like to contact you when I get back. Check out Prairie Plant Farm online in Westfield, WI .. they have an excellent source of information and plants that would suit your location. :)
@@TheRoadLessPaved thank you will check them out.
It's such a long process, but it's great to see you document it all so well!
It's nice for us to look back on it too because after a while, it just becomes a blur.
I'm doing a similar project on a very tiny fraction of the size of this meadow and it's been cool to see the progression over two growing seasons now. The coreopsis, coneflower and asters really flourished in year two so I'm excited to see what comes up this spring. I'm adding a few more species this spring: mistflower, aromatic aster, and panicled aster. It will be fun to watch and learn from this project.
Sincerely thankyou to you both, and those that helped, for not just the service you are providing to the local wildlife in your area, but by extension the service you provide to the wellbeing of the animals and people that live even here in Australia on the other side of the world. You're beautiful people and I look foward to your continued success in the coming years.
Love, love, love it. Spring and summer will be magical . But 1st summer so many yucky plants will try to come back. Lots of walks with a garden how will help. I have noticed every year is a new magical plant or butterflies just amazes (i name each year that) partridge pea (chamaecrista fasciculata) is amazing check it out. Here in Indianapolis during the bloom season the Bumble Bee's overnight in the leaves. Then when morning warmth comes you can hear the buzz get loud. Many times I just sit with them. good luck, enjoy can't wait to see the progress
We're definitely expecting the multiflora rose and the honeysuckle to be poking their heads through the gravel. Not sure how we'll end up tackling that quite yet-physically and emotionally! ha! And thanks for the recommendation on the partridge pea. It's a good host plant for around half a dozen native insects. May have to sprinkle some of that fairy dust around :) ... When the buckwheat went in as a cover crop, the bees went NUTS. The buzz was deafening. But the smell of buckwheat was a bit overpowering-like dirty socks. We're hoping with a diverse amount of inflorescences and flowers, we'll have a more balanced mixture...But we'll see what takes! Progress shots will come, but will likely be a slower process. Thanks for your note!
Good luck! Planting wildflower seeds do not turn out as you like for many many years and often completely fail . next time add sand to seeds so application by hand is more consistent mixed in a 3 gallon bucket broadcasted. its all in the wrist when applying by hand broadcast not drop
Yes to all of this
Thank you Brent! We think the reason why wildflower meadows have such poor rates of success is because folks often go with primarily flowers in their meadows and forget the grasses. We have about a 70% grass 30% wildflower mix ratio here. And the wildflowers are primarily perennials. Many off-the-shelf wildflower meadow mixes rely strictly on flowers, and of the flowers, rely a lot on annuals to get that first pop of color in the first year because those perennials generally take 2-3 years of growth underground first-concentrating on the building up of the root zone-before they make their aboveground entrance. We are not certain what will come of this meadow, however, because even though we did a year of prep here, you can still see some pre-existing plants growing, which don't get us wrong- is not all bad. There are native sedges, thistle, etc that are there. And probably a lot of stuff still in the seed bank. That discing doesn't necessarily "get rid" of the preexisting seeds there. And thanks for your suggestion on sand. We actually *did* buy bags and bags of sand and initially were casting that way, but over such a large area, the toting around of a bucket with sand got really heavy, so we ended up just opting for hand-casting without it. We also had a small seed caster, but that was too cumbersome on the terrain. Someone else also recommended sawdust, which could have been a lot lighter. We will definitely be using the sand and seed-in-bucket method for the smaller meadow areas we plan to be putting in. Those will be a cake walk compared to this beast. Really wish we could have seeded/culti-packed the seed the same way we did the buckwheat and oats. That would have been the easiest but not practical in the least bit!
All the undoing, before you even got to the doing! I'm shocked. You have such patience and stoicism.
So excited to see the end results in a few years! Also I love visits from Andy he’s such a cool guy!
Us too! And Andy is such a hoot and a holler. We love how he loves life.
Congratulations to you guys, Summer, what you doing is priceless. I been reading and learning lately so much about the importance of natural meadows and native plants with the keystone plants for insects which is in big trouble lately.thank you as always, for making such a positive impact in our planet. This might be the most amazing video, that you have done since you started, thank you for such for contribution to our planet and our ecosystem, we defenelly need to clone you and your friends :), so proud of you guys and THANK YOU. Very inspiring, your kindness and caring is always appreciate it and recognize. Cheers.
Hi Nachi, such a lovely missive to read. Thanks for appreciating the efforts. We hope the concept of a native, insect meadow really is able to reach more folks. Though this is a bit larger scale, this can easily be done on a much smaller scale too. You don't need that many materials. And someone can also do their own seed-collecting, especially if it's for a smaller area, like a backyard or large container planting, for instance. Have a lovely day.
Ok guys I’m getting a meadow mix to add to my back yard. What a rewarding process to watch. Thanks for sharing.
That would be cool. Site prep is definitely key. If you are working on a small enough area, you may just want to add a black tarp over to the area you plan to plant, so it takes out the current grass that you have. You don't want much to compete with your seeds / plugs that you do. But if it's prepped well, then you'll have a great chance for its establishment. Plugs will establish quicker than seeds, but if it's a small enough area, you can even collect seeds in the area, which could be a fun project to do.
@@FlockFingerLakes Thanks for the tip!
I think my favorite part is around 25:00 where she's all happy about showing the seeds and he's like "oh I'm gonna go show the big stumps. *slaps stump* *walks away*
Never related so much
The Canada Goldenrod is a Keystone species and will attract TONS of insects, and support them through their lifecycle. I was struggling to process if it was perceived as a problem for the meadow. Yes it is hardy and monopolizes, but there are other aggressive native wildflowers and shrubs that can mingle with it. I doubt that entirely removing it is an option, just wanted to highlight how wonderful it is especially for the intention of attracting insects!
Was going to mention the same thing. We in North America are all lucky it spreads so aggressively. Otherwise I enjoyed the video and the immense effort!
Its going to looks so pretty, a lot of those flower will pop up first year.. cant wait to see it.
Wow great job! It's really interesting to see what kind of meadows grow in other parts of the world. Here in Sweden you'd rather not use a green manure as it would make the soil too fertile and you'd promote grass and weeds rather than the flowers. So it's really going to be exciting to see your meadow grow with native plants that can deal with that! Best of luck!
I had to save my videos and yours are always up first. I remember when I was on the wait list for your channel. I was so excited to be able to watch your journey. You have not disappointed! Your hard work, care for each other, engagement with the community and just teaching all of us to love this beautiful earth some more. I am so excited for Spring. Thanks for sharing you three and taking us on the Flocks journey. ♥️
this is great! really look forward to the 3 year mark 😃… so much progress has been made.
congratulations ‼️
Wow I can’t wait to see this come spring!!
I love watching you seed all of this beautiful land. Love that you removed all that junk first!
Wonderful project and philosophy toward nature. Land restoration should become a growth industry instead of activities that destroy land and native plants. The work and expense you had to devote is mind-boggling. I had land in WI 1999-2006 on which my main project was establishing prairie on formerly pasture/cropland, the main prep task was removing fence and invasive "prickly ash." Throughout I used fire along with mowing. My most successful areas were the places I had large burn piles because the intense heat had killed the seed bank to a sufficient depth and the ash was a great nutrient (I shoveled off most and flung it around the surrounding area because too much would poison the ground). FYI, I learned at a Midwest Prairie Conference that there are flower species that do well in the first season and act as pioneers to pave the way for plants that need a more established prairie ecosystem, prmarily yellow and purple coneflower, bergamot, and black-eye susan. It's true, and a nice way to see some results quickly! One mistake I made was to seed a large area by hand as you are here--flocks of birds arrived soon after.They must have been watching me because the ground was sufficiently covered by existing plants that had been recently mowed. Also, annual ryegrass (not annual rye) is a pretty grass to use for your pre-seeding cover crop. Very cheap and takes well. One more tip--the one flower that pollinators go absolutely mad over (especially monarchs!) is stiff goldenrod. It is a very pretty goldenrod, as well.
We would love to see land restoration become more popular, though have to say, it seems to be a growing "thing" around here, which is not a bad thing! Nice to hear that burning was your most successful strategy for removal of the prickly ash. Did you do any form of mechanical removal along with cover cropping over the course of a year by chance? Curious if you can compare those two data points. Also, nice to hear of the pioneer species of plants: We have 3 species of Echinacea, 2 species of bergamot, and black-eyed susans, so maybe they will do an earlier showing than the rest? We'll see. Not sure if our seeds when we frost-seeded got picked off by birds, but it could have been the timing and the generous birdseed we give our birds during the colder months. We DID, however, get a lot of migrating Canada geese eat the oat seeds we planted because it was smack-dab on their migratory route, but we weren't too worried about that either because we really over-seeded, which was what was recommended to us. Lots of oats still came up, so we suppose that strategy worked-and was enough to feed their bellies for the long flight. And nice tip on the stiff goldenrod! We went with a small amount of Solidago nemoralis, which I guess is known as "old field goldenrod".
It could be an idea to add some holes/ swales in the meadow in order to hold more water and it could create little ponds for wildlife.
We definitely need some more contouring and swales in a section of the meadow, closer to the driveway. We had an extremely wet year this past year, so it gave us more of an indication as to where the water likes to travel in the landscape (the season before there was a drought and you couldn't tell that any place would be wet). That being said, the previous owners used geomorphology to really make this whole landscape well-draining and yet water-storing, principally to irrigate the nursery plants. The four ponds there-(3 of them in the meadow area)- didn't actually exist before...All the water would just drain down through the rivulets / streams on either side of the land. So if you zoom out, they [the ponds] were put in the places that they were to actually capture and hold onto the rain (the largest pond, which is towards the top, is largely spring-fed). So when you zoom out to a more 30,000 foot approach, you can see how the rainwater moves through the landscape and zig zags its way to the ponds and is principally retained there. And each pond has an overflow into the other pond, and then those ponds closer to the road have an overflow into the tributaries / drainage basin. The pond clean-up and plantings will be probably a 2023 project, but we've been seeing lots of cool wildlife already: frogs, salamanders galore. Definitely looking forward to creating more viable habitat.
@@FlockFingerLakes Don't know where could be seen the zoom views that you note above, but would be interesting to see a water analysis of the whole site, the non-forested portion in particular. The ponds added a lot, but I wonder if the remaining drier areas wouldn't be better off swaled now or key-lined, to retain more moisture in the meadows. Would be an interesting analysis.
@@FlockFingerLakes wetlands are so amazing. Project see how many dragonfly species you have this summer. ( hit there is a crazy diverse amount)
Well done, with the exception that you did not kill the existing seeds in the seed bank. Usually, in doing a meadow, you need to kill cool and warm season weeds, spraying, or solarizing for an entire season. All of that tilling has brought up a lot of seeds so you may encounter significant weed pressure. That being said, I have had a rough start to meadows before with weed pressure but with determination (which it seems you have) you will eventually prevail! Good Luck.
You've got so much additional work to do... Wow. Good luck with your projects! They are all very interesting.
The debris really knocked us out, but we're glad we got through the bulk of it.
Wonderful…I love meadows such diversity 🌼🌞
Time will tell which seeds survive and thrive here! Guess it's part of the experiment!
Awesome work can't wait to see its blooming natively.
This is so wholesome and heartwarming. Really hits me deep in my soul!
We recently bought a 2/3 acre in rural N. Georgia. There's several semi to mature trees scattered throughout the "yard" but it's mostly grasses & an amazing amount of Packera. Theres a section that's overrun with Honeysuckle though. It remains a challenge. On the other side of the house, it transitions to woodland complete with Calycanthus & Kalmia. Sadly, invasive Wisteria & Ivy are coming from the adjoining lot & strangling their trees. We've beat back the nasties over 20' & saved some nice natives. I would like to see a change in the horticulture industry. Certainly, money can be made without selling known invasives! I'm short on resources but soldier on!
Nice vid, y'all worked HARD!!!
Edit: I've added many of the species you planted by both seed & divisions. Good to see how many folks are out here helping nature!
I am half way through your video, and I must say my goodness I am surprised at how much it makes my heart hurt seeing how much you pulled out of the ground. I am very surprised at my own reaction to this.
This is a fascinating video. Thank you for sharing!
This is so cool! You don't quit!
Thank you. This was very interesting and I'm excited to see the progress.
Thank you for tuning in and being interested.
I'm planning to take up my front yard this spring and make a wildflower meadow. I have about 1000 sq ft. So, when I start complaining about how much work is involved . . . I'm gonna watch this vid again! Awesome job.
Also, Canadian Goldenrod can be a thug - but you will find it will take over places no other plant wants to go and is an important fall pollinator plant. I also love showy goldenrod (Solidago speciosa)/ grassleaved goldenrod (Solidago graminifolia) and swamp goldenrod (Solidago patula) is awesome for your wet areas.
Amazing work. Little by little this world will be restored.
i live in the uk ,we have approx 3% left,painfully sad .Do all you can, 40% seems a lot but that can disappear in a generation.well done,i wish there were more people like yourselves
I am doing this on a small scale. There is an oleander hedge next to where I live and there is always just patches of dirt between the hedge, fence, and sidewalk that do not get hit by the landscapers who mow the strip between the sidewalk and the road... PRIME real estate for some guerilla gardening of some Texas wildflowers.
That sounds like a good project to do under the guise of night! I hope you do it!
Who knew it would be this much work!
Let's have our fingers and toes crossed that it works somewhat!
Have you researched the types of native plants that belong in your specific area in the US and fit the type of soil you're on?
Also, next time when you sow the seeds mix them with a bag of organic (peat free) potting soil! It will make sowing much easier and it also makes sure the seeds stick to the ground well.
Very cool to see a project like this in the US! I'm curious to see how the vegetation develops and how you will maintain it.
Good luck from the Netherlands :-)
You've done an amazing amount of work in a short period of time, it's a beautiful spot.
Thank you for doing this! This is so inspirational, and I liked your shirt in that one clip “plant meadows not lawns” maybeeee we can’t get a video on how we can plant meadows in our own lawns :)
They've become our core work shirts here, so we started to spread the message: www.flockfingerlakes.com/shop .. We're recreating this meadow in smaller beds too-and doing native, low-mow grasses and different "meadowizing" techniques in the central lawn. Earlier this year, we did bulbs-in-lawn, and we're trying that with the native, low-mow lawn (TBD if that will work out), and also in pre-existing lawn, and then working with a lawn that is more biodiverse from the start and letting it grow out. So there will be quite a number of experiments that we hope to share as we go.
This was amazing to watch!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
We hope there will be more to come as it progresses. Will take time. Thank you for taking the time out to watch.
This is the verry first video I've seen on this channel, and I love the energy, it's very calm and peaceful and relaxing. I can't wait to see the evolution of the meadow.
Good to have the pile of stumps and or branches and wood, provides shelter for certain animals and beneficial insects.
Miguel, Miguel, Miguel... ... you could have been the MVP...
tee-hee. We would have loved to have his hands in this more, but it ended up working out in the end, as we got to meet and work with more of our neighbors, who we have become good friends with. He was a great guide during the beginning stages of the project. It took many minds to get us to where we are with this project!
Wow, that is going to look so beautiful just like Little House on the prairie. Wahoo !!🌸🌺🌻🌻
This is so awesome! It's like a Fairy Tale.
Well, let's see if the plants we planted actually take! But the process in and of itself is so rewarding.
Wow .😳😳😳I was waiting to watch the progress in your property 🤗🤗
It's a process for sure!
@@FlockFingerLakes true … but rookies like me get to learn & inspired by amazing people like you 🙏
Wood chips are a great way even out landscapes without having to till or grade. And their are usually free by the semi loads.
if you cut any more big trees, leave like 3-4 feet of base, girdle the stump as close to the roots as you can, and inoculate it with sawdust spawn of of some kind of mushroom! also any hardwood logs that you aren't going to use for boards, cut into 40 inch sections and do the same if you want, you have the space and materials to grow lots of mushrooms actually!
edit: doing it now on lots of very large logs of sugar maple or white oak especially would have them growing for a decade or more and provide lots of food for future communal homes, if that's part of your goal as well
I can't wait to see the meadow. x
I'm kind of surprised the dozer operator didn't have a root rake or ripper setup on the back of the dozer to rake out and remover the geo fabric, seems like that would have been much quicker. That would have gotten rid of all the other junk as well. Grading off the gravel could have been piled or moved off site as a sale. Great project!
I’m so invested in this meadow lol. Love from Australia 🇦🇺
Amazing work!
Kudos to you guys for your hard work! you will be rewarded. I can't wait to see it!!
Gravel makes sn incredible seedbed.
It truly does!
Good stuff. Cool to see this work in progress. Our place is up by TBurg and a few meadows are also in the works
Amazing! Please keep us posted with progress. We should do seed exchanges when things get established.
there's a massive field under the powerlines behind here that gets rarely mowed, kinda hoping that the "oops got seeds a bit too late" seeds eventually spread over there in time (there is so so so so SO much mugwort over there like god help me why). excited to see how this progresses over the years
mugwort is an important medicinal herb, so maybe at least you can lean into the mugwort and collect it for some herbalists in your area!
Great video! Wonderful editing, engaging and what an incredible job you've done!!
Maintaining that as a diverse prairie fragment, you can't just "mow it once a year." You'll need to do a bit more carefully selected management including periodic burns. And you don't want to burn it or mow it all at once. You want to do sections, so that there's always at least some areas undisturbed for wildlife habitat.
I am impressed with your dedication to this project though. You had the worst situation to start with and I think a lot of people would have given up at that point. This is a great project for pollinator habitat for sure.
Fascinating. I have learned about periodic burning back in high school (thanks to the Envirothon clubs, which first introduced that concept to us children), but it's not something that many folks who do meadows out here have recommended to us. I'm not sure if it's because it's less popular, or fires are less seen / less common in the northeast (and it's more a technique used for true prairies out west), or if there are less folks out here who know how to do it, or what. Would be curious to get more thoughts of folks who are regional on that. Also like the idea of doing it by sections. It solves the issue that I definitely wanted to leave stems up in the winter months for overwintering insects and seedheads for hungry birds and other wildlife, but then figuring out how to mow in really early spring when it's still wet....
Thank you for your hard work. I feel the need to have a shirt now that says “make meadows not lawns.” 😊
Can't wait to continue to follow along with you this year. Lots of hard work and I'm sure it will be well worth it!
We have finches too! They are super amazing!
My yard/site had been a parking lot. Woodchips from tree trimmers changed by soil.
So much work but it’s going to be amazing. I’m so far behind in videos but I want to watch them in order.
I love your vocabulary. I nerd out on hearing all the proper names for things. And sometimes I've only seen things written and don't know how to pronounce them. Like, in my head, I fully said "penstemmone". haha
Here in the west using goats helps with the nasty shrub removal... in fact using grazers is part of what a grassland is... a meadow/ grassland is healthy when you have grazers moving on the land.. note they have to keep moving : that is the ecology of a meadow..even if they are rented and come in seasonally .. they fertilize and disturb so reseeding happens... dont compact the land like tractors do.. sequester carbon.
Yes, totally. When we're all here full-time and can care for the animals, then we'll likely do that. At this point, we don't want the onus of animal care falling all on Sander's shoulders while he has other management items to consider. But when we are all here, we may consider having an extended "flock" and animal / bird family. I personally grew up with Nubian goats and RIR / NHR chickens, and my aunt next door had horse and cattle, so it would be lovely to have a nice extended animal family within reason. Supposedly the sheep and alpaca are lighter on the land and don't pull plants up by their roots. But for now, we'll be sans animal until we're all up here full-time and can give them their due attention. Initially we wanted to rent some goats to graze the land initially: th-cam.com/video/cBw6o7ULIvo/w-d-xo.html .... There turned out to be a lot of challenges with that, however, at least at onset. Firstly, we called the county extension office and they said, "Good luck finding any you can rent out," largely because the solar farms around here have longterm contracts with farmers, so it was tough to find anyone with a grazing herd that was available. That compounded with just moving in, we didn't have as many contacts and there very well could have been someone out there, but not one that we were able to find. Secondly there wasn't great forage for the animals here, according to one of our farmer friends. Farmers don't typically like that, because they would still then have to supplement their animals' diet. The solar farms around the area specifically plant a sheep blend optimized for sheep forage, for instance, so it's a win-win for the solar farm and the farmer. It's a whole, rather sophisticated program out here. Thirdly, we were finding just too many unknowns when walking through: rat poison packets, pesticide packets, metal bits, etc. - we didn't want to risk the chance of any animal getting sick by eating something it shouldn't have. So we opted to do more manual and mechanical removal....Now hopefully it's in a better place to bring animals in down the line....
@@FlockFingerLakes Yeah, taking that care for the animals commitment is a huge step because it is 24/7, unless you made agreements with other farmers who are looking to rent for their livestock ... on the other hand, they do so much of the 'work' for you... BTW,Richard Perkins has a great system for Regenerative Farming.. Brilliant fellow!
I'm so hyped and can't wait to see everything develop..... waiting......waiting.....is.....hard....🌻🌱🌺🌿🌼
And....I also can't wait to see all those bulbs come up!!!🌻🌱🌺🌿🌼
Your project and work is so inspiring!
Greetz from Germany :-)
We think 2 - 3 more weeks and we may start seeing those bulbs!
I'm just itching to see all those bulbs coming up too!!!
So much so, that I just rewatched the original 70k bulb installation again, just to get a taste of what's to come!
Your comment above,
"2 - 3 more weeks and we may start seeing those bulbs"
was made 3 weeks ago!!
So now - IT'S TIME!!!!
I know I'm rushing it!
I can't help it!!!
I'm a Spring bulb fanatic, more so in situations that are naturalized than planned beds.
So the 70k bulb project has been hanging in my memory banks since last Fall, dancing in hopes of the Spring show!
I would even be satisfied to see their little tips breaking the surface!!!
I'm on the edge of my virtual seat!
Anything and everything that comes up will be a wonderous sight!!
This is a great project. Thank you, it is very inspiring.
Very surprised you didn't mix the seed with sand before you casted it????
Thank you for sharing. This is so cool.
an overhead drone shot overlaid with grid squares would have been soooo GREAT! better tracking and recordkeeping.
May God Bless your work
Never seen anything like this! It's amazing . Love it.
Lots of work though....
Awesome! Can't wait to see how this goes.
Maybe consider doing prescribed burns instead of mowing or brush hogging. I did brush hogging out in Missouri and I never like to think about the amount of animals I saw getting chopped up and tossed out the side. A good backing fire moves slow enough that animals can get a chance to run away. Especially if you time them around nesting seasons.
@Flock Finger Lakes First of all, congratulations on being at this point finally. All the hard work! 🤯 This meadow project always seemed to me to be one of your heart projects.
I do have a question though. Why don't you use a seed mix of native plants from your region and apply it throughout the area? Similar to your video with Todd Bittner? Is it because of ornamental and colour reasons? Thanx for your amazing content anyways!
Let's see if this actually works! Meadows take such patience...long waiting...And save for three different plants-a poppy, flax, and a Verbena-the rest of the 60+ species are native grasses and forbs. We weighted the criteria we were selecting for. Some of the criteria included "host plant for insects", "pollinator plant", "color", "stature", etc. We aimed to get bio-regional seed, where available. We even collected some seed here and there, but it was such a drop in the bucket for the amount that is needed across 7 acres. The seeds, as shared, however, were in seed shortage, so we didn't get every seed we wanted. Or we got less of a species than what we wanted. Some of the seeds that Todd suggested in the native low mow lawn video, we also selected for this site. For us, it'll be a big experiment to see what succeeds and where. I won't be surprised if we see something pop up that we planted elsewhere in the meadow-and see it in an entirely different place. Guess that is the surprise with seeding vs. just planting plugs or mature plants in the landscape, which would have been a whole other level of work! Thanks for your message.
ah yeah appear a little overwhelmed and unprepared though with good intentions. it looks like you have 2 growing seasons worth of site prep using moderate sized tractors and the like. your gravel if more than 2" deep will needed to be removed, however it should be able to be put to a good use ~ drainage or road base
good luck. I've done quite a bite of work in this area and it's a combination of science, economics, and art
So lovely!!
Do a lot of these seeds self spread? The hand spreading was a nice surprise. I hope they turn into your design.
A movie you have to watch "dare to be wild", if you haven't seen it, wow. I would also speak to a mycologist about spawning edible mushrooms in that meadow, you could also get someone with a metal detector to walk thru and flag any spots with metal so more metal spikes for you...wish there were more people like you guys on the planet. One thing I would do is have little walk paths set in the meadow, so you could have visitors pay to come walk thru your meadows..a little side hustle
We are considering planting a meadow, too. Would love to see your results after a few years. Also, where did you get your blue cap? I love that it covers your ears & has space for a ponytail. Really nice!
i'm making one myself, it's alot of work but i know it will be worth it. also where i am making the meadow and in the woods we cleaned up truck loads of trash of all kinds, pipes, sheet metal, you name it, we were doing this the same time period yall were doing this so i related to it .
The best meadows have "poor" soil. While most people assume that nutrient rich soil is the "best" soil - this is not true. There are different soils and they are neither good or bad - just like different vegetational zones aren't good or bad. Poor soils are excellent for extremely rare grasses and insects because we have literally fertilied the ground to death. They can be extremely rich and beautiful in their diverstity and blooming capacity and they are low maintanience. You can utilize them as buffer zones and as flood protection so definitely something we need more of in the future.
Native or domestic ungulates are a natural part of grasslands - they remove overgrowth, provide manure to fertilize the soil, and push seeds into the ground with their passing. Studies have shown that prairie/meadow restoration happens much faster - like decades faster - if there are ungulates grazing and moving around the land. Every element of an ecosystem contributes to the cycle.
The deer that trample through our yard that I am slowly transitioning to meadow are great for something after all! If not fertilizer aha.
Is there an update video to this meadow project? Thanks!
Living my dream! My wife and I are turning our little one acre suburban home into a homegrown national park.
I wish we could burn here. I have a giant pile of Japanese Barberry cuttings that need to hit the road
love the smile lady!
Thanks for this video. I am wondering if I can confirm your cover crop schedule for amendment. Post clearing. (infrastructure removal, other invasive removal, hogging) You did disking> buckwheat > cultipack in June 2021... let that grow for 30 days> brush hogged and did another round of buckwheat around July 2021 the same time, let that go for 30 days and repeated that process in late August but with oats instead for the winter? I noticed you began sewing your meadow in November and December was that also in 2021 along with the oats (thinking the oats died off on their own without mowing/and disking) and then looked forward to the Spring of 2022? When did you plant those bulbs and I think alliums? Is there ever a situtation where you could do a cover crop mix? Or is is it best to keep the amending process simple? Thanks!
We seeded the first round of buckwheat cover crop on June 24th (a little later than we wanted), but it's when the tractor was available, and then we sowed in the buckwheat right before it went to seed (so you have to time it on your end because our buckwheat going to seed may not be the same amount of time when your buckwheat goes to seed). Then we did another round of buckwheat after we disked that first round in July and then when that was about to go to seed, we disked it in August; and then we seeded in the oats, which winter-kill. You do not need to disk those in because they die in the winter. We frost seeded (again later than we wanted because as we shared in the video, there was seed shortages and the seed supplier was terribly delayed). I planted the bulbs in the following fall after I mowed down small areas of the meadow to more easily plant them. The dates should all be on the videos to get the more specific timeframes.