Glorious Goldenrod

It has been more than three years since my last post, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. Restoring a natural habitat is real work, man! And sometimes it’s hard to take the time to stop and document the progress when I’m in the middle of a job, believe me. But more content is coming, you’ll see.

In the meantime, let’s get back to my prairie flower feature series. Behold the goldenrod, or solidago, a flower among a genus of more than 100 flowering plants. With its stiff branches filled with clusters of miniature yellow blooms, the goldenrod blooms from July to October and makes a beautiful ornamental flower in a meadow, garden, or in a vase.

In a prairie, the goldenrod is beneficial because it attracts birds, butterflies, and is a source of nectar for bees, particularly honey bees.

The goldenrod supports “conservation biological control,” which means it attracts predatory insects that prey upon pest insects.

Aside from its natural impact and aesthetic charm, the goldenrod’s significance extends to the industrialized world as well.

Goldenrod is a natural source of rubber, or latex, which American inventor Thomas Edison attempted to make commercially viable before he died. Same with botantist George Washington Carver when he partnered with industrialist Henry Ford to help supplement a shortage of rubber during World War II.

The flower is used in herbal medicine to relieve irritation and counter inflammation from bacterial infections and kidney stones. In the past, it was used to dress wounds and to help stop bleeding.

According to author Elizabeth Silverthorne in her book, Legends and Lore of Texas Wildflowers, many Native American cultures found goldenrod useful for treating ulcers, boils, and kidney diseases; relieving sore throats, pain, and nausea; and was used in medicinal steam baths.

Both Kentucky and Nebraska made goldenrod their official state flowers. The same with Alabama, although their state flower was eventually replaced by the camellia. Golden is the state wildflower of South Carolina and is the state herb of Delaware.

Goldenrod is often blamed as the cause of hay fever, which is a misconception since goldenrod pollen is too heavy and sticky to be blown by wind. Instead, allergies are triggered by the pollen from ragweed, which just happens to bloom as the same time as goldenrod.

Also, young goldenrod leaves are edible and goldenrod works well in a herbal tea.

Here’s a short video on goldenrod and its various uses:

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The Generous Lupinus

The Lupinus is an important source of food for lepidopterans (butterlies and moths) as well as humans.

The blue lupine flower (pictured above) is part of a Genus of flowers called Lupinus that I have included in my prairie. These flowers have a long history of agricultural and culinary uses and play a very important role in the prairie ecology.

Known as lupini among the ancient Romans, Lupinus is a producer of legume seeds, or beans, and are very popular source of food, particularly in the Mediterranean region. Pickled lupin beans are a common item in markets throughout Portugal, Egypt, Greece, Spain and Italy; Brazil too. In some Middle Eastern countries, a salted and chilled lupini snack known as termos is served before a meal. They were popular in Native American cultures such as the Incans and Yavapai. They also pair great with beer (mmm, beer). New varieties of lupin beans grown in Germany are processed into foods such as vegan sausage, tofu and even flour.

Lupin beans are grown as an alternative to soybeans. They aren’t very common in American markets, but that might change in the future as some researchers consider them to be superior to the soybean. They are gluten-free, high in fiber, amino acids, antioxidants and contain more protein that soybeans.

Lupinus is also cultivated for livestock feed, but too much can be toxic. Second compounds such as lupinine and sparteine, which can cause livestock poisoning. Lupines infected with fungus can produce a mycotoxin called phomopsin that can cause liver damage.

Several species of Lupinus grow all throughout the world and provides food and habitat for man species of butterflies and moths. Lupines are also used extensively for landscaping purposes. Here’s to the Lupinus flower!

Prairie Floral: Butterfly Milkweed

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepia tuberosa) is a flower that I am proud to have in my prairie. It doesn’t solely exist on this planet to look pretty, it was (is?) used to make food, clothing and medicine by several indigenous cultures across Midwestern America.

It’s fibers can be used to make rope or cloth; shoots, stems, roots, flower buds and immature fruits can be eaten as food; and the Omahas and Ponca nations ate the raw roots of butterfly for bronchial and pulmonary problems. Several other nations used it to treat diarrhea, provide relief for sore throat, expel tapeworm and even act as a contraceptive, among other uses. The root was also dried, pulverized or chewed and smeared or blown on wounds and rashes. European Americans used it to pleurisy and mild pulmonary edema.

Despite the medicinal benefits, the milkweed species is know to contain trace amounts of cardiac glycosides, substances which are known to be poisonous to humans and livestock in large quantities, even though they are also used to treat some heart conditions in the medical world . Symptoms of poisoning include dullness, weakness, bloating, inability to stand or walk, high body temperature, rapid and weak pulse, difficulty, breathing, dilated pupils, spasms, and coma.

Relevant to my operation, the Butterfly Milkweed provides habitat to many species of insects, such as the large and common milkweed bugs, the red and blue milkweed beetles, several species of bees, and butterflies whose migratory routes have been altered due to lack of habitat.

Prairie Floral

Hello there! Welcome back! Did you miss me? I haven’t updated my blog in awhile because I’ve been busy with the prairie, the farm and anything else life decides to throw at me.

Now that I’m back in the game, I’d like to share a new thing I am doing: Prairie Floral. At least once every week (I will try to make it more frequent) I will post pictures of some of the flowers we have in the prairie. You will be amazed at how amazing the landscape can look with prairie flowers, it really is beautiful. If you haven’t felt the positive psychological profile of a full bloom of prairie flowers, I highly recommend you look into planting some.

These beauts right here are called Oxeye flowers (Heliopsis helianthoides), otherwise known as False Sunflowers because of their resemblance to the actual thing (Helianthus annuus). Native throughout the Midwest, Heliopsis can be distinguished by the ray flowers (the petal-like flowers at the edge of the flower head), which have pistils (something which sunflowers do not have, stamens too). Oxeyes are considered to be one of the best flowers to plant for the border of a wildflower garden. They are also good foraging for wildlife.

Morning Mist

Although this picture was taken in mid October, the environmental conditions are relatively the same, with the weather being, perhaps, a bit nicer one month later. Have you ever taken a walk in the morning mist? Such an enviable activity is taken for granted by most who enjoy it, including me–I admit. The smell of the outside morning air is indescribable, but it seems to be a mix of cedar, grass, dirt and rain. Hey Proctor and Gamble, try packaging that!

Red Buffalo Prairie Beginning to Show Its Autumn Colors

This bucolic meadow scene with a split rail fence was captured on Wednesday, September 5, facing west. As we approach the Indian summer, the vibrant colors of the prairie begin to show.

Red Buffalo in early September

Hello world! Meet Red Buffalo Prairie Restoration

Welcome to Red Buffalo Prairie Restoration.  This is my very first post–I finally made it to the internet. This website chronicles the progression of the Red Buffalo prairie restoration project of Vernon County, Wisconsin.
Red Buffalo Prairie Restoration is a business that specializes in restoring native prairie habitat to the Midwest. What you see in the pictures is the result of over 20 years of my hard work and dedication to restoring the native prairie grasses that once spread across the Midwestern American landscape hundreds of years ago.

This site is only in its beginning stages, but I promise there will be much more to come! Stay tuned.