Notes from the Land:
Gathering Seed
It is easy to see the change of the season when walking the prairie at this time of year. Bright summer blooms of yellow, purple, and orange give way to the more subtle shades of auburn, tan, and brown. Flower heads turn to seed heads in these waning days of intense heat and long daylight. Autumn ushers in a change of rhythm where the beat is still constant but less insistent. Pulling and mowing invasive plants gives way to thinking about the much beloved activity of seed collection.
It is the seed collection that brings eager anticipation from staff and volunteers alike. Belwin’s Workaday Wednesday volunteer crew — between 15 and 25 individuals — await the call for help with gathering seed. They arrive at 10:00 am at a designated site and welcome each other with wide smiles. They listen patiently to the instruction for the day, don their seed collecting bags and are gone. Wandering into the swaying, waving grasses, this activity offers the opportunity to not only see the prairie landscape, but to truly immerse oneself in it.
Caressed by the soft touch of big bluestem on the arm, standing quietly in the middle of a chorus of crickets, looking through the tawny stems of Indian grass and switch grass, we are transported to a deeper and more intimate connection to the natural world. The simple repetition of stripping seeds from stem and dropping them into a bag allows stress to fade away and refreshed spirits to emerge.
When the call goes out to head back to our starting place, there is reluctance to leave. Just one more handful of seeds, just one more breath in the wide-open space, just one more moment of sun-kissed bliss…
The individual bags are dumped into larger bags for ease of transport to the seed room. There are relaxed and happy smiles all around with the knowledge that each person today has contributed to a legacy for the future.
The morning ends with fond farewells and one by one each volunteer drives off to another destination. We could imagine that each seed is also bidding farewell to its place of origin as it makes its way to the next stage of its journey.
Bagged and firmly ensconced in the back of an ATV, the seeds are driven to one of Belwin’s barns to be dumped out on the floor and dried on a large blue tarp or placed in small wading pools, depending on the amount of seed collected.
Drying time can take as little as a few weeks or up to several months. Once dried, the seed will be cleaned using screens of various sizes, then bagged, weighed and placed in a climate-controlled room.
It is here that the seeds will remain until needed for enhancing an existing prairie or beginning work on a new restoration. In either case, this precious resource will be sown, carrying hope that our native habitats will survive and thrive. These seeds will bring food to our beleaguered insects and beloved birds, as well as color and joy to all who come to see them.
Attend an upcoming event with Lynette as your guide! Visit our events page for more information.
