April 2023

Seed Sowing Update by John Brittenham Back in January, volunteers from Blue Heron Ministries gathered to plant native prairie seeds, to be grown throughout the 2023 season, and then the plugs will be donated to a local native planting project. After overwintering outdoors for several months (to help the seeds come out of dormancy) they have finally began to grow!Look for chances later this year to come out and help weed the plug flats as the plants continue to grow and then get them in the ground at summer’s end.  Enjoy the photos and look for future updates as the plants continue to mature.

Garlic Mustard by Sarah Williams ‘Tis the season…(for invasive species)!  As we step further into spring and even into summer, invasive species start popping up. Teasel, thistle, dandelion, and (maybe lesser known) garlic mustard. Garlic mustard, scientific name Alliaria petiolata, is native to Europe and parts of Asia. Early European settlers brought the herb to America to use as a garlic-type flavoring. Its traditional medicinal purposes include use as a diuretic. Garlic mustard got its name because when its leaves are crushed, it smells and tastes (trust me, it does) like garlic and mustard. You are probably wondering why I am writing about it. Well, I want to educate people and warn them, so they can help destroy it and replace it with good plants.What is garlic mustard?Garlic mustard is a biennial herbaceous plant (that means it grows vegetation the first year and then sets seed and dies the second year) and is an invasive species. According to Merriam-Webster, invasive means to spread especially in a quick or aggressive manner: such as a non-native organism: growing and dispersing easily usually to the detriment of native species and ecosystems.

First-year garlic mustard: fuzzy, greenish-purple stem; no flower; softly rounded, heart shape leaves

Second-year garlic mustard: fuzzy, greenish-purple stem; flower has four white petals, arranged in a cross shape or ‘X’ shape; triangular, tough, heart-shaped leaves, with toothed margins. The plant can be 1-3 feet tall at this point.

Why is garlic mustard bad?  Why should we care? Good question! Garlic mustard is not a desired food source of plant eaters, so it can easily crowd out native, good plants. It can take over and allow no other plant to grow. This is a problem, because if an animal or insect depends on that certain plant for food or egg laying, the population of that animal or insect will decline.  How can we destroy garlic mustard?There is no substitute for hands to pull garlic mustard, but it does not pull up easily. Oh, and let me warn you: where there is some garlic mustard, there is more. There are several ways to get rid of it (which takes an annoyingly long time to completely get rid of it). One way is to pull the plant and it’s roots and then rip it up into multiple pieces. If doing this, make sure it has not already gone to seed! Each plant can produce thousands of seeds, and they can stay dormant for many years. So, spreading the seeds will make the next few years even more agonizing! You can pull the whole plant and then bag it and throw it away. Some people just rip off the flower BEFORE it goes to seed, but I’ve been told that this can cause the plant to develop a stronger root system. Herbicide can also be used, but you risk killing native plants this way. I prefer to pull the whole plant, and my favorite way to eliminate it is to burn it (which I recently did while we were burning some brush).My brother and I were just recently helping Peg Zeis, a friend of ours. She lives adjacent to a Blue Heron Ministries preserve, and we were pulling garlic mustard in her woods to keep it from spreading. Garlic mustard, as Peg, me, and my two brothers know very well, does not give up without a fight!

Sarah uses the ‘pull and rip apart’ method to help her friend Peg clear garlic mustard from a wooded area.

View from the Crew by Jared Nichols

Lupine’s at Badger Barrens showing off after a rain.

Josh modeling for us the latest fire fashions.

My new chicks enjoying a nice spring day.

Phil stopping to enjoy a smoke tornado, for safety of course.

Phil wondering if prescribed fire thinks about him.

A big gnarly Black Oak at Badger Barrens.

The beauty after a prescribed burn.

Sunset thru the smoke after a prescribed burn of remnant prairie at a pioneer cemetery.

Upcoming Events

Prairie Pocket and Wildfower Planting Service Day at Oak Farm Saturday, May 6th at 9am Come join Oak Farm Montessori School and Blue Heron Ministries for a volunteer prairie planting event. We will meet at Oak Farm Montessori School (502 Lemper Rd Avilla, IN 46710) at 9 am for a brief talk about using native plants to attract wildlife and how to plant them in developed spaces. Then, we will get out and get our hands dirty by planting over a thousand native plant plugs into the ground. If interested, please RSVP by Thursday May 4th at https://bit.ly/prairiepocket. If you have any questions, you can contact John Brittenham at johnbrittenham@gmail.com or 260-242-2759.

Stewardship Day at our La Tierra Preserve and Lupine Viewing at Badger Barrens TBD (mid-May)The trails at our La Tierra Preserve are in need of some maintenance, and we need your help! We’re looking for some extra hands to help clear fallen limbs, cut back small brush, and repair some of the boardwalks. We don’t have a date set yet, but are targeting for a Saturday in mid-MayHistorically, mid-May is also the time that the wild lupine are in full bloom at our nearby Badger Barrens preserve. Once we’re finished at La Tierra, we plan to head to Badger Barrens, to experience the wild lupine in bloom.Additional information about the date and time will be available soon. Watch for updates via e-mail, our website, and on facebook.La Tierra is near the spot where the borders of Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan meet. From Fremont, IN – travel east on SR 120. Turn right on Cope Rd/1000 E, (depending on your navigator) which is also the IN/MI state line. La Tierra is approximately 1/2 mile south on the west side of the road. A map is available here.