Imagine a place to sit and write about your experience in a prairie; the Big Bluestem and Shooting Star, Common Mountain Mint and Culver’s Root, Asclepias tuberosa, known as Prairie Milkweed, which is the plant monarch butterflies need to lay their eggs. Imagine a place to sit and draw a monarch flitting about, searching for nectar or warming in the sun. Imagine identifying insects teeming in prairie plants. Imagine this place. A simple log and a sundial measuring the passage of time, all centered along a busy street with airplanes overhead and school bells ringing. Imagine a quiet respite as you experience the once great prairies that covered much of the midwestern United States.
Imagine.
I told you a little bit about the Churchville Middle School’s Diversity and Prairie Gardens earlier this week when I spoke about our garden club’s meeting. This morning, I had the opportunity to see it as part of a dedication/ribbon cutting ceremony at the school. It was rewarding to hear those involved, from the writing of the grant to its being awarded and the actual work that was done. I was impressed by the circle of supporters that included school and park district, forestry district, foundations, faculty, parents, our garden club and especially students involved in this project aimed at moving children “toward environmental citizenship”.
The log above is part of the diversity garden, which is near the schoolyard prairie. It was provided by the park district and is one of several forming a circle providing places to sit. A sundial will be its centerpiece, its base constructed by industrial arts students. It was amazing as we all filtered from inside the school to the diversity garden, the skies heavy and threatening rain, the students walking with a purpose toward the logs where they promptly sat. It struck me that the students from Churchville have already claimed the space as theirs. Some of these youngsters have already moved toward environmental citizenship.
Illinois is known as the “prairie state”, and for good reason. Before settlers to the area, there were some 22 million acres of native plants. Only 2,00o acres remain today. This little prairie is to me a living, moving, breathtaking outdoor museum and classroom. I was impressed to learn that more than 50 species are catalogued here, with many more not yet recorded. What a remarkable environment this already is for not only students here and now, but those to come.
Imagine. Nestled in a bustling area of traffic and noise and busyness, sits a little bit of Illinois prairie and a center for honoring our diverse populations. Adults who care and children who have an opportunity to learn and grow in a simple way surrounded by a complex world.
Imagine.
Segment of the Diversity Garden.
The prairie garden.
That sounds wonderful. I love little quiet places nestled where you least expect them. One of my first teaching assignments was a school in Springfield that had a small woods and stream behind it. The school used it and the children always did well in natural science. I was saddened to find that it is no longer there. The school is an alternative school now. I think those children would have benefited from a quiet place. By the way, did you know that big bluestem is our state grass? Teaching third grade for a hundred years has helped me to remember many random facts.
It really is, Janet. I could feel all the “teachable moments” just oozing from the teachers present and the kids were great. There is a one room schoolhouse just a mile or so away from the middle school. It was built pre-civil war and about to be reopened next week. I can just see classes spending some time on the prairie, doing some sort of exercise while sitting on the logs, then going to the one room schoolhouse. Can you guess what Laura Ingalls Wilder book I’ll be reading next?
That sounds like it was such a great learning environment in Springfield. What a shame that it is no longer there.
I did remember about the big bluestem, and had I forgotten, the retired science teacher who was asked to help with the prairie and who had started the original, smaller one on the site, made quick remedy of that as he spoke about it yesterday. I wish you could see it.
How great for the children of Churchville! I grew up next to a prairie and took it for granted until I moved to Elmhurst and saw prairie being nurtured along the Prairie Path! Over the years I’ve realized how much the sight and smell of the prairie are a part of my childhood memories and my personal experience with nature. I love the subtle color changes throughout the year and especially the scent. Lately, while walking around the lake at the Arboretum, the scent of the prairie grass is in full force and I’ve realized how familiar and comforting it is.
Isn’t it though. It would be great if the two other middle schools could benefit from it as well. Ah, what we all wish we had paid more attention to in childhood. You are so right about the scent, Janet. There really is something quite different and earthy and old (in a good way) about the scent of the prairie. I haven’t been out the the Arboretum in a while. I need to remedy that. You should come down with Eoin and Declan and check out the Little Red Schoolhouse Woods. The prairie there is just teeming with activity. It is just south of Archer on Willow Springs Road.
They’re having a little fall plant sale right next to the Visitor’s Center at the Arboretum that you may enjoy. I just bought a few plants today in fact.
Lincoln School began a prairie back when Kate was attending and they still have one though it’s now smaller and moved to the other side of the school. I think the original was the “baby” of one of the teachers who is now retired.
We haven’t been to the Little Red School House since Eoin was just a toddler, we’ll have to get back there. I remember the 3 of us enjoying a very pleasant day exploring the grounds.
Thank you for this post Penny, I appreciate all you have told me about prairies, about this project, about environmental citizenship. What a wonderful project and a very real asset not only to the school and it’s students but to the future for all of us.
In NZ large areas of natural environmental beauty have been cleared, lost forever, so it is wonderful when a little is reclaimed in the midst of a busy city life, a busy world. Each little bit is special and …just imagine.
There is so much to share between our hemispheres, Marilyn. I think we are all learning a great deal. You are so right. This little bit of prairie will benefit all for years to come.
We have had the same environmental loss here in the US. It was partly the destruction of the prairie and plants like the big bluestem grasses that allowed for the erosion that led to the “dustbowl” of the Great Depression. I wonder if we will ever learn, but, in the meantime, if we let our children imagine, maybe it will all be right in the end.
How special that someone has taken the trouble to recreate an environment that is being lost. I could feel the quiet that it emanates as I read your description. I’ve never seen a prairie but here in New Zealand we have our own tracts of empty space and it’s always the silence that I notice in them.
It is sometimes those pristine places that have such beauty, no matter where we live, isn’t it? It is, I think, the silence that speaks to us. I think the good people who strive to keep these spaces are heros – unsung heros.
How nice…I’ll have to stop by for a look sometime.
I know you would appreciate it, Jennifer. You can see it from York Rd., but, a prairie is more impressive up close. I am amazed, as you can tell, with all that has gone into this project. Do you recall the glassed in hallway between the main building and the where they gym and learning center were? A shade garden is going in there. That will be so nice for students and staff to see as they pass through.