Post and photos by Dennis Plank
Prairie Memories and Reveries
Spring on Glacial Heritage, Photo by Dennis Plank
As we approach the second Saturday of May and the traditional day we have set aside for appreciating our prairie heritage in this area, We decided that in addition to trying to keep up with the advancement of spring on the prairies (which is just bursting with the recent rains), we would solicit recollections and reveries concerning the prairies. To do that, I reached out to as many people as I could think of who have been working on the prairies for a long time and asked them if they would write something for us. I’ve been astonished and very pleased at the number of people who have agreed to do so and several have already submitted their offerings. Those responses will be posted over the course of this coming week.
The Olympian agreed to do an article on Prairie Appreciation Day and its virtual replacement and in corresponding with Molly Gilmore, the reporter, Sabra Noyes, our Publicity Chair, noticed a quotation in her signature block that she found intriguing. In tracking it down, she discovered that it was part of a poem by Lynn Ungar titled “Camas Lilies”. I found it singularly appropriate and contacted Lynn for permission to post it here:
Camas Lilies
Consider the liles of the field,
the blue banks of camas opening
into acres of sky along the road.
Would the longing to lie down
and be washed by that beauty
abate if you knew their usefulness,
how the natives ground their bulbs
for flour, how the settlers’ hogs
uprooted them, grunting in gleeful
oblivion as the flowers fell?
And you—what of your rushed
and useful life? Imagine setting it all down—
papers, plans, appointments, everything—
leaving only a note: “Gone
to the fields to be lovely. Be back
when I’m through with blooming.”
Even now, unneeded and uneaten,
the camas lilies gaze out above the grass
from their tender blue eyes.
Even in sleep your life will shine.
Make no mistake. Of course
your work will always matter.
Yet Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.
By Lynn Ungar, http://www.lynnungar.com/
Camas After the Rain, Photo by Dennis Plank
If any of you reading this blog have memories or thoughts on the prairies that you’re willing to share, please write them up and send them to our email and we’ll be happy to post them. If you have photos you’d like to share please include them as attachments as it’s easier to post them that way.
With the relaxation of the restrictions on public lands, you should be able to get your spring prairie fix at Mima Mounds Natural Area or Scatter Creek Wildlife Area (starting May 5th-please don’t try to jump the gun). Since they will be monitoring for over usage, try to avoid peak usage times and if the parking lots are full, don’t try to crowd in or park on the road (I’ve seen Mima that way), just find somewhere else to go and come back another time. Always remember that there are a lot of people working hard to make sure the prairies will still be here a year from now (you too can be one of us).
PS: The Garry Oaks are starting to leaf out:
New Garry Oak Leaves Unfolding, Photo by Dennis Plank
