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A backyard prairie : the hidden beauty of tallgrass and wildflowers / Fred Delcomyn and James L. Ellis.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, [2021]Description: xiv, 110 pages : color illustrations ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780809338184
  • 0809338181
Subject(s):
Contents:
Glimpses of the past, reality of the present -- Farmland to prairie -- Fire -- A rainbow landscape -- Six legs and eight -- Feathers and fur -- Seasons -- Open sky.
Summary: "The book celebrates the beauty of a 2.5-acre restored grassland with lively commentary, vivid descriptions, and striking, detailed photographs of the native plants and animals that inhabit it. The authors describe how they prepared the soil, selected and planted seeds, and dealt with unwanted invasive species and weeds"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 577.44 D345 Available 33111010538797
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

All the makings of natural wonder in your backyard

In 2003 Fred Delcomyn imagined his backyard of two and a half acres, farmed for corn and soybeans for generations, restored to tallgrass prairie. Over the next seventeen years, Delcomyn, with help from his friend James L. Ellis scored, seeded, monitored, reseeded, and burned these acres into prairie. In A Backyard Prairie, they document their journey and reveal the incredible potential of a backyard to travel back to a time before the wild prairie was put into plow rows. It has been said, 'Anyone can love the mountains, but it takes a soul to love the prairie.' This book shows us how.

The first book to celebrate a smaller, more private restoration, A Backyard Prairie offers a vivid portrait of what makes a prairie. Delcomyn and Ellis describe selecting and planting seeds, recount the management of a prescribed fire, and capture the prairie's seasonal parades of colorful flowers in concert with an ever-growing variety of animals, from the minute eastern tailed-blue butterfly to the imperious red-winged blackbird and the reclusive coyote.

This book offers a unique account of their work and their discovery of a real backyard, an inviting island of grass and flowers uncovered and revealed. We often travel miles and miles to find nature larger than ourselves. In this rich account of small prairie restoration, Delcomyn and Ellis encourage the revival of original prairie in our backyards and the patient, beauty-seeking soul sleeping within ourselves.

Includes bibliographical references.

Glimpses of the past, reality of the present -- Farmland to prairie -- Fire -- A rainbow landscape -- Six legs and eight -- Feathers and fur -- Seasons -- Open sky.

"The book celebrates the beauty of a 2.5-acre restored grassland with lively commentary, vivid descriptions, and striking, detailed photographs of the native plants and animals that inhabit it. The authors describe how they prepared the soil, selected and planted seeds, and dealt with unwanted invasive species and weeds"-- Provided by publisher.

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