Recently I was treated to a late summer tour of Prairiewoods by Aaron Brewer, the Land Sustainability Coordinator. The weather was perfect, with clear skies and a lovely mix of late summer heat and autumn light. We rode in the “Mule,” the all-terrain vehicle that I’ve often watched Sister Nancy Hoffman drive fearlessly over the Prairiewoods grounds.
We started with the prairie of Prairiewoods. Aaron showed me the gardens where community members are invited to grow their own vegetables and where volunteers grow many of the vegetables that chef Dan and his staff turn into the wonderful meals that we enjoy at the Center.
Then we saw the first of the prairies that Aaron is working to restore, and he spoke of invasive species such as honeysuckle that they continually battle to root out of the land. I was glad to see my Prairiewoods yoga instructor out for an afternoon run on one of the many trails throughout the 70 acres of the campus.
The prairie began to turn to woods as we toured the Four Winds Food Forest, where there is a natural place to play as well as a smattering of fruit trees and other vegetables that are being grown in the northern edge of the property.
We went further into the east side of Prairiewoods, where the woods begin to dominate, coming to the climax of the tour for me, which was Grandmother Oak. I had heard about this magnificent tree, which Aaron said he had measured at 60 inches and has been there for 300 years—even before the Revolutionary War! As an old treehugger, I could not resist the opportunity, so I gave her the best squeeze I could, thanking her for all she does for our planet and for her ability to survive all these years. The derecho was no match for her!
Aaron showed me Dry Creek, which runs through the eastern boundary of the property, and it lived up to its name. But the water was still running, which was more than I can say for the all the dry creeks in Texas I saw this summer, which had absolutely no water in them.
We finally returned to the Center, and now I am that much wiser. Thank you, Aaron, for such a wonderful tour of the prairie and woods of Prairiewoods. I am so grateful to be part of an effort to keep this part of Iowa wild, and to maintain and return it to the state of nature that God created through millions of years of evolution.
—Charles Crawley, chair of Prairiewoods’ Board of Directors
