Last year after seeing firsthand the harm mowing my pastures caused especially to ground nesting birds; I decided I would not mow this season. The resilience I witnessed was remarkable, with cover the meadowlarks, curlews, killdeer, Hungarian partridge, and sharp-tailed grouse all raised successful broods (some parents raised two broods). Just yesterday morning I was rewarded with the sight of two broods (about 26 birds) of Hungarian partridge scurrying across the gravel through the corrals and out into the tall grass. Reciprocity = Resilience.
Dec 7, 2023·edited Dec 7, 2023Liked by Jason Anthony
Continuing to enjoy my travels through the archives - you asked in this lovely post whether anyone could recommend any resources regarding meadow management. I have two. One is a PNW-based meadow restoration outfit, but the general principles should apply in other northern corners of the US: Northwest Meadowscapes (https://northwestmeadowscapes.com). Plus their website is enchanting, and they mail out their seeds in little handmade envelopes, and they've even published a little softbound zine on meadow planting.
I also enjoy Benjamin Vogt's work - he is Midwest-focused but again, generally applicable principles. As a heads up, he does advocate using herbicides in certain cases, which I imagine he will eventually back away from, given how rapidly our understanding of the harm caused to pollinators by herbicides is advancing. His most recent book is Prairie Up.
I loved this post. I too experienced the full wonder of native asters this year due to our "spring of many atmospheric rivers." I've got three varieties in my mini-meadow, from a pale lavender to an almost plummy purple, which look glorious in the company of their goldenrod friends. It was a buzzing, glittering, zipping pollinator superhighway throughout the late summer and fall here. Such fun.
Take in mind my comments are from only a little experience and also in a completely different biome to yours (tropical).
When we first started on our land we happened to be lucky enough to do Kiss The Ground’s soil advocacy course, which was free at the time. Cutting grass (or better yet, grazing it, at an optimal time did wonders for our soil and water infiltration. We now had green grass throughout the year and we went from a property of mostly cogon grass (considered a terrible weed but probably native to the Philippines and at one time was utilized for roofing materials etc) to something with a higher diversity of forage.
However our insect numbers seemed to plummet (purely from observation, no scientific measuring) and bird life wasn’t doing much better.
I then got a scythe, this was great because less noise to disturb animals, I could listen out for distressed birds if I was cutting too close to a nest etc. However I was still too enthusiastic and cutting so regularly that insect numbers still showed no increase.
So I slowed down.
Boom
Yes my place is now mostly a wild mess and as my city-living mother-in-law suggests there’s probably people hiding in the grass spying on us (haha) but bird life and insect life is booming (as much as it can in the midst of the insect apocalypse). I now only scythe before I move the chickens, which is every week or so, slowly rotating them around the property to fertilize and disturb the soil, resulting in more plant diversity. We also have a cow and sheep that free roam over the entire property and feed themselves and medicate themselves when necessary. They’re very heathy and we don’t use any dewormers as it would continue working in the soil when the cow takes a poop.
It’s tempting to get another cow as it would be a good income source (since food farming here in the Philippines is very poorly supported) but if I did it would need careful observation to ensure I haven’t gone beyond the limits of what my land can healthily support. And I think insects and birds are a great indicator of that.
Take in mind I come from this at the angle that I am trying to marry agriculture (growing some human food on a small homestead scale, and not yet very successfully ) with care for the land and it’s inhabitants and with quite a bit of rewilding and native tree planting also
Jason, thanks for your thoughtful examination of the mowing issue from multiple perspectives. I'm always searching for the right balance here in midcoast Maine. I have 4.5 acres of mixed fields, some of which is very wet, and other parts that sit higher and drier. In the beginning I had them mowed once a year in late July, which I now know is too early. Then I left them unmowed for maybe 3 years to see what would happen, except for paths around the perimeter and through the middle. In those years, multiflora came back with a vengeance, and alders are aggressive too even though they offer valuable food and habitat. I was also rewarded with a birch grove, a volunteer walnut, and a mix of asters and goldenrod. I try now to push the mowing into late November, which partly depends on the availability of the guy with the mower. My focus is on habitat restoration, and while I would like nothing better than to leave things to grow year-round, it's just not compatible with invasive control. Most of the year, I rely on hand-to-hand combat with the multiflora, and let the alders be except where they invade the open meadow. I'll be interested to hear of any resources you come across that offer happy solutions and am also curious about how late in early spring is too late.
Wonderful writing. "Ad asters per aspera" (to modify an old Latin motto.) Thanks also for that enlightening conversation with Patrick. We donated one of our plots of land to the Nature Conservancy. The mixed grassland was being invaded by the all-but-ineradicable junipers. Haven't been out that way in years to see what the Conservancy did with it.
Last year after seeing firsthand the harm mowing my pastures caused especially to ground nesting birds; I decided I would not mow this season. The resilience I witnessed was remarkable, with cover the meadowlarks, curlews, killdeer, Hungarian partridge, and sharp-tailed grouse all raised successful broods (some parents raised two broods). Just yesterday morning I was rewarded with the sight of two broods (about 26 birds) of Hungarian partridge scurrying across the gravel through the corrals and out into the tall grass. Reciprocity = Resilience.
Continuing to enjoy my travels through the archives - you asked in this lovely post whether anyone could recommend any resources regarding meadow management. I have two. One is a PNW-based meadow restoration outfit, but the general principles should apply in other northern corners of the US: Northwest Meadowscapes (https://northwestmeadowscapes.com). Plus their website is enchanting, and they mail out their seeds in little handmade envelopes, and they've even published a little softbound zine on meadow planting.
I also enjoy Benjamin Vogt's work - he is Midwest-focused but again, generally applicable principles. As a heads up, he does advocate using herbicides in certain cases, which I imagine he will eventually back away from, given how rapidly our understanding of the harm caused to pollinators by herbicides is advancing. His most recent book is Prairie Up.
I loved this post. I too experienced the full wonder of native asters this year due to our "spring of many atmospheric rivers." I've got three varieties in my mini-meadow, from a pale lavender to an almost plummy purple, which look glorious in the company of their goldenrod friends. It was a buzzing, glittering, zipping pollinator superhighway throughout the late summer and fall here. Such fun.
Take in mind my comments are from only a little experience and also in a completely different biome to yours (tropical).
When we first started on our land we happened to be lucky enough to do Kiss The Ground’s soil advocacy course, which was free at the time. Cutting grass (or better yet, grazing it, at an optimal time did wonders for our soil and water infiltration. We now had green grass throughout the year and we went from a property of mostly cogon grass (considered a terrible weed but probably native to the Philippines and at one time was utilized for roofing materials etc) to something with a higher diversity of forage.
However our insect numbers seemed to plummet (purely from observation, no scientific measuring) and bird life wasn’t doing much better.
I then got a scythe, this was great because less noise to disturb animals, I could listen out for distressed birds if I was cutting too close to a nest etc. However I was still too enthusiastic and cutting so regularly that insect numbers still showed no increase.
So I slowed down.
Boom
Yes my place is now mostly a wild mess and as my city-living mother-in-law suggests there’s probably people hiding in the grass spying on us (haha) but bird life and insect life is booming (as much as it can in the midst of the insect apocalypse). I now only scythe before I move the chickens, which is every week or so, slowly rotating them around the property to fertilize and disturb the soil, resulting in more plant diversity. We also have a cow and sheep that free roam over the entire property and feed themselves and medicate themselves when necessary. They’re very heathy and we don’t use any dewormers as it would continue working in the soil when the cow takes a poop.
It’s tempting to get another cow as it would be a good income source (since food farming here in the Philippines is very poorly supported) but if I did it would need careful observation to ensure I haven’t gone beyond the limits of what my land can healthily support. And I think insects and birds are a great indicator of that.
Take in mind I come from this at the angle that I am trying to marry agriculture (growing some human food on a small homestead scale, and not yet very successfully ) with care for the land and it’s inhabitants and with quite a bit of rewilding and native tree planting also
The essay is so good.
And so are the comments.
Great writer.
Great readers.🌱
Jason, thanks for your thoughtful examination of the mowing issue from multiple perspectives. I'm always searching for the right balance here in midcoast Maine. I have 4.5 acres of mixed fields, some of which is very wet, and other parts that sit higher and drier. In the beginning I had them mowed once a year in late July, which I now know is too early. Then I left them unmowed for maybe 3 years to see what would happen, except for paths around the perimeter and through the middle. In those years, multiflora came back with a vengeance, and alders are aggressive too even though they offer valuable food and habitat. I was also rewarded with a birch grove, a volunteer walnut, and a mix of asters and goldenrod. I try now to push the mowing into late November, which partly depends on the availability of the guy with the mower. My focus is on habitat restoration, and while I would like nothing better than to leave things to grow year-round, it's just not compatible with invasive control. Most of the year, I rely on hand-to-hand combat with the multiflora, and let the alders be except where they invade the open meadow. I'll be interested to hear of any resources you come across that offer happy solutions and am also curious about how late in early spring is too late.
Wonderful writing. "Ad asters per aspera" (to modify an old Latin motto.) Thanks also for that enlightening conversation with Patrick. We donated one of our plots of land to the Nature Conservancy. The mixed grassland was being invaded by the all-but-ineradicable junipers. Haven't been out that way in years to see what the Conservancy did with it.