Refined

Three months ago, the landscape was barren. Fire had swallowed up dry prairie grasses like a voracious high school football team at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

But some 90 days later, the green grasses are dotted with prairie flowers in yellows and blues amid shoots of green.

What looked dead has new life. 

Today, please join me for the rest of the story over at Lovely Branches Ministries at my Food for Thought blog. While you're there, check out the blog posts by my other "buds" at Lovely Branches. There are a couple of recipe links over there, too.

Happy Monday!

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And, today I am also linked to Michelle's Graceful: Faith in the Everyday and her Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday link. Check out what other bloggers had to say, too!

Rebirth

The whoosh of flame warmed our faces as we watched the fire crackle and dance, sweeping across the prairie grasses as quickly as a ballerina in a frenzied ballet.

The vivid oranges and yellows of fire gave way to a desolate blackened landscape. And, as you might remember, the "controlled burn" on our Conservation Reserve Program land ended up out of control.

But, just days later, green emerged from the black - a signal of rebirth.

To fulfill the requirements of the CRP contract, Randy planted a blend called Forbes grasses in the ash. (You can see the ridges made by the drill in the photo below, and the Forbes mix in Randy's hand above.)

Illinois bundleflower ... purple prairie clover ... false sunflower ... Indian blanket ... clasping coneflower: The names just sound beautiful, don't they? (They ought to with a pricetag of $3,492 just for required seed mix!)

Eventually, the green of the CRP grass will be dotted with these "flowers" found in some of our other pastures.

Two years ago, I was in the Flint Hills in April and saw grasses re-emerging from the blackened earth after springtime burns. Burning the prairie to replenish the grasses has been part of the cycle of life since the time when Indians roamed the Great Plains.

And the dance of rebirth continues.Sometimes we have to live through a little "fire" to see God's promise of rebirth on the other side.

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I'm linked today to Jennifer's Getting Down with Jesus: God Bumps and God-Incidences.

Smoke Signals

Best laid plans can go up in smoke. Literally.

Last week, we attempted to burn off Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasses on some of our rented ground. Part of maintaining CRP ground requires caretakers to burn off or disc the native grasslands during every 15-year contract and replant with a Forbes mix of grasses.

This particular ground is located just adjacent to the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and nestled among other parcels of land owned and used primarily by hunters. So instead of green wheat fields, it's a maze of dry prairie grasses, perfect for attracting deer and turkey.

It's also in a neverland of cell phone coverage at a point in which three counties converge - Stafford, Reno and Rice.

Case in point: When Randy called 911 to get permission for the burn, the call was answered by Rice County dispatchers. However, since the burn was technically in Reno County, they transferred the call there.

By the end of the evening, we'd also be talking to Stafford County emergency dispatchers. But I'm getting ahead of the story.

To prepare for the burn, Randy & Jake used a tractor and disc along the property line to form a fire break.

The evening of the burn, Randy discovered which direction the breeze was blowing by doing a highly scientific test using toilet paper.

Before we started, Randy drew out the plan for the burn on the ground.

I like having a plan, especially when I'm going to be driving a 4-wheeler in dry grasses with Randy lighting fire behind me.

He used this drip torch to light the grasses on fire.

We began on the north side of the field, and Jake followed behind on another 4-wheeler with a water tank on the back.

As we got to the northeast edge, I snapped this photo while we waited for Jake to catch up.

We thought we had the burn controlled, so I drove along the eastern and southern borders of the field, with Randy lighting the brush behind us.

As I drove and bounced along the uneven field, I said, "I really hate this."

And Randy said, "I know."

At the time, I didn't know exactly how much I would come to hate it by the end of the day.

We got to the southwest corner, where we knew the fire would be stopped by a wheat field.

Fire is quite a force. You can hear its roar. You can feel its heat. The tongues of orange and yellow flames devour the dry grasses faster than a group of teenage boys can plow through a bag of chips.

We watched awhile and then Randy took the 4-wheeler and went to check on Jake's progress.

I waited and took more photos.

Randy came back to get me and Jake went to check on the northern side of the burn again. And then we got THE phone call.

Embers had drifted onto the ground to our north. No little water tank on the back of a 4-wheeler was going to supply enough water to overtake the fire.

Randy & I raced back to get the pickup and bigger water tank. We started dialing 911. And dialed. And dialed. And dialed some more.

Remember: I told you this was in a never-never-land of cell phone coverage. Finally, a Stafford County dispatcher picked up. I've never been so glad to hear someone's voice on the other end of the line.

And the cavalry was dispatched. Sirens aren't usually something I want to hear, but I was awfully glad to hear them that evening. It seemed like it took hours, but it's really miraculous how quickly volunteer firefighters respond when they are called.

We had fire departments from Sterling, Alden, Raymond and the Quivira Refuge.

In all, about 80 acres were unintentionally burned.

But I didn't burn one of the dozens of cookies I baked to thank the firefighters for helping us out. We are so appreciative of the volunteers who give their time and effort to help others in an emergency.

CRP ... No, Not CPR

Land in CRP

And now for your crash course in CRP. No, I'm not about to take over for the American Red Cross and teach you CPR (though that's a very good thing to know).

CRP is the Conservation Reserve Program. The program involves taking land out of agricultural production and planting it to native grasses and wildflowers. This helps prevent wind and water erosion and also enhances native wildlife populations. Most of the land that qualifies for CRP is less productive for agricultural crops anyway.

Usually, farmers can't graze cattle on CRP acres, and they can't harvest the native grasses. But this year, because of the extreme drought, the USDA has allowed emergency haying or grazing on part of the designated CRP acres. A neighbor asked Randy to custom swath and bale about 60 acres of CRP grass.


This is more action than our baler has gotten all summer long.

The resulting 180 bales will be used to feed cattle this winter. With the lack of rain this summer, alfalfa bales are going to be in short supply. The fields of silage have withered with the lack of rain, too, leaving cattlemen with few options for winter foodstuffs.

The CRP hay is much lower in nutrients and protein than alfalfa. It provides all the nutritional requirements for a non-lactating cow, but a cow nursing a baby calf would require additional supplements.

Maybe it's a little like comparing a home-cooked meal to a McDonald's Value Meal. But that bale of native hay will look mighty good this winter in the midst of a snowstorm.