Welcome to our learning curve, and work in progress! Initially, this website will walk through (and document) our journey restoring our land in Michigan to a more natural environment. Once we are on solid ground with the project, the website will be expanded to include a Michigan Native plant and animal species database, resources, and a community platform.
First Success story.
We started with the border between house and the land – creating a “Nursery: for Michigan Native seeds that will be used to populate areas in the woods as work is complete:
Before
Area was covered with aged Honeysuckle and Privet. Roots were several feet deep, vines had choked out all Native vegetation, leaving Garlic Mustard, crabgrass and Black Locust seedlings.
After
First year blooms. All invasive species removed. Area is now nearly self-sufficient & Native. (Mid-June 2024)
Our Journey..blog posts (documentation, latest to oldest)
- Early Spring Work
- Buckthorn Removal
- Winter DeVining
- More Seedling Work/Warm Fall
- River Work & Wetland Planning
- Fall Benchmarking – Good & Bad Seedlings
- Doubling Back
- Mid-September
- Berms: Another Pass
- Swamp Clearing – Roses
- Working Around Weather
- Native Border Filling In
- River Bank Work
- Eastern Box Turtle!
- Heavy Workday
- Native Species Popping Up!
- The Vernal Pool
- Next Area: Honeysuckle First
- Rope Deer Barriers
- Swampy Area Follow up
- Bee Balm and Bergamot
- A Native Patch
- Bee Balm
- First Section in Full Bloom
- Walkabout
- Rose Swamp
- I found trees!!!
- I don’t know. It must have been the roses…
- Spring Pop Ups
- Wisteria
- Weeding
- Multi-Flora Rose Day 1
- Down By the River
- Planting and Discoveries
- Planting A 2nd Seed Nursery – Dry Sun
- Berm Work
- Between Rain Days…River Work
- May 4
- May 3
- May 2
- May 1
- April 30
- Garlic Mustard Before/After & RoundUp Notes
- Baby Gifted Columbine
- April 28
- April 27
- Next Section
- Border Final Clearing
- Next…
- More Work & Discoveries
- My Favorite Sapling
- Front Berm Benchmarking
- Clearing, Seeding, Planting
- April 10 – First Full Workday of the Year!
- March 31 – Easter Sunday 2024
- Year 3 – Border Area
- Planting – Late Stratification?
- March 27 – MAEAP Environmental Certification!
- March 24, 2024
- Spring 2024
- 2023 Progress Review
- December 2023
- October – November 2023 Work Sessions
- Steady Progress
- Into the Woods. One Section at a Time
- Hopeful Again!
- WHAT is this???
- Entering the Hopeful Zone v2.0
- Getting to Know our FedEx Drivers
- No-Mow Grow
- Spring Ephemerals & Plant I.D.
- A New Start
- Here we go again…
- Garlic Mustard & Honeysuckle Day
- One Day Closer to Summer
- I have QUESTIONS!
- Invasives-Property Line
- One Step Back: KNOW Your Contractor.
- Dig, Pull, Burn
- Spring is Springing
- Walnut Stump & Friends
- Clean Up #2
- Glorious Hope!
- November 2021 – Cutting, Burning, Learning.
- The Wetlands
- This Land is Our Land. All of Ours.
- The Journey Begins!
Please submit your own stories, thoughts, ideas, plant ID corrections, and guidance through our Facebook page.
Our Resources page offers helpful links, companies used to purchase Native Plants and Seeds and favorite product links.
Databases currently provide basic lists of SW Michigan Native Species, with detailed pages for select species.
Visit the Summary section for takeaways, before and after photos, and helpful notes if you’d like some ideas without digging through the posts.
