Why Natives, Why Windflower?
We are used to thinking of nature and humans as two different things, but native plant communities remind us that the two belong together. To be human is to be a harmonious part of nature. In countless ways the culture we live in makes this—to understate the matter—hard.
The cultivation of native plant communities is in this sense counter-cultural. It is one way begin to mend our sense of separation from life. How?
What are native plants? To begin with, a native plant is simply a plant that coevolved with the web of life of a specific region. In our case, that region is the tallgrass prairie.
Connection and Interdependence: Because of coevolution, and unlike non-native plants, native plants play a meaningful role in the functionality (energy cycling) of its native ecosystem. That is, they help turn sunlight into food that is accessible to the animals, insects, and microbiome that it coevolved with. Native plants equal life!
Diversity and Efficiency: No single species can cover all the niches that are possible for life. Species diversity therefore creates a web of life that is able to make the most use of the energy on offer. A single square meter of remnant prairie can support over one hundred species of plants and insects and are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet!
Resiliency: It can be a harsh wold out there, and native plants have those extremes written into their DNA. Coevolution and diversity both add up to resiliency. When drought, cold, and insect cycles decimate non-native plants, native plant communities have the resources to adapt and survive.
All But Lost: The one thing the prairie had no defenses against was the arrival of a culture of separation that viewed the prairie first as a threat and then as a profitable resource. Within a single generation nearly 100% of the prairie was converted to monocultures of a handful of crops.
Home?: What have we lost in losing the prairie? The original inhabitants of this land have effectively lost their home, and the European arrivals have lost the opportunity to ever feel fully at home. On some level we feel disconnected. Our culture takes without having much sense of how we can give back, of how we can become a part of the “spiritual functionality” of this place.
You Can Be Part of the Healing: One way to begin healing is to befriend what remains of the original systems of life that remain. There’s so little left, and we’ve lost so much wisdom about them. This is why Windflower Natives exists: to help be a guide on the journey to—on a much deeper level—coming home.
Why Windflower?
Windflower Natives was born out of a very real experience of coming home, and everything we do is aimed at facilitating that experience for others. It’s true that we are a native plant nursery, one among others. But as an artist and a theologian, I hope to impart more than simply “plant material.” You might say that the meanings are essential to the material. This influences the way we run our entire operation.
One example is the manner by which I obtain our seed. Everything we grow begins with an adventure. Over the years I have scoured our region seeking out the highest quality remnant plant communities. I have developed relationships and gained access to what feels like a collection of miniature national parks! The next step involves countless trips, observing, learning to time seed ripeness and collection. Each journey is filled with surprises! New species present themselves, the sky moves endlessly above, the grassland birds call, and signs of life abound. I take longer than I should. This is not work. I am learning, listening, coming to life!
When you buy plants from us, I hope that in some small way this spirit travels with them. Perhaps every tender native seedling can help us begin to shed the chafing relation to nature that we’ve been handed. We were never meant to be pressed into a grid. We are children of the wild places. We are meant to be with the rushing sky, the bending grass, and the blooming windflower. We are meant to be with life!