Working Outdoors: Perennial Plants, Trail Building and Cutting Firewood

Reader Contribution by Jennifer Kongs
Published on March 6, 2015
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The Small Home, Big Decisions series follows Jennifer and her husband, Tyler, as they build a self-reliant homestead on a piece of country property in northeastern Kansas. The series will delve into questions that arise during their building process and the decisions they make along the way. The posts are a work in progress, written as their home-building adventure unfolds.

Much of the pre-construction process for our home-to-be has focused on maneuvering zoning regulations, bank loan requirements, and 2-D house designing. As hands-on, outdoorsy people, Tyler and I have made sure to add in some projects on our land that result in visible, tangible progress that require physical labor and provide straight shots of vitamin D. Below are three activities we’ve undertaken to help prep our future farmstead for the big move-in day later this year.

Planting native perennials. One of our long-term goals is to transition the pasture area of our land to native perennial species. We plan to seed grasses and forbs in earnest this fall, but have started the process by adding some native flowers to the property to, in the least, support the pollinator population. From the Grasslands Heritage Foundation, we purchased bee balm (Monarda fistulosa) plants — one is pictured above — and from Monarch Watch we ordered several types of milkweed (Ascelepias tuberosa, A. syriaca, and A. incarnata). The Editor-in-Chief of MOTHER EARTH NEWS, Cheryl Long — a.k.a. my boss — provided us with some rose-scented monarda from her garden. Although non-native, this particular bee balm provides a natural insect-repelling bonus because of its especially high concentration of geraniol (a compound that smells like roses). We planted the flowers near an area we walk by often, and will purposefully loosen and spread the seeds to encourage a slow spread across the property.

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