Prairie is the native grassland that once blanketed millions of acres across the middle of the North American continent. Today, it’s all but gone, but efforts are being made to conserve remnants and replant prairie. The Backyard Prairie is one story of prairie restoration.

 

In 2003 Fred Delcomyn imagined his central Illinois backyard of two and half acres—farmed for many years for corn and soybeans—restored to tallgrass prairie. Over the next seventeen years, Delcomyn, with the help of his friend James Ellis planned, prepared, planted seeds, photographed, and burned these acres to reconstruct a prairie.

 

In this workshop, James will recount the journey of and lessons learned about prairie restoration through photographs and stories that they chronicle in their 2021 book, A Backyard Prairie: The Hidden Beauty of Tallgrass and Wildflowers, published by Southern Illinois University Press.