Farming In Prairie Image: Plans For Regeneration

By Keith F. Johnson

This book explains how you can profitably raise grain and livestock while regenerating your Prairie Soil back to Natural Health and Productivity.

Chapter 1: Prairie History

Locations, Origins, Settlement.

Chapter 2: Prairie Ecology

Rules of Nature, Developing a Farm Plan.

Chapter 3: Plants for a Prairie Farm

Rotate Mixtures of Companion Grains and Forages.

Chapter 4: Animals for a Prairie Farm

Grassland Use for Soil Renewal and Climate Control.

Chapter 5: Compost

"Controlled Microbial Composting" Process and Testing.

Chapter 6: Regenerative Agriculture for a Prairie Farm.

Procedures, Soil Restoration, Organic Production. Regeneration International is introduced with their Statement of Purpose. It includes defining Regenerative Agriculture and listing those practices along with the details of each.

SAVE OUR SOIL

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637104293

Book preview

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Farming In Prairie Image

Plans For Regeneration

Keith F. Johnson

Copyright © 2021 Keith F. Johnson

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books, Inc.

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2021

ISBN 978-1-63710-428-6 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63710-429-3 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

My First Farm Plans

Conclusions

Basic Rules

Pasture for Climate Control

Additional References

Websites for Additional Information

1

Prairie History

Prairie Locations

Prairie soils are some of the most fertile land in the world. They have been called the bread baskets of the world because most of the cereal grains and legume vegetables are produced on them. But prairie soils originate under meadow, which provides some of the best grazing land in the world. Most of the beef, sheep, and goats produced in North America come from prairie pastures.

Prairies are found in large central parts of continents where several characteristics are held in common. Rainfall is moderate, meaning too wet to be desert and too dry to be forest. Climate is temperate, meaning there are distinct seasons of spring, summer, fall, winter, or there is a dry season and a wet season. Relief of prairie land lays level to moderate slopes up to 10%. Natural vegetation is a mixture of grasses with a few legumes and forbs.

In the continental United States, most of the prairie land is located in the Great Plains. This land is divided into three areas according to the height of the grass, which correlates with the amount of rainfall that increases from west to east. Taller grass has deeper roots that create greater soil depth and more organic matter.

The short grass area begins along the east edge of the Rocky Mountains and is found in Montana, Wyoming, and western Nebraska and straddles the Colorado–Kansas border and the New Mexico–Texas border.

The mixed grass area covers North Dakota, South Dakota, most of Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, and a central portion of Texas.

The tall grass area is found in part of Minnesota, all of Iowa, and most of Missouri. It also continues across Illinois, Indiana, and a small part of Ohio, although these states are not considered part of the Great Plains.

Prairie Regions of the United States

Origins

The parent material for the prairie in the northern portion of the Great Plains comes from a glacier that moved down from Canada 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. Prairie south of that area is much older and was formed from wind-blown sediments and river and flood deposits. Aside from the prairies of the plains, Wisconsin has some small areas of prairie surrounded by tree-covered hills. Parent material there is unique because the area is driftless, meaning the glacier split and went around it instead of passing over it. That parent material would be of the older age with a more localized origin.

Prairie offered a new agricultural concept to the European immigrants as they pushed the frontier westward with settlements. Prairie is a very stable system producing long-term fertility with natural systems. The soil acts as a strong vessel for the nutrients. It dispenses them at the start of a cycle and collects them at the end.

A vast assortment of plants coexisted, not so much because they won in competition but because they could cooperate in the long-term survival of the ecosystem. We have come to call them companion plants.

There were cool-season plants that flourished both early and late in the growing season. And there were warm-season plants that continued the production through the midseason.

The mature heights of plants ranged from tall to medium to short, placing leaves in position to capture as much sunlight as possible to maximize photosynthesis and the capture of carbon. Plant height corresponds to root depth, and this variation provides for a deeper profile of beneficial soil activity.

Although grasses predominated the prairie mixture, there were also legumes such as prairie clover and an assortment of forbs that may be considered to be medicinal plants. Each forb is particularly high in a specific nutrient or biological substance that can remediate a particular illness. Grazing animals instinctively sought them out when needed, and Native Americans harvested them for medicine.

Settlement

The extent to which the early settlers on the Prairie appreciated the richness of the soil or the balanced biodiversity of the life-forms is unclear. However, we can be reasonably certain about the way farmers classify plants. There are only two classes. One is the kind of plants they intend to raise, called the crops. The other includes all noncrop plants trying to grow with the crop, all collectively called the weeds. Given that perspective, we can assume the early settlers viewed the prairie vegetation as a wild collection of weeds to be tamed by repeated application of the plow.

One thing that the early settlers all seemed to agree on was that 80 acres was the optimal size for a family farm. It was small enough to be farmed with horses and family