Blazing Prairie - we set fire to our property

Prairie Fire

This afternoon we set fire to our North Prairie. Managed burns like this are a key to maintaining our property: The Prairie Garden Trust.

Burns during the growing season, when the grass is still green (like today) tend to have more smoke and the flames don't go as high.

If you burn on a dry day in Winter the flames in the tall grasses can reach 20 feet into the sky. Very intense, loud, hot. smokey.

Once the burn is over and the fields re-grow, the greens seem even more intense in the prairie.

 

Comments

[Joyce]

How many acres did you burn? Did you have the fire department there and how do you keep it from getting out of control? I knew people who always burned fields, but we never did. Fire kinda scares me.

[Henry Domke]

"How many acres did you burn?"
Today was a very small burn, about 7-acres

"Did you have the fire department there and how do you keep it from getting out of control?"
We always call the fire department first, but they don't ever need to come out. We are VERY careful to construct a fire line the day before. This is basically a 15-foot wide path that is just about down to bare soil; nothing to burn. This circles the entire burn area.

"Fire kinda scares me."
Fire is frightening. That is for sure. But if you learn how to do controlled fires they can be fun and very helpful to the natural environment.