Nate Simons and I have a lot in common: our love of God’s creation, our interest in learning everything we can about the biology and geology of our region, our fascination with ecology (how everything works together in relationship to mankind), and our enthusiasm for making creation care a part of every believer’s life.

Where we differ is that Nate does creation care and I mostly talk about it.  I know that both are probably necessary, but I do have to confess that I am humbled by the prodigious amount of creation care work Nate and his team have been able to accomplish.  Nate heads up Blue Heron Ministries near Angola, Indiana—mostly in Steuben County.  It is a part of the ministry of Presbyterian Chapel of the Lakes, and I had the joy of seeing that work firsthand last Saturday.

The majority of the work is the restoration of some of the prairie that made up about fifteen percent of the state—primarily in the northwestern and north central part of Indiana.  Originally Indiana had 20 million acres of forested land of which only 2000 old-growth acres remain.  My home state, Michigan, however, was almost totally wooded with an estimated original prairie extent of less than one percent—most of it adjacent to Indiana.  So even though as a kid I walked to school along Prairie Street, I’m not sure if there ever was a prairie there.  For sure I didn’t know what a Midwestern prairie should look like.  Thanks to Blue Heron Ministries, now I do.  And I’m impressed—impressed again at the wonder of God’s creation in its “vast array.” [Photo: Cardinal Flower]

Because Blue Heron Ministries is an intense local work done by the caring hands of some dedicated volunteers, it does not have the time, personnel, or need for a website—which, in a sense, is refreshing.  Here are a few websites for you to visit to get an idea of the kind of work Nate and his crew does:

http://www.acreslandtrust.org/clientimages/44551/q443.pdf

http://www.nanps.org/photos_praries.aspx

http://gardenfaerie.blogspot.com/2009/08/native-plant-walk.html

The plant photos in this post are ones I took on my Saturday tour.  Many of these were new to me.  I even got to add a couple more species of golden rod, of which there are fifty species in North America (around ninety worldwide).

See you outdoors!

Dean

Stiff Goldenrod

Lobelia

Immersed in the prairie

See you outdoors!

Dean