User:Katcooks/Prairie Moon Nursery

The native plant nursery “industry” is said to have had its beginnings at the 1970 Midwestern Prairie Conference (now the North American Prairie Conference). There, Jim Zimmerman put out a call for the creation of “true” wildflower nurseries. Several people at that conference heeded his call. One was Prairie Moon Nursery’s mentor, Dot Wade.

Dot and husband Doug began Windrift Nursery at their Oregon, Illinois, home, experimenting with germination and propagation of an ever-increasing diversity of species. Native plant and seed nurseries served an extremely small niche market for at least the next decade, and while Dot remained positive about the growth she had seen in the native plants business, she was ready to retire by the early 1980s.

Meanwhile, Dot’s son Alan had joined Wiscoy Valley Land Cooperative here in rural Winona County in southeast Minnesota. Situated in the rugged karst landscape of the driftless region, the land co-op had few acres suited to consistent heavy farming.

By the 1980s even organic field cropping had been abandoned and many Wiscoy community members were selling produce at area farmers markets. Seeking other ways to produce an income through sustainable land use, Alan and some of his fellow community members accepted Dot’s challenge to start a native plant nursery.

Organized in 1976 as Minnesota’s first community land cooperative, the Wiscoy Valley endeavor attracted a colorful group of characters, some who had lived in other rural intentional communities. These included adherents to the 1960s ideals of social justice, collective action and the back-to-the-land movement’s respect for resources. This lively cradle was where Prairie Moon was born in 1982.

Over the years Prairie Moon has continued to grow plants from Dot Wade’s Illinois collection along with hundreds of others from throughout the upper Midwest. We also work with a network of small producers who sell their seed on consignment through Prairie Moon. Each year we strive to improve and to provide the highest quality seeds and plants. We are proud to be part of the greater community dedicated to ecological restoration and preservation.

Even if you are cultivating natives on a small corner of an urban lot, you are part of this ongoing experiment on how to assist nature. Twenty-five years is considered a short time in the beginning of a prairie restoration. While we feel the native plant industry has matured a lot in that time, we all still have many lessons ahead. Thanks for helping us learn