In 2021, the Pollinator Project was generously awarded a grant by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Thanks to that grant, the Pollinator Project was able to host our first annual seed harvest at the Lincoln County Pollinator Garden for both the community and local schools. In addition to the workshops, the Pollinator Project was also able to purchase multiple interpretive signs.
Local Schools Workshops
To start each workshop, our team took the time to explain pollinator gardens, native prairie habitat, and discuss some unlikely pollinators. From there, students would rotate through 3 breakout sessions. These three sessions focused on seed harvesting, how birds help prairie habitat, and practicing observing nature. After the breakout sessions concluded, we walked with the students to the community gardens and gave another brief lecture regarding how pollinators are vital to agriculture and our food production. To view the student illustrated book titled "The Importance of Pollinators", please scroll down to "Supporting Documents".
Community Field Day
A separate field day was held for other community members and local agricultural professionals. This field day was spent harvesting seed and working closely with the volunteers on plant identification and harvesting techniques.
New Interpretive Signs
The SARE grant provided the funds for our project to purchase multiple interpretive signs which include general pollinator garden information and plant identification. These signs will be installed in 2022 after the spring prescribed burning has occurred.
Harvested Seeds
Once all of the harvested seeds are processed throughout the winter months, the Pollinator Project will be offering seed sachets to the community along with detailed instructions on how to establish their own native prairie planting. The goal of this year's harvest was to provide enough seed to the community to create at least 10,000sqft of new native prairie (approximately 2lbs of prepared seed.) Now that the harvesting has concluded, we believe that we will have enough seed to not only meet our goal, but exceed it by at least 50%.
