Saturday, April 12th was a big day for DA Sustainability! After months of mulching and prep work, the whole school was invited to help plant a half acre of trees, shrubs, grasses, and other plants. We began by spreading out topsoil for the garden beds. The weather was cool and cloudy, and there was lots of mud from recent rains, but we were glad it wasn’t too hot and or actively raining. The mud, despite messing up my sneakers, made it easier to dig holes for the plants.

The first that we planted were called “plugs.” The plugs provide some structure to the garden; they’ll grow fast. Seeds were scattered to fill in a little later; they plant themselves. Everything that went into the ground is native (plugs and seeds), and Mr. Montague, who planned the prairie pocket for us, told us their names and some fun facts while we worked. My favorite was the mountain mint, which has lots of dense bright green leaves. There were over 700 plugs of many different varieties to plant. We placed the ones that will grow taller in the center of the field, and the ones that will stay shorter on the edges.

While I was planting, I heard about sustainability initiatives at other schools and about the master gardener program in Durham County. The conversations were interesting and made the work lighter! I am so grateful for everyone who has put so much work into this project, and for the people who showed up on Saturday to help the plans become reality. I know our campus has a lot of trees, and the pollen is crazy enough already, but this Pocket Prairie is a great opportunity not only to experience nature, but also to learn how to create and sustain spaces for native plants. I can’t wait to see how it looks when everything is planted and built and starts growing! And I can’t wait to see what we do with this resource in years to come!