Woodchuck family makes Holy Wisdom home

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Weekly Wisdom 1 Comment

By Howard Fenton, Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council At this time of the year a lot of different kinds of families are calling Holy Wisdom home. And there’s one in particular I’d like to tell you about; the woodchuck, or the groundhog to some, or the whistle pig to others. The woodchuck, which doesn’t actually chuck wood, or eat it, is in the Order of Rodents, a member (the largest in fact) of the squirrel family. It’s scientific name is Marmota monax. The genus name gives you a clue that the woodchuck is related to marmots, while the species name …

In May, queen bumble bees are buzzing

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie Leave a Comment

By Julie Melton, Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council That large, flying insect you that just buzzed by you was likely a queen bumble bee on a survival mission. She might be the endangered rusty-patched bumble bee looking for a suitable nest site, finding flowers to feed herself, and constructing a nest. She is the original single parent. Last fall she mated with a male bumble bee. Then she fortified herself with nectar and pollen so that she could survive the winter. Everyone else in her colony and all the males died. She and other potential queens were left to form …

Kids on the Prairie: Surprise and Awe

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare for the Earth, Children's Ministry, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Kids on the Prairie, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

By Julie Melton, Sunday Assembly member and Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council member What happened last Sunday morning was the perfect return to our Kids On the Prairie walks. Twenty-two parents and children spent an hour and a half exploring nature’s beauty and surprises. To start with, everyone got a hand lens. The small plastic lenses were nothing special, but they signaled that there is something special hidden in ordinary places: three cold spiders on a piece of old dried wood, a tiny bee on a dandelion, and little bugs on Nannyberry shrub buds and apple blossoms. These wonders and …

5 things you can do to show your love for birds

Amy AlstadCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie Leave a Comment

Their songs uplift our spirits and their powers of flight captivate our imagination.  Birds add immeasurable beauty and joy to our world, but their numbers are declining and they need our help! As spring migrants return to Wisconsin, here are five things you can do to help our feathered friends. Keep a list Birders just love lists! And for good reason; keeping track of the birds you see at your favorite neighborhood park, or in your backyard, or even all the species you see in a year will challenge your ID skills and reveal patterns you might otherwise miss. Spread the word …

An owl family gets some help

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie 3 Comments

By Julie Melton, Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council On March 13, 2021, during one of our monthly bird surveys, Friends of Wisdom Prairie volunteers spotted a Great Horned Owl (GHO). A few minutes after the initial sighting, we spotted a nest close by with another GHO sitting on it. We knew we had seen a mated pair. We weren’t surprised because we had seen owls on the grounds before. Since December, they could be heard calling.  A few days later, one of the birders in our group, Triet Tran, sent out a picture of two nestlings in the nest. Triet …

Holy Wisdom Monastery announces next CEO

Holy Wisdom MonasteryECCSR, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Media Coverage, Oblates, Sunday Assembly, Uncategorized 8 Comments

Middleton, WI, May 8, 2020 – The Benedictine Women of Madison Board of Directors at Holy Wisdom Monastery is pleased to announce the appointment of Charles P. McLimans as the organizations next Chief Executive Officer. He will join Holy Wisdom Monastery on July 1, 2020. Charles McLimans currently serves as president and CEO of The River Food Pantry where he oversees all organizational strategies, while facilitating collaborative opportunities to achieve a fully nourished community. Prior to The River, McLimans served as the president and CEO of anti-hunger organizations including Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin—Wisconsin’s largest food bank—and Loaves and Fishes Community …

Meeting new members of the prairie community

Lynne Smith, OSBCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Living in Community Leave a Comment

On a recent sunny Sunday afternoon, I went for a walk in Wisdom Prairie. Friend of Wisdom Prairie member Ron Endres was harvesting prairie seeds along the path, so I stopped to find out what he was picking. He was gathering seed from anise hyssop and placed a seed head in my hand with the instructions to rub my hands together and then smell them. Sure enough, it smelled like anise or licorice. Anise hyssop isn’t very plentiful and Ron was glad to have come across a small patch of it. It is one of only a few prairie plants …

Sylvia Marek leading a prairie walk - storing September

Storing September

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Phenology Leave a Comment

As we drank in the sights and sounds of a glorious September day on a recent Wisdom Prairie Walk, Sylvia Marek stopped to share the following poem, Storing September, which she said her mother often read to her. With deep gratitude for all the people and places that show us the way, inspire our hearts and souls, and work to preserve these places and moments of beauty, we share this poem with you: Storing September You ask me what I did today. I could pretend and say, “I don’t remember.” But, no, I’ll tell you what I did today— I stored September. …

New prairie plants

93 different kinds of prairie plants growing in new prairie

Greg ArmstrongFriends of Wisdom Prairie, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Randy Hoffman, Ron Endres and I cruised the South Prairie (the 20 acres we planted on November 1, 2014) and took an inventory of the species of prairie plants that have germinated and are growing there. We planted 103 species, back in 2014, and have found 93 species. Wow, we are impressed at this level of success in only its second season! I thought you would be interested to know what we found. Scientific Name Common Name Grasses and Sedges Andropogon gerardii Big Bluestem Bouteloua curtipendula Side-oats Grama Elymus canadensis Canada Wild Rye Elymus hystrix Bottlebrush grass Elymus virginicus Virginia …

New prairie growth

Nature Notes Summer 2016

Greg ArmstrongCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Nature Notes Leave a Comment

A lot has been happening at Holy Wisdom Monastery as we care for the earth this year! Restoring the land The monastery has a master land management plan that calls for the restoration of all of the fire communities of southern Wisconsin. This includes Prairie—a grassland, Savanna—a grassland with a few widely spaced oak trees and Forest—an oak-hickory woods. These natural communities will grade one into the other in a continuum of tree density. None, a few and a lot. Preparing for these communities takes a lot of work. Using the master land management plan as a guide, a list …