Holy Wisdom Monastery announces next CEO

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCCR, 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 …

New prairie plants

93 different kinds of prairie plants growing in new prairie

Holy Wisdom MonasteryFriends 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

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare 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 …

A group of bird-watchers gathered on the monastery hilltop overlooking Lake Mendota.

Friends of Wisdom Prairie on the move—mark your calendars!

Holy Wisdom MonasteryBenedictine Bridge, Friends of Wisdom Prairie Leave a Comment

by Doreen Adamany, president, Friends of Wisdom Prairie The Friends of Wisdom Prairie kick off the New Year with a schedule of activities and events that are sure to please! Here’s a preview… Several of the upcoming Friends of Wisdom Prairie activities for 2016 involve birds. Pictured here from May 2015: birding on the grounds of Holy Wisdom Monastery before a Wisdom Prairie Workday. Tuesday, April 19, 2016; 11:45am-1:30pm  Women and Monastic Life in Twelfth-Century Germany:  Hildegard of Bingen and Herrad of Hohenbourg  Abbesses Hildegard of Bingen (now a Doctor of the Church) and Herrad of Hohenbourg were two important figures of …

Nature Notes Winter 2015-2016

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

Is it winter yet? It sure doesn’t feel like it as I write this in mid-December. I like the unseasonably mild temperatures because I can get some more work done on the grounds. It also makes me feel rather uneasy. This is not normal and may portend worse things for creation in the future. I do hope those folks in Paris will be able to develop a workable plan for reversing the heating up of the earth’s atmosphere. I believe that the sisters at Holy Wisdom Monastery and their hundreds of loyal assistants are contributing to the slowing of climate …

Nature notes fall 2015

Holy Wisdom MonasteryFriends of Wisdom Prairie, Nature Notes Leave a Comment

This is the season of harvest. Since the Dane County Parks have been so generous with us over the past few years, we have been working with them in our seed collecting efforts this year. Additionally they have the expertise, the machinery and the ability to handle large quantities of prairie seed very well. At two of our recent Friends of Wisdom Prairie workdays we have collected seed at Dane County Parks. The early October Wisdom Prairie Workday had us collecting on the North Mendota Wildlife Area (formerly the sisters North Prairie). Among other things we collected wild quinine and …

From the factual to the fanciful: Prairie Flower Folklore

Holy Wisdom MonasteryBenedictine Bridge, Friends of Wisdom Prairie 1 Comment

by Will Mann, Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council The 2015 Friends of Wisdom Prairie annual meeting and dinner lecture will be held Tuesday, November 3, 2015 at 5:30 pm. During the annual meeting, five members of the Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council will be elected Afterward we will have a rare opportunity to be entertained by Wayne Pauly’s presentation of “Prairie Flower Folklore.” Wayne Pauly, center, teaches volunteers how to sow prairie seed at Holy Wisdom Monastery, November 2014. For a chance to help seed more prairie attend the Wisdom Prairie Workday onNovember 7, 2015. Wayne Pauly has been Dane County’s botanist/naturalist for …

Prairie naturalist and teacher

Holy Wisdom MonasteryBenedictine Bridge, Care for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie Leave a Comment

by John A. Van Dinter, Friends of Wisdom Prairie council member Wisdom Monastery is committed to maintaining native prairie and savannas and we’ve been aided by a special person who has a tremendous background and knowledge in local native species and habitats. Nancy Schlimgen, a longtime resident of Westport, has helped the state of Wisconsin, Dane County, Westport Township, Holy Wisdom Monastery and many others restore and rebuild our natural habitats. (She is pictured above, left, as former staff naturalist at Holy Wisdom, working with student interns.) Nancy’s master’s thesis focused on a unique plant, prairie bush clover, which is an …

Spring with the Friends of Wisdom Prairie through a camera lens or two

Car McGinleyBenedictine Bridge, Care for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie Leave a Comment

This spring the Friends of Wisdom Prairie learned about wildflowers at Abraham’s Woods near Albany, Wisconsin. The Friends also burned 85 acres of prairie, removed hedgerows to ready the land for an oak savanna, planted 10 acres of native prairie, searched for birds on the grounds of Holy Wisdom Monastery and were educated about Wisconsin wildlife by University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Scott Craven. You are invited to join the Friends on one of their upcoming outings, dinner lectures, workdays and tours this summer. Help care for the earth at Holy Wisdom and learn about sustainable practices you can use where you …