Cone flowers in the prairie at Holy Wisdom Monastery.

Wisdom Prairie Project declared a success!

Mike Sweitzer-BeckmanCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Wisdom Prairie Project Leave a Comment

We have some exciting news to share with you! The Wisdom Prairie Project is complete! With the help of so many, we have successfully met our goal of raising $1.9 million to cover the acquisition and initial management costs to restore this 53-acre parcel to native prairie and oak savanna. We could not have done this without your support. Thank you to hundreds of families, companies, foundations, and municipalities for supporting our vision of caring for the earth. This project will conserve more land in a rapidly urbanizing location on the north side of Lake Mendota. By restoring this land to native prairie, there …

Preparing for the prairie burn season

Mike Sweitzer-BeckmanCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Wisdom Prairie Project Leave a Comment

A group of six gathered today to do some work in the Wisdom Prairie in preparation for the upcoming prairie burn season. The work was made easier with a grant from the Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation to help purchase a used pickup truck at the end of 2014. Having this extra truck available allows us to haul supplies and transport volunteers to remote parts of the property. It complements our other pickup truck so that we can have multiple groups working at the same time on different projects on different parts of the property. Today,a couple volunteers are going to …

Friends of Wisdom Prairie — a personal profile

Holy Wisdom MonasteryBenedictine Bridge, Care for the Earth, Homepage, Wisdom Prairie Project Leave a Comment

From Benedictine Bridge, November, 2014 – featuring Ron Endres,   a founding member of the Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council Ron Endres (center), Will Mann (left), and Greg Armstrong (right) prepare seed packets for the Wisdom Prairie seeding day. Ron Endres declines to be called a prairie expert, but he truly knows and loves native prairie culture. Ron has spent more hours than he can estimate harvesting, drying, smashing, screening, weighing, bagging and labelling prairie seed which he can provide to non-profit organizations to create new expanses of prairie habitat. ​It was his generous donation of 80-90 species and 240 pounds of prairie seeds …

Nature Notes Fall 2014

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

Restoring the health of the land at Holy Wisdom Monastery The sisters, and their many friends, at Holy Wisdom Monastery have been working at renewing the ecological health of their land for nearly two decades. During that time they have restored over 95 acres of tall grass prairie, the kind that occupied some of this land prior to European settlement. In doing so, they have increase the biological diversity on their land; providing a place to live, and food to eat, for animals, birds, insects and many other organisms. The motivation of the sisters to care for the earth in …

Wisdom Prairie Project Continues to Build Momentum

Mike Sweitzer-BeckmanBenedictine Bridge, Care for the Earth, Main, Wisdom Prairie Project Leave a Comment

Preparing the new land for prairie restoration, April 2014. The Wisdom Prairie Project, our current $1.9 million campaign to acquire and restore an additional 53 acres to native prairie and oak savanna, has experienced some great momentum in the past couple months. We have now raised $1,640,000 and have $260,000 to go. A member of our oblate community donated $25,000 to the project in honor of her late mother and step-father. Her mother used to enjoy walking on the grounds here. We also received a generous grant of $30,000 from the Madison Community Foundation, which encourages, facilitat es and manages long-term …

Holy Wisdom Monastery Makes Visionary Land Acquisition, Launches Wisdom Prairie Project

Mike Sweitzer-BeckmanBenedictine Bridge, Care for the Earth, Wisdom Prairie Project Leave a Comment

The new Wisdom Prairie Project land is adjacent to the monastery grounds (see monastery in background). Restoration efforts will turn the rows of corn into native prairie. “Restoring the Land, Protecting the Lakes.” That’s the theme of the latest visionary project of the Benedictine Women of Madison, known as the Wisdom Prairie Project. Learn more about the Wisdom Prairie Project through this five minute video. The sisters are pleased to take a leap of faith in living out the caring for the earth portion of their mission by acquiring 53 acres of farmland adjacent to their current property with the help of a $1 …