1,000 Acres of Pure Prairie Grasses In LuVerne, Minnesota

An article in the daily paper inspired a trip to the Touch the Sky Prairie, just north of Luverne, Minnesota. Jim Brandenburg, photographer, film maker, and environmentalist,  created a foundation to help preserve natural prairie. Because of his leadership with assistance from others and the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service nearly 1000 acres has been preserved in Rock County, Mn.

There are three separate parcels, with walking paths thru two of them. Access is easy and free. Sunday August 17th, after church, I made the trip. There were several events in Luverne, supervised walks in the area, a brunch with Mr. Brandenburg, where he talked about and revealed his latest work, and a musical event featuring Brule` at the historic Palace Theater.

I arrived after the supervised walks. So I went solo. It was amazing.!!!

The path I chose was a 2.4 mile trek thru the heart of the area. In the distance you could see wind turbines and farmsteads. but you couldn't hear or pick up any odors from either. In fact the only sounds were of crickets, an occasional bee and fly,  birds, and the prairie grasses as they rubbed against each other in a light wind. The aroma was unique. It was a little earthy, with occasional whiffs of prairie flowers and the other plants. Within the acres of a wide variety of short and  tall grasses, rock outcroppings provided a different visual, and a place to sit along the trail to rest and absorb the sights, sounds and smells.  The walk took a little over an hour, because I stopped numerous times to "smell the roses."  I left glowing a little from the exercise, but refreshed from the experience.

There are two more shorter paths to be explored. Will get to both of them before the snow flies.

To get a sense of the experience, I have created a link to Jim Brandenburg's website. Hope it is helpful to you.