Early this spring (April 9, 2022) our dear friend and neighbor Jim Seidl invited us to join a pollinator plot consultation teleconference he had arranged with Karin Jokela of the Xerces Society. Jim had obtained USDA funding to create a plot, working through the EQIP program. This was an interesting and informative discussion, and it planted the seed that maybe we could get some funding and do a planting too.
On June 1 2022, we joined another consultation, Jim had arranged – this one with Tara Kelly of the Washington County Conservation District. Again, we got some great ideas and decided that we’d do a planting as well.
We got busy, and sent in an application to USDA, and then continued to investigate as many pollinator funding options as we could find. USDA would not available until 2023, if at all. Many sources want a 2 acre minimum, which exceeds Mona and my ambition for a pollinator plot. In the end, the only program that seemed a possibility was Lawns to Legumes from the Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Conservation, funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. But that program was closed for 2022 in June when we checked. Since we wanted to do the project in 2022, we had to decide if we would pursue it without financial assistance. In the end, we decided to proceed.
Next: Planning