Don Dary was a 6th grade science teacher who wanted to grow a prairie behind the Lodi Middle School. Don went to the UW Arboretum to take a class to learn about native / non - native prairies and plants in Wisconsin. With the help of other middle school teachers, like Dave Zilker and Cindy Brooks, finally the idea began to come to life. The prairie started as a small test plot to see if the prairie idea would work. After some time of testing, they found that the conditions of the spot were suitable to hold a prairie. Next, they had to clear a whole area above the test plot and got some native seed from the Arboretum to help get them started with the planting process. Then each grade was assigned a quadrant of land to plant seed. Each person was given a bag of seeds mixed with sand and soil to plant. Grade levels lined up in their quadrants, and slowly moved across the land dropping the seed mixture along the way. After all the seeds were spread out all over their quadrants everyone did a Prairie Dance! Students danced around, stomping all around in different spots around the prairie. As a result of the dancing, the seeds went farther underground which helped bury them enough to grow. You can walk through the approximate 1/2 mile anytime.

Learn more about the Dary Prairie:

Prairie Plants

Prairie Grass

Prairie Flowers

This page created by