Americans tend to focus on redwood forests, Gulf Stream waters, and
purple mountains’ majesty — and ignore the fruited plains. It’s
easy to see why, since so much of the great American prairie was
plowed under for intensive agriculture. Yet, an engaging quarterly
newsletter, The Prairie Reader, reminds us theres grandeur
and delight to be found in the patches of grasslands that still
remain.
The newsletter might make a prairie partisan out of even the
most ardent mountain or seashore lover with its engaging blend of
good writing, thorough reporting, and an infectious enthusiasm for
the subject. Editor/publisher Camille LeFevre deftly packs her
dozen pages with a good mix of ecological essays, first-person
observations, reports from the field, gardening tips, landscape
sketches, a calendar of upcoming events, and a regular column on
the medicinal uses of prairie plants. A recent intriguing column
focused on the ubiquitous echinacea, or prairie coneflower, whose
medicinal benefits were discovered centuries ago by Native
Americans.
The Prairie Reader, Box 8227, St.
Paul, MN 55108. Subscriptions: $25/yr. (4 issues).
