We're recovering from another day of slaving under the tyranny of red-ripe tomatoes and Italian pole beans, so more political posting will wait until Monday.
Instead, a post that's the upshot of a conversation with a friend in Big Stone County interested in transitioning his property from a lawn to pollinator habitat. We suggested that he try securing a Lawns to Legumes grant; we were surprised this very well informed Minnesota citizen didn't know about the program.
A new round of grants has begun, the Worthington Globe reported in BWSR offering lawns to legumes grants:
The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) is now accepting applications for the Lawns to Legumes program, which aims to increase residential habitat for at-risk pollinators across the state. All Minnesota residents are eligible to apply for individual support grants, which reimburse gardeners for up to $300 in costs associated with establishing pollinator habitat in their yards.
Lawns to Legumes offers a combination of workshops, coaching, planting guides and cost-share funding for installing pollinator-friendly native plantings in residential lawns. The program launched in 2019 with a $900,000 appropriation from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF). BWSR received more than 7,500 applications for individual support grants during the program’s first year, demonstrating a significant demand for funding. This year, the program received two additional ENRTF appropriations totaling nearly $2 million to extend program opportunities to more Minnesota residents.
To apply, visit [this link]. Applications will be accepted through Feb. 15, 2022. Recipients will be emailed in March 2022 and have until Dec. 15, 2022, to install their projects.
Want to read about a specific project? Earlier this month, Edie Schmierbach reported for the Mankato Free Press in Ravine transformed into pollinator pathway:
Mary Kosberg referred to an adage as she showed off the garden space she established three years ago to help feed bees and butterflies: "The first year, plants sleep; the second year, they creep; and the third year, they leap!"
Her pollinator garden is now well-established and in peak bloom this summer. And there's lots of buzzing and fluttering going on amid the Russian sage, coneflowers and butterfly bushes growing in her front yard and in an area along their property line.
The now lush spot is on land city crews had to dig up in 2019 to complete a project near Woodhaven Lane. . . .
Friends and neighbors provided for free most of the pollinator-friendly plants used in the green space. Mary also tapped $350 in assistance designed to help an endangered bumblebee species through the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources' Lawns to Legumes program. . . .
Read the rest of the story at the Mankato Free Press.
Photo: "Mary and the Rev. Steve Kosberg were chosen by lottery in 2019 as participants in a Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources pilot program, Lawns to Legumes." Photo by
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