Stephanie A. Lindquist

Designed in partnership with Ethan Bryson

First Public Planting Date | June 4, 2022

at Franconia, part of first Midwest Biennial

Take time to walk in circles. Life’s biology moves on vastly different time scales. Let’s get to know our elders, the plants. An Invitation welcomes a small group of people to gather, commune with Boxelder Maple, Northern Red Oak, White Pine, Yellow Birch, Red Pine, Red Maple, Red Cedar, Large Toothed Aspen, Silver Maple, Tamarac, Paper Birch, Sugar Maple, Balsam Fir, White Cedar, Common Juniper, Low Shadbush, Chokecherry, Wild Plum, Black Chokeberry, Mountain Ash, Elderberry, Red Osier Dogwood, Highbush Cranberry, Ninebark, Prairie Rose, Sweetgale, Meadowsweet, Bush Honeysuckle, Meadow Rose, Virgin’s Bower, and all grow together. Groups of all ages are invited to learn from and care for natives here. May this space nurture our elders–the plants–and in turn ourselves.

Drone photograph courtesy Brandon Chambers

Native trees and shrubs are spaced 1 to 2 feet away from each other. This method of planting–championed by Akira Miyawaki–restores an ultra dense biodiverse forest that grows 10 times faster and requires no maintenance after the first three years. An important aspect of caring for these plants is respecting their space–especially in those early years. To maintain this boundary is an ephemeral fence made of Willow–a plant of diverse species used for millennia across the Northern Hemisphere by Indigenous peoples for shelter, medicine, tools, and more recently ecological remediation. The fence’s arches imitate the crescent shaped plantings and the circular paths along their perimeter as well as embraced within them.

Photograph courtesy Adam Nantz

The crescent shapes of the June 4th plantings are inspired by African fractals and the cycles of the moon. Nestled within these plantings are a firepit and 4 large granite tables for people to gather, cook, smoke, eat and drink together.

Graphic courtesy Katie Kelly

Thanks to the following folks for working together to care for this place:

Plants nurtured by Prairie Restorations Inc.; Willows donated by the University of Minnesota; Compost from Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Organics Recycling Facility; Design by Stephanie Lindquist; Planting led by Ethan Bryson and Mary Lee Jones; Consultations with Hope Flanagan, Linda Black Elk, and Ross Altheimer; Construction by Kohry Kasper, Matt Davidsavor, Brandon Chambers, Emma Wood, Stephanie Lindquist, and Don Porcella; Graphic Design by Katie Kelly; Funding raised by Ginger Shulick Porcella and Ethan Bryson

Graphic courtesy Katie Kelly