Text and photos by Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Network Manager
In late March, the prairie conservation nursery at Washington Corrections Center for women held a work party. Three SPP staff who had never before worked in an SPP nursery got to join the crew for a day: Sadie Gilliom, SPP turtle program coordinator, Liliana Caughman, lecture series coordinator, and me. It was a gorgeous, sunny spring day—hot, even, under the hoop house plastic.
Our gracious hosts were conservation nursery technicians Stephanie Boyle and Lerissa Iata, SPP Conservation Nursery Manager Carl Elliott, and DOC’s Scott Skaggs. It was such fun to join their work, and help them catch up with the needs of sprouting seeds.
SPP’s Liliana Caughman fills her seeding tray with Lomatium seeds while Sadie Gilliom and Carl Elliott fill racks with soil.
The Lomatium helped inspire the work party—it started sprouting in the fridge earlier than normal.
Conservation technicians Stephanie Boyle makes tags to label the seed lots sown.
Conservation technician Lerissa Iata checks for weeds growing among prairie species.
Since the violet beds were built, a pair of killdeer has used them as a nesting site, and the birds are adored by many at the prison. As is typical for killdeer, they laid their eggs out in the open, and anytime a visitor comes near they put on a loud and vigorous display.
Beyond the killdeer eggs, on the first truly warm day of spring, you can see many sun lovers out in the yard.
I asked the work party to pose for a group photo, and they were such cool subjects that we all cracked up.
I admire the balsamroot seedlings in the nurery. I love plants! Photo by Liliana Caughman.
Anywhere and everywhere we can, we bring nature inside prisons.