*Shooting star flowers in bloom (photo by Peter Gorman).*

Shooting stars are early bloomers and beloved by folks walking and watching those prairies and savannas in the spring. They also see queen bumblebees and other early, native pollinators for whom shooting stars are an important food source. They are highly desirable prairie dwellers and their seed is expensive—$1500 a pound. So when Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond’s land steward, called for shooting star seed collectors on Thursday of last week, several of us volunteers happily joined Graham, Goose Pond’s restoration technician Emma Raasch, and Hailey Wedewer and Andi Hokanson, two of our wonderful Goose Pond interns.

We asked Graham what our goal was for the morning's picking. He must have had the astronomical aspect of the plant's name in mind because he replied, "I'd be over the moon if we filled one barrel." That was a tall order because the seed heads are small and the plants were hard to spot in this year's lush prairie.

Graham, Emma, and the interns had scouted sites and they led us to a great one. It took some stooping and tromping through the thick foliage a couple of times but we started to fill the buckets. As usual, we saw some fun stuff. Cutest critter of the day was a tiny gray tree frog. Trusting soul, he hopped up on one of the volunteer's arms as we checked him out. Miles, the lucky volunteer, was delighted with the company and Emma snapped the photo of the day.

All of us were amazed at the lushness and color of the prairie. The prairie is already lovely and it should produce a variety of great seeds. The future looks bright for Goose Pond’s prairies.

At the end of two hours, we had filled the barrel to the brim with an additional bucket or two. Astronaut Graham was launched over the moon, to the delight of all. Later, Graham confirmed that we collected 3.36 pounds of seeds after they were cleaned—a new record and jaw-dropping 4,932,000 seeds! We’ll be busy this winter, sowing these and other wonderful native plant seeds that will make our sanctuaries more beautiful, vibrant, life-giving habitats.

*A full barrel of shooting star seeds (photo by Emma Raasch/SoWBA).*

A few of us decided that cheeseburgers or BLTs would be the perfect ending to the morning. The Arlington Inn has a great lineup of grilled sandwiches with all the trimmings. I had not lunched at the Inn since before COVID. The burgers are just as good as ever (and that's very good) and the owner/cook/bartender recognized us as belonging to SoWBA. We were hot and tired and all of us just asked for ice water. Not the order a bar owner wants to hear, but he said, "Oh, you've all been working outside. Of course, you want water." A most hospitable man.

One of many good reasons to volunteer at an SoWBA sanctuary is the wonderful folks you'll meet—staff and volunteers. The summer is even better because you'll meet our interns. Their work ethics and enthusiasm are inspiring and their accomplishments humble me. At 19 or 20 I had not done or experienced or studied half of what they have. As I've noted before, I leave our sanctuaries hopeful about our future and our crew of interns is one reason.

*The Goose Pond 2024 intern team, working on removing invasive plants from a nearby prairie (photo by Graham Steinhauer/SoWBA).*

Finally, another thanks to the Arlington Inn. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, Nothing man made contributes more to our happiness than a good inn or tavern. After a hard or fun day in the Wisconsin outdoors, a burger and cold drink in a well run Wisconsin tavern or inn cap a wonderful experience.

Wishing you a variety of happiness in the Wisconsin countryside the rest of the summer,

Topf Wells, advocacy committee