In the last eleven days I’ve identified and counted flowers in forty transects, collected bees from ten traps in ten study plots stretched over fifteen miles, and walked thirty six hectares with a net, searching for and documenting bees on flowers. I’ve also followed buffalo around 27,000 acres - watching them graze, wallow, saunter, and stampede.
I have four hectares left, and then my field work for the 2025 season at the Dakota Partnership Ranch is done.
There’s a deep sinking in my heart each time I leave. While here, I live in a land before time. I’m on bee time and buffalo time, which is sunrise and sunset, wind speed and temperature time.
Our lives are dictated by the elements and the light.
This morning we woke at 5:15am with a yipping coyote greeting the magenta hue on the skyline. The long sunrise was a spectacular show of hazy orange from the still air filled with dust from the wallowing buffalo. Then a soft yellow-green as the buffs traveled and the morning rays caught the wings of would-be fairies dancing outside my window.
I caught some of the show on camera, please enjoy and thank you for your support!
