Lunar Hollow UpS Botanical Sanctuary

We have a commitment to this land, to support a breadth of native, local, and medicinal biodiversity, support pollinators and wildlife, and to create an integrative system of plants, systems, gardens, insects, and animals.  Lunar Hollow Farmette is  a Certified Wildlife Habitat and a UpS Botanical Sanctuary. We use permaculture and organic methods to improve the soil, introduce native species at risk, and create interdependent webs of life that are not only sustainable, but regenerative. 
​
We have a lot of plants on our grow list that are at risk. Therefore, we are growing them to grow them, not to harvest them. In herbalism, it is important to know what herbs are common in your area and can fulfill your needs without needing to reach for those plants that need help and can be negatively impacted if people overharvest in the wild,  and help them again be prolific residents on our lands. Some foraging teachers tell people not to take more than xx% - but if each person picks only 10% of a stand, and 100 people visit that stand, that plant is eradicated. And food for thought - it is not only about maintaining the plant and leaving enough for it to eke out survival, but many insects and animals may depend on that as a critical source of food, and barely leaving enough for the plant to survive also does not leave enough for the creatures that rely on it. Some plants take years (and years) to develop and some only fruit every other year - and taking too much may take YEARS to replenish. The more you learn about plants and herbs, the more you will realize that you may have plenty of plants in abundance that share the same chemical constituents and properties you were looking for in a more at at-risk plant. I don't forage off of my own road and land. I know it is a privilege to have land and space, so I leave the parks and fields to others. 

One of the benefits of this land is that we edge along a drumlin. A drumlin is a lump of land left behind by a glacier, in our case the Green Bay lobe on the Wisconsin glacier sheet, between 20,000 and 15,000 years ago. We are on a slope along a deciduous forest drumlin, along a line of pines planted by Norwegian farmers 150 years ago, and into a tall grass prairie that has been partially restored after being farmland up until about 2001. The people before us loved birds, and we have weeds and grasses, restored prairie, and natives, all throughout. We also have many medicinal natives in the pine forest and along parts of the deciduous woods. 

We live near a 2300 acre state natural area, which is part of what we are using to determine native and local plants. Of course we can assume a lot and plant things we know can grow here - but by looking to the wild plants growing in the natural area, we know more about the specific soil here in our drumlins, and that something is going to thrive in this climate, soil, and system. This wildlife area is without parking lots or groomed trails, and is wild and free. Plants that grow within a mile or two of our home include swamp agrimony, bog rosemary, blue cohosh, bloodroot, rue-anemone, canada mayflower, bellwort, sensitive plant, marsh nettle, and two types of Wisconsin orchids. So, we are including restoration of these pIants into our woodland area, and we are creating a bog garden to support some of those amazing native plants as well. So, while we have a lot of plants on our list, many are for restoration, support,  and appreciation, not for use. 

We have about 352 perennial and bush/tree plant species in ground,
Approx 125 native species in ground,
have plans for about 180 herb, native, and flower species for 2023,
plus all of the annual fruits and vegetables we grow for food (list coming soon). 

Species At Risk

Growing at Lunar Hollow. United Plant Savers At Risk:
American Ginseng-Panax quinquefolius
Maidenhair Fern - Adiantum pedatum
Goldenseal - Hydrastis canadensis
Ramps - Allium tricoccum
False Unicorn Root - Chamaelirium luteum
White Sage - Salvia apiana
Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis
Trillium - Trillium spp. 
True Unicorn Root - Aletris farinosa
Blue Cohosh - Caulophyllum thalictroides
Echinacea - Echinacea spp
Butterfly Weed - Asclepias tuberosa
Stone Root - Collinsonia canadensis
Wild Yam - Dioscorea villosa
Black Cohosh - Actaea racemosa
Mayapple - Podophyllum peltatum
Lobelia - Lobelia inflata
Arnica - Arnica spp
Yellow Lady's Slipper - Cypripedium spp.
​Gentian - Gentiana spp.

Additional Wisconsin Special Concern Plants;
Wooly milkweed - Asclepias lanuginosa
Green milkweed - Asclepias hirtella
Swamp Agrimony - Agrimonia parviflora
Prairie milkweed - Asclepias sullivantii
Echinacea pallida - Echinacea spp
Maidenhair fern - Adiantum pedatum
Goldenseal - Hydrastis canadensis
Yellow Lady's Slipper - Cypripedium spp.