Renewal with Fire

03/12/2025

Last weekend I had the opportunity to participate in my first prairie burn! This amazing process is a Spring ritual here in Iowa.

Prairie burns help to clear away invasive species and promote native plant growth. Those grasses with their extensive roots like some disruption to stimulate growth. The burn clears dead plant material away to allow sunshine to reach the earth and releases nutrients. The whole process promotes diversity in the plants leading to a healthy ecosystem of insects and animals that depend on them.

The fire itself is such a dramatic experience of cleansing to make way for renewal. Fire can be destructive, so there are plenty of controls in place. In this case, boundaries of snow piles and muddy lanes between the fields blocked the possibility of spread (also alerting the fire department ahead of time just in case!) We had rakes and paddles as well as water tanks at the ready to guide the fire. Creating a perimeter and burning toward the center is an important technique that helps control the spread.

Watching this powerful fire spread, clearing the way for new growth was an inspiring way to welcome spring and think of my own needs going forward. What needs to be cleansed from my thought process, attitudes, and habits? How can I come out the other side refreshed and renewed, ready for new growth and experiences?

What Spring cleaning - literally or philosophically - will help you this year?

Kris August

Celebrating the Interconnectedness of Life

Renewal with Fire

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