Cutting diagonally across one side of the forest is a power company easement.

I still own the land, but the power company has the right to run its power lines across the property in that area. It also requires that there be no trees on the easement, which could fall and disrupt the power lines. No buildings can be placed on the easement, and the power company must have unobstructed access to service the lines. Other than those restrictions, I can do whatever I want to do with the land.

Grasses normally grow tall on the easement, except where the deer have some paths leading from the streams at the bottom of the hill, up to my neighbor’s cornfield (read, snacks). Once a year, the power company comes through and mows the grass in the easement.

I decided to plant some wildflowers in the area of the easement. They would be pretty, and provide some food for the bees, who are needed for maintaining a flourishing agriculture in the area. I wasn’t planning on planting the entire easement with wildflowers (the wildflower seeds are a little bit expensive, in my opinion), and I didn’t have the necessary plowing, planting and cultivating equipment to handle the 2+ acres of easement. So instead, I mapped out a small (10 feet wide by 30 feet long) area that would be manageable. I bought my wildflower seeds.

On a hot September weekend, I dug up the patch of ground, scattered the seeds, and turned over the soil. In retrospect, I probably could have done a better job of planting and watering them, but these were wildflowers, after all, and it didn’t strike me that they should need much attention.

I anxiously awaited their growth.

8 weeks later, nothing had happened.

8 months later, nothing had happened.

My friends tried to reassure me, telling me that wildflowers sometimes took a long time to grow, but this patch was really barren, I wasn’t at all optimistic.

Then, almost miraculously, fate intervened. The power company caused a problem.

Every spring, for a month, the power lines are shut down to allow routine maintenance on the lines. This spring had been extremely wet, and the ground was extremely muddy. But they only had a month to get everything done, so they had to bring their heavy equipment into the muddy easement. In doing so, they tore up the ground, leaving 2-3 foot ruts in the dirt from the caterpillar treads. One particularly large piece got stuck in the mud, requiring a couple bulldozers to pull it out. More ruts.

The power company felt bad that they had torn up the ground, and also realized that the deeply rutted ground would prohibit further access to their power lines, so they fessed up and volunteered to fix the damage. This meant regrading the easement, filling the ruts and evening out the ground. It also meant replanting whatever I’d like planted. Wildflowers? No problem.

They brought in more heavy equipment, earth graders, back-hoes, bulldozers with front blades, and planters for the wildflowers. After planting the seeds, they raked over the seeds, and put a layer of straw down to keep the birds from finding the seeds.

By summertime, the bare earth had rapidly repopulated with weeds and grass, but right in the middle of the grass were my wildflowers.

I realize it doesn’t look like much…yet. But I’m told that it usually takes several growing cycles to establish a whole field of wildflowers.

Yes, it was harder than I had thought, but the end result should be spectacular.