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Nature's Second Chance: Restoring the Ecology of Stone Prairie Farm
Renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold once wrote, "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it does otherwise." Years after Leopold's passing, his "land ethic" is a centerpiece for the modern conservation and ecological restoration movements in America, and around the world.
There are few who have taken to heart Leopold's vision more than restoration ecologist Steven Apfelbaum, who, over thirty years, transformed his eighty-acre Stone Prairie Farm in Wisconsin into a biologically diverse ecosystem of prairie, wetland, spring brook, and forest. In Nature's Second Chance , the author captures the intimate relationship he has created with the land and shows how the restored farm is serving as a model for the human community around him. Opening with his very first walk on the farm, this deeply personal account relates how Apfelbaum and his family worked to restore acres of native wildflowers and wildlife on land he found depleted after years of corn farming. The traditional agricultural community around him was at first deeply suspicious, he explains, but most of them came around to Leopold's beliefs, as lived by the author, after seeing the benefits of restoration at Stone Prairie Farm.
Nature's Second Chance offers unique insights into the biological world, the processes of ecological recovery, and how humans might play a starring role in healing a planet by implementing Leopold's land ethic, one farm, lot, or brownfield at a time.
There are few who have taken to heart Leopold's vision more than restoration ecologist Steven Apfelbaum, who, over thirty years, transformed his eighty-acre Stone Prairie Farm in Wisconsin into a biologically diverse ecosystem of prairie, wetland, spring brook, and forest. In Nature's Second Chance , the author captures the intimate relationship he has created with the land and shows how the restored farm is serving as a model for the human community around him. Opening with his very first walk on the farm, this deeply personal account relates how Apfelbaum and his family worked to restore acres of native wildflowers and wildlife on land he found depleted after years of corn farming. The traditional agricultural community around him was at first deeply suspicious, he explains, but most of them came around to Leopold's beliefs, as lived by the author, after seeing the benefits of restoration at Stone Prairie Farm.
Nature's Second Chance offers unique insights into the biological world, the processes of ecological recovery, and how humans might play a starring role in healing a planet by implementing Leopold's land ethic, one farm, lot, or brownfield at a time.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 31, 2009
First full disclosure: I have known Steve Apfelbaum and Susan Lehnhardt for ten years. I have visited the farm several times, shared meals, walks with Max, and kicked back to enjoy the critters flitting and chirping around the screened porch. We have been birding together and Steve is awesome – counting 50 species in as many minutes. When I exclaim my awe Susan laughs and says, “He just makes them up!” We have great times together and every time I learn an incredible amount from both of them. Now comes my review.
Reminiscent of an outback walkabout this story of an urban academic in search of a personal connection with the Nature he studied hits the mark. The author shares his journey as a son who needs his Mother’s help to buy a run down place in the country, as a lonesome stranger among farmers with different values, as a life partner in a loving relationship devoted to land stewardship and parenting, and as an entrepreneur able to make his passions his work. Indeed one of his burning passions almost burned down his neighbor’s farm!
Apfelbaum’s words flow like the creek he restored, letting us share each season’s charm as birds come and go, frogs and toads holler mating frenzies, wild flowers bloom and invasive weeds vex. Mixing love, ethics, struggle and inspiration this book restores us while telling the story of saving the space around us. Even his neighboring farmers begin to see value in a “weedy mess.”
I like the book so much I am publishing my first book review.
Reminiscent of an outback walkabout this story of an urban academic in search of a personal connection with the Nature he studied hits the mark. The author shares his journey as a son who needs his Mother’s help to buy a run down place in the country, as a lonesome stranger among farmers with different values, as a life partner in a loving relationship devoted to land stewardship and parenting, and as an entrepreneur able to make his passions his work. Indeed one of his burning passions almost burned down his neighbor’s farm!
Apfelbaum’s words flow like the creek he restored, letting us share each season’s charm as birds come and go, frogs and toads holler mating frenzies, wild flowers bloom and invasive weeds vex. Mixing love, ethics, struggle and inspiration this book restores us while telling the story of saving the space around us. Even his neighboring farmers begin to see value in a “weedy mess.”
I like the book so much I am publishing my first book review.
July 25, 2023
While my feelings about Apfelbaum's prescriptions for conservation are mixed, I loved that the setting of this book - Juda, WI - is so close to my hometown. In this way, Nature's Second Chance gets three stars for nostalgia alone.
Still, Apfelbaum had too many market-driven solutions for my liking. I'm an apologetic idealist and couldn't wrap my mind around all of the development projects Apfelbaum and/or his consulting firm worked on. He made it sound like humans could do anything with the land just as long as they included bioswales to reduce surface runoff and flooding.
Perhaps if I were an entrepreneur, I would praise his ideas about neighboring farmers collaborating on recreation areas. Still, I wouldn't call them 'nature reserves' like he does.
I don't understand how he can go through the complicated details of maintaining his restoration site at Stone Prairie Farm and, in the same breath, be encouraging all landowners to just 'give it a try', to not put edge habitat into crop production. Those two acts aren't comparable when he's preaching for functioning ecosystems.
Rant over. Perhaps I'll wake up and feel softer about this. Right now, I think he's far too hopeful and placating.
Update: I don't feel better. I'm dubbing his perspective the environmental consulting firm land ethic. It's not the worst, but it does feel like greenwashing to an extent. How much good is actually being done to create ecosystem function and connectivity?
Still, Apfelbaum had too many market-driven solutions for my liking. I'm an apologetic idealist and couldn't wrap my mind around all of the development projects Apfelbaum and/or his consulting firm worked on. He made it sound like humans could do anything with the land just as long as they included bioswales to reduce surface runoff and flooding.
Perhaps if I were an entrepreneur, I would praise his ideas about neighboring farmers collaborating on recreation areas. Still, I wouldn't call them 'nature reserves' like he does.
I don't understand how he can go through the complicated details of maintaining his restoration site at Stone Prairie Farm and, in the same breath, be encouraging all landowners to just 'give it a try', to not put edge habitat into crop production. Those two acts aren't comparable when he's preaching for functioning ecosystems.
Rant over. Perhaps I'll wake up and feel softer about this. Right now, I think he's far too hopeful and placating.
Update: I don't feel better. I'm dubbing his perspective the environmental consulting firm land ethic. It's not the worst, but it does feel like greenwashing to an extent. How much good is actually being done to create ecosystem function and connectivity?
July 13, 2020
Enjoyable and entertaining read. Full of information about restoration...
Steven takes you through a beautiful journey in the cycles of his life in the cycles of the seasons, full of restoration, natural wonder and appreciation. I highly recommend this informative and enjoyable read. Ecologists will especially enjoy insights into prairie restoration and living in harmony with nature.
Steven takes you through a beautiful journey in the cycles of his life in the cycles of the seasons, full of restoration, natural wonder and appreciation. I highly recommend this informative and enjoyable read. Ecologists will especially enjoy insights into prairie restoration and living in harmony with nature.
June 15, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. The time and dedication it took to restore not only this property, but all the different places he spoke about really encourages me for my own. I got a little bored in parts, like when he was talking about the home renovations, but overall, I couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend to anyone who cares about the natural world.
February 10, 2012
After reading about ways to attract wildlife to the garden earlier in the week, I was ready to dive into a book about an actual conservation project - Nature's Second Chance by Steven Apfelbaum. In this book, Apfelbaum chronicles his thirty years working to restore the pre-farming ecosystem at Stone Prairie Farm in Wisconsin. As the introduction points out, this isn't a book about homesteading but does include a lot of the same elements. In particular, the author learns about the wood on his property used for the construction of his house and lives a very green, self-sufficient life style with his family constructing some of their own furniture, using solar power, and canning many of the fruits and vegetables they grow.
Read more here...
Read more here...
January 15, 2016
Taking up the mantle set forth by Aldo Leopold in Sand County Almanac, this modern day ecologist buys an old farm in Wisconsin in the 1970’s and sets forth to restoring the land to health over the next 30 some years.
While no one can really match Leopold’s prose, Apfelbaum tells a good story. It is at times personal, at other times theoretical and even at times a polemic rant against the blind forces of destruction.
Throughout the telling, it is a story told with passion and hope that we can learn to live more gently on the land and perhaps even save ourselves from self destruction in the process.
While no one can really match Leopold’s prose, Apfelbaum tells a good story. It is at times personal, at other times theoretical and even at times a polemic rant against the blind forces of destruction.
Throughout the telling, it is a story told with passion and hope that we can learn to live more gently on the land and perhaps even save ourselves from self destruction in the process.
May 13, 2009
I'mm interested in the concept of restoring eroded cornfields to a natural prairie. It doesn't just happen on its own and takes a lot of work and dedication. It seems to work in Wisconson, where it rains from time to time, but I don't know how to approach that kind of project here in the desert.
I was a bit disappointed that the author didn't list any botanical names of plants, even as a cross reference, but then, I'm a plant nerd. Some photos would have been nice, too.
I was a bit disappointed that the author didn't list any botanical names of plants, even as a cross reference, but then, I'm a plant nerd. Some photos would have been nice, too.
December 16, 2009
I haven't read A Sand County Almanac yet but this seems to be a 21st century version. Normally I prefer books packed with information and less poetic imagery.. BUT this book was great. I couldn't help but imagine living the same way 10 years from now in a my own biome. Also found out from the acknowledgments that Apfelbaum is the neighbor of Ivanko who wrote a sort of guidebook for sustainable homesteading I read last year.
October 5, 2022
Was fascinated to experience the real story of adventure, environmental activism, and practical examples of conservation and restoration of this prairie farm. Apfelbaum does a masterful job painting the story of his young beginnings on an eighty-acre farm and how he slowly revitalized the natural habitat over decades into its purest form. Overall, a great read for anyone who is interested in nature, good storytelling and a little bit of adventure.
May 13, 2009
Not quite personal enough for a memoir, not quite rigorous enough to interest me on the restoration side. I would have preferred the book to have more details on the hows behind the restoration of Stone Prairie Farm.
January 29, 2012
Very inspirational. I have been talking with my oldest son about buying up a lot of the empty property around us and doing the same type of thing Mr Apfelbaum did on Stone Prairie Farm.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews