The Prairie

The prairie is a region of flat, gently sloping, or hilly land covered chiefly by tall grasses and not many trees. Pioneers who first saw the flat prairies of the American Middle West called them a 'sea of grass.' While that doesn't sound like a very nice description for a wedding location, the Circle S Ranch is in the middle of the Kansas prairie with rolling green hills and quite a few trees and wild flowers. Kansas is part of the U.S. known as the Great Plains.

Prairie madness was an affliction that was common in the U.S. among white settlers of the Great Plains during the mid to late 1800s. The affected individual would fixate on the fact that they were surrounded by hundreds of miles of prairie land, with no neighbors or anyone to talk to.

When the perceived isolation became too much to bear, mental breakdown would occur. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson were all victims of the disease. If you're coming to the wedding in Kansas, don't worry, one weekend on the prairie won't drive you mad, you will be having too much fun to notice the isolation.

Prairie dogs are a type of squirrel; small, burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. I have always thought they were adorable little animals, building their tunnels and whatnot. "Prairie dogs are very social animals and come to almost seem like they treat humans as members of their colony, answering barks and chirps, and even coming when called by name." They carry the bubonic plague, though...this is quite a morbid blog entry isn't it? But, aww, they're kissing.

Little House on the Prairie (obviously where the title of this blog came from) was a 1970's TV-series loosely adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s best-selling series of Little House on the Prairie books.

Further Prairie reading:
The Prairie Enthusiasts
Prairie Plains Resource Institute

The Prairie Social at the Moore-Beckloff wedding will not have any prairie dogs or bubonic plague, but will have a margaritas, Boulevard Wheat beer, southwestern snacks, and a bonfire and smores. See, the prairie can be fun and educational.