About Pasque Hill on Beaver Creek

Our Story

The Zimprich Family Farm, that we refer to as Pasque Hill on Beaver Creek, is a small working farm that is very diverse in its landscape and its land uses. The farm is nearly a full quarter section and approximately 157 acres. A majority of the farm is made up of the floodplain of Beaver Creek that travels through the farm from the SE corner to the NW corner. The farm also has higher land that does not have any flooding risk but much of it has steeper slopes that have limited its uses. With the exception of a few building sites, the farm is approximately 40% cropland, 30% riparian areas along Beaver Creek, which are mostly woodlands, and about 25% grasslands.

A short description of each of those three major land uses follows:

Cropland

A large majority of the cropland is within the floodplain of Beaver Creek and flooded as recently as 2024. The cropland has been used for many years to produce crops common to the area such as corn, soybeans and alfalfa. The production methods have been more traditional in past years. 2025 will be the third year of using soil health practices as we strive to make our cropland soils healthier. We are working to disturb our soils as little as possible and are using no-till planting methods. We work to keep our soils covered and protected, as well as we can, with living plants and crop residues. We are introducing new crops into the rotation and using cover crops to add diversity. All of these practices are helping us as we strive to increase the amount of organic matter in our soils, improve their ability to infiltrate and absorb rainfall and do all we can to ensure no soil leaves our farm.

Riparian Woodlands

These areas are mostly “wild” areas on the farm that are left alone to care for themselves, for the most part. We do work to control noxious weeds that can negatively impact them and we will plant trees in areas that are losing trees due to disease and insects. As would be expected, these areas “change” a lot after each flood event, sometimes dramatically.

Grasslands

We have three types of grasslands on the farm. We have grasslands that have never been tilled or used for cropland. We strive to have those grasslands be made up of the native plants that would have been found here naturally. However, they have been invaded by non-native plants such as trees, Smooth Brome grass and Kentucky Blue grass. We are using different practices such as grazing strategies and prescribed fire to work to reverse that trend. We also have grasslands that we have reestablished or restored to native grasslands by planting them back to diverse mixes of native grass and forb species. We do this to protect our land, improve water quality and provide additional wildlife habitat. Again, we use prescribed fire and are striving to use managed grazing to improve the health of those grasslands. Finally, we have one field that we have planted to common, introduced grasses and legumes. We did this to improve the soils of this field, and provide high quality hay and grazing lands.

Within the economic realities that every landowner faces, we try to consider what land use will best protect each acre of the farm. We have converted many areas of the farm to grasslands, from cropland, to better care for those areas. We have done this to improve the soils, protect the soils from erosion and from flooding and to improve water quality in areas along Beaver Creek.

By no means is our journey, to make all the natural resources of this farm as healthy as we can, over. It never will be. New challenges will show up every year. We do feel that we have been blessed to help care for these natural resources. As many wise people have said, we are only borrowing this land from future generations and our responsibility is to work to give it to those next generations in better shape, then we received it.

The "What" and "Why" of Pasque Hill on Beaver Creek

"Pasque"

The State Flower of South Dakota
The Pasque Flower is a sign of birth, rebirth and Spring
In the Lakota Language, it is called "Hoksi Checkpa Wacha" (Hok-she Check pa Wak cha), which means "the flower that looks like a child's belly".
Derived from the Hebrew word for Passover, "pasakh", the common name for Pasque flower, refers to the Easter flowering period.
Other common names are Easter Flower and Prairie Crocus

"Hill"

A small hill just SW of our home has an amazing view in all directions from its highest point.
When I was a boy growing up, the top of that hill was covered with Pasque flowers each spring. I don't see them anymore in the spring.
Why the change.... What happened? The vegetation and the soil was not properly cared for. It was not overuse, but actually the lack of use and management. That has led to the invasion of non-native species, primarily Smooth Brome Grass and and Kentucky Blue Grass.
We will be using prescribed fire and managed grazing to make Pasque Hill healthier and we are optimistic the Pasque flowers will return.

"Beaver Creek"

Flows through the farm
Begins north east of Beaver Creek, Minnesota
Flows into Split Rock Creek and then into the Big Sioux River within a mile of "Pasque Hill"
It's important to note and remember that this farm is part of something bigger... a watershed, an ecosystem, a community, etc.
The water of Beaver Creek enters with a certain level of quality and quantity. The goal will be to make it better when it leaves, then when it entered.
Water is such an important part of Mother Nature to all of us. In an average year, 115 million gallons of rain falls on our 157 acres. An average tanker truck holds 9,000 gallons ... that 12,777 tanker trucks of water. If they averaged 50 ft long, lined up they would stretch from Sioux Falls to nearly Omaha.
Our goal will be to absorb (infiltrate) every gallon we can. This water will help the plants growing on the land to make our soils healthier.