Emma Rauschert started Perfect Prairies in the spring of 2026 after years of experience growing plants. Emma grew up spending most of her time in the wilderness, in awe and fascination of the natural world. During high school, she was elected FFA President and was very active in the FFA program at Cuba High School where she grew seedlings and sold flowers. During and after high school, she worked for Hart’s Nursery in Bushnell and developed a deep love for plants and flowers there.

She became a University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener and Master Naturalist in 2023, and has worked volunteering on habitat restoration projects and community gardens ever since. In 2023, Emma began turning her own yard into a prairie, starting with three ¼ acre pollinator plots.

Emma loves to spend her time gardening, preserving produce, backpacking and hiking National Parks, ballroom dancing, keeping bees, spending time with her animals, watering houseplants, spending time with family, volunteering with her local fire department as a fire fighter and first responder, doing community service work as a University of Extension Master Gardener and Master Naturalist, reading books, planting trees, and managing a five acre homestead outside of Avon, Illinois.