It’s been a beautiful fall at the farm – now the hills are brown and the prairies are full of seeds.  A few oaks and aspens have leaves left on their branches, but most of the trees are bare.

Western Prairie

Today was a windy day – dried White Wild Indigo plants have been blowing across the fields like tumbleweeds.  When we walked through Pat’s Prairie we had to clear our way through them – they had collected in big bunches on the mowed path.

Here’s the view from Big View Prairie – there are still a few green farm fields down the valley.

The end of the Dugway road – coming out onto Pine Point.  The bright green bushes are mostly honeysuckle – a non-native that stays green long after all the natives have lost their leaves.

One brilliant oak – I think a Red Oak.

Indian Grass Point

I’ve been working on cutting brush on the west side of Indian Grass Point.  It’s a very steep slope – I mostly work on my knees.   Here’s a photo before I’d done much cutting.

The same view after I’d cut sumac, dogwood, and prickly ash.  The plants under the brush are all dry prairie plants, so cutting away the brush is very rewarding.  Someday this view will be a prairie hillside.

Center Valley from Indian Grass Point

I think I’ve found the last flowers of the season.  Last week I saw one Harebell.

And this week there were a few Aromatic Aster blossoms in Western Prairie.   That’s probably it for flowers until next spring.

I think my moth-watching is finished for the year too.  I’ve put up my lights a few times in the last week or so, and I’ve seen nothing at all.  My last good moth night was October 21st .  I saw only one species that night – Linden Loopers – but there were 17 of them on and around my sheet.

I gave a talk about moths at 1666 – our condo in St. Paul – last week.   It was fun to be able to show people how beautiful and interesting moths are.  Here are a few photos from the talk.

To see more pictures of the scene, and some of the moth photos I showed, click HERE.