A few weeks ago I mentioned that Eastern Red Cedars grow in dry prairies on the steep hillsides along the Mississippi – here’s a picture that shows the problem.

Many of the bluff prairies along there have turned into cedar forests. I’m glad it doesn’t seem to be a problem on our land – we do have cedars, but only a few and they seem to be well behaved.

This week we had both warm temperatures that melted all the snow, and then a wonderful heavy wet snowstorm that stuck to all the branches of the trees. The new snow covered the fields and I could finally finish my planting project.

It was fun walking up through the snowy woods on my overgrown path. It’s an old logging road – we’ll try mowing it this spring to make it a little wider. When there’s this much snow it’s a pretty wet walk.

When I got to the top the sun was just starting to come through the clouds.

At the end, just as I was finishing, the sky cleared off completely.

Here’s the last corner of the field – with all its seeds.

There are lots of Goldfinches at the feeders now – I tried to count them, but it’s difficult because they move so much and so quickly. I think there are at least 75. And whenever I move inside the windows they all fly at once, with a swoosh of wings, across the front prairie and into the tops of the trees.

I saw one adult Golden Eagle this week flying over Center Valley – the gold on its head and the front edges of its wings catch the light and look very golden. They are magnificent birds.