Journal for February 28, 2025

February was very cold with a few small snowstorms – until this week. Suddenly warm temperatures and rain have arrived and now it feels like spring. It’s still too early for real spring – there’s probably still some winter left. But the snow is nearly gone and the ground is thawing.

Oaks and the sunrise

Indian Grass Point looking into Center Valley

Small Bur Oaks on Hidden Oaks Point

Narrows Prairie during a snow squall

Buffalo Ridge Prairie

The Hidden Oaks Bench

The snow has been shallow enough that we’ve been able to walk on the hills. The hardest part was getting up and down. One snowy day we had a little trouble with the down. After we had each fallen a few times we decided it was easier to slide – so we sat down and slid on the seats of our snow pants. Fun, faster and much safer.

Here’s the track we made down the hill.

The creek never freezes completely because it’s fed by so many springs, but a thin crust of ice forms along the edges in the coldest weather.

We still have a sheet of ice covering the bottom of the Glen. A friend who has lived in Alaska recognized what’s happening. It’s a phenomenon called “aufeis” – layers of ice that are formed by successive flows of upwelling ground water. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts once the weather gets warmer. Right now the aufeis is wet but still mostly frozen and the surrounding woods is all snow free. (Last month’s journal has photos of the aufeis developing.)

The last few days have been warm enough that I’ve been able to work outside again. I’m still clearing brush around this small prairie opening. It’s looking much more open now, and most of the invading buckthorn and Prickly Ash is gone. We call it ‘First Burn Prairie’, because when we first discovered it, we did a very small burn here, just to see what burning would be like. We don’t burn much at all now, but the prairie still has the name.