[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Hidden Oaks Point page.]

This was the first prairie we visited when we were walking around, before we bought the land.  We climbed up the point to find a place to eat our lunch – on a beautifully warm, snowless February day.   As we were sitting, eating and looking out at the view, I suddenly realized we were sitting on a remnant prairie.  That was the beginning of this whole farm adventure.

That first year, the flat top of the prairie was covered with large, tree-like sumacs.  We cut about half of them down.  We didn’t have any power tools, and we didn’t know about treating the stumps, so we just clipped them.  Here’s Mike cutting the sumac.

Farther back on the point, almost to the crop field that marked the northern edge of our land, we found a small, flat mesic remnant.  We call it Hidden Oaks Meadow.  It had lots of Rough Blazing Star, Showy and Stiff Goldenrod, and Sky Blue Aster.

Hidden Oaks Meadow

Hidden Oaks Meadow