[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main 3 Finger Valley page.]
In the spring I sprayed Garlic Mustard in the woods edges and the flat bottom of the woods in the 3rd finger.
We did our fall project here this year beginning near the end of October. Winter arrived at the beginning of December, so we worked on it for a little more than a month and made a lot of progress.
We divided the project into two parts. One part was to cut and treat invasives – mostly honeysuckle and buckthorn – from the middle of the middle and the 3rd fingers, and the edges of the 3rd finger side of the valley and around Badger Point. The other part was to open up the bottom of Hidden Oaks Point – cutting and treating mostly honeysuckle and sumac.
More photos of the Hidden Oaks part of the project are on the Hidden Oaks Point page.
3/7/2025 The springtime meltwater stream along the lower side of the valley
3/7/2025 More meltwater
3/31/2025
5/6/2025 Woods at the top of the middle finger
5/12/2025 Looking south from the top of the middle finger
5/31/2025 Looking north into the middle finger
5/31/2025 Black Walnuts
5/31/2025
5/31/2025
5/31/2025 The bottom of Hidden Oaks Point – the part we worked on in the fall
5/31/2025 There are a few trees that have fallen sideways across the path – we can still drive under this one.
8/22/2025 Field Thistle and Giant Purple Hyssop did very well in the narrow part of the valley – attracting lots of bees and butterflies.
8/22/2025
8/22/2025 Looking into the middle, where the 3 fingers meet
8/22/2025 The first finger, leading into Goldenrod Valley with Hidden Oaks Point on the left
8/22/2025 the wet end of the narrow part of the valley – with Green-headed Coneflower and Monarda
8/22/2025 View of the valley from Hidden Oaks Point
10/26/2025 The bottom of Hidden Oaks Point – showing the honeysuckle before we started any cutting
10/26/2025 ‘Before’ photo of Hidden Oaks Point. The end of the point has a big sumac thicket, and the hillside behind it has many honeysuckle bushes.
10/27/2025 Starting on the 3rd finger – mowing the middle.
10/27/2025 3rd finger – cutting and treating invading shrubs
10/28/2025 Badger Point – cutting and treating honeysuckle and buckthorn. There are still hundreds of buckthorn sprouts that I’ll have to come back and treat.
10/28/2025 The 3rd finger is getting more open
10/28/2025 This is the other tree that’s fallen across the path. This one used to be high enough to drive under, but it’s finally gotten too low, and we have to drive around it.
10/30/2025 The bottom of Hidden Oaks Point with frost in the valley
10/30/2025 A closer look at the honeysuckles
10/30/2025 Looking back south down the valley
10/30/2025 Mike moving a pile of cut honeysuckle to one of the brush piles
10/30/2025 Badger Point – with less honeysuckle
11/2/2025 Badger Point – still a little honeysuckle left to go
11/7/2025 Mike worked his way along the edge of the 3rd finger and then south to the narrow part of the valley. He cut all the giant honeysuckles along the edge of that woods.
11/16/2025 The western edge of the 3rd finger – no more honeysuckle.
11/8/2025 There’s still plenty of honeysuckle around the edge of the middle finger.
11/13/2025 Mike tackled the huge honeysuckle thicket at the top of the middle finger. It was gigantic – so big and so thick that I couldn’t get into the middle of it. Most of the plants underneath were weeds – especially Garlic Mustard.
11/14/2025 The middle of the thicket
11/16/2025 The honeysuckle thicket is gone!
11/21/2025 Driving back south in the narrow part of the valley
11/13/2025 I worked on clearing brush from the bottom of Hidden Oaks Point
11/20/2025 Cutting sumac
11/21/2025 Hidden Oaks Point – I found a grove of small Wild Plums hidden between honeysuckle bushes – they’re marked with pink tape so we wouldn’t cut them by mistake.
11/24/2025 Hidden Oaks Point – the end of the project – just before the snow arrived.
11/28/2025 I threw down some prairie/savanna seeds along here to help it recover
11/28/2025
