This week I found lots of flowers in bloom – some when I walked with the craft group folks, but even more later, after we had some rain and some more hot weather. Continue reading →

As we were driving down there were large flocks of pelicans circling and flying vaguely in a northerly direction. There were a few scattered on the surface of Lake Pepin near Maiden Rock – looking like they were fishing. Continue reading →

I listened to the Woodcocks dancing again one night. There were at least 3 or 4 in Center Valley. Continue reading →

What gorgeous weather! It was sunny and warm this time – each day it got warmer until the last day it was 75 degrees. And the spring birds are continuing to arrive. Continue reading →

Lots of spring birds arrived this week. We saw our first Red-winged Blackbirds – our morning walks through the wetland were full of blackbird songs. Continue reading →

We had real spring weather this week –I think the high temperature was 55 degrees. All the snow is melting, and the rivers and streams are full. Lake Pepin is still frozen, but there are big open areas and wide cracks in the ice. Both eagle nests along the Buffalo River are occupied, and we saw some Sandhill Cranes walking along a patch of open water near the Chippewa River. Continue reading →

There was lots of snow – 12 inches at least – when we got to the farm this time. We drove in – barely. We had to shovel the entrance to the driveway where the plow had thrown up a big pile, but after that we just drove. We had to keep backing up to take a run at the snow, but the car kept going and we didn’t get stuck until Mike was turning the car to back it up to the front door. It’s warm and the days have been sunny, so I think it will melt soon. Continue reading →

This spring a wide shallow stream appeared, running down the middle of 3 Finger Valley. It only ran on days when the snow was melting fast – on colder days it stopped and froze. Continue reading →

Winter is back – there were no signs of spring at all this time. There was new snow with lots of fresh tracks, and the fields were frozen. I planted most of the rest of the seeds, and we tried to burn the brush pile in the Narrows. Continue reading →

This week we had one wonderful spring day – 50 degrees and water was running everywhere! The creek was overflowing, and all our intermittent streams were full. And the ground was still frozen, so it was pretty easy to walk in the fields. Continue reading →