It feels like spring has come to the bluff country.  The snow is nearly gone, and in the last few days we’ve heard Cardinals singing.  Yesterday I was cutting brush – the first outside project I’ve done in a while – and a bluebird sang from the top of one of the nearby birch trees.

We still don’t have much snow around here – in fact – it feels like spring.  Yesterday the temperature got up to 50 degrees!

The weather has finally gotten colder this week, and there have been several big windstorms, so most of the leaves have fallen off the trees.  It’s still beautiful, but it feels like fall is almost over.

Some Prairie Enthusiasts came down from Eau Claire on Saturday, and helped us clear more brush from the top of Sumac Prairie.  It was a great day!  Everyone worked very hard, and we got a lot done.

Finally, the first (native) flowers are blooming!  As usual, they’re the little mustards on the steep bluff prairies.  This year I’ve only found Sand Cress (Arabis lyrata) in bloom.  Usually Common Whitlow Grass – another mustard, in spite of its name – is blooming too but I haven’t found any of those flowers this year.

It’s really spring today – the spring birds are arriving, I found blooming crocuses, and saw my first moth and butterfly of the season.

This is the time of year when one day seems like spring, and the next it’s snowing hard.  The bluff prairies have been completely free of snow, and then covered again, several times.  But the days are getting longer, and the low temperatures are not quite so low – so I have hope that spring […]

Lots of excitement this week –  visits from friends and a big flood.