“I wish you peace, when the cold winds blow….”— Patti Davis and Bernie Leadon
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Strange weather. Crazy headlines. The holidays. I’ve been caught up in a baking frenzy, turning out cinnamon rolls, Italian Christmas cookies, and bread. Lots of bread. All good—but if I’m going to bake—I need to hike. And nowhere is hiking better than the tallgrass prairie.
Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL.
What about you? Why not come along? Enjoy a stress-free hour. Blow those stressful headlines out of your mind. On the prairie, your biggest decision is not what size/what color/how much and “will it arrive in time?” Rather, it’s…
Which trail should I take?
Bridge over Willoway Brook, Schulenberg Prairie, Lisle, IL.
Take a deep breath. Listen. What’s that sound? Perhaps it’s the ice cracking under your boots.
Ice on the trail, Schulenberg Prairie, Lisle, IL.
The hushed whisper of wind stirring the tallgrass.
Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium); Schulenberg Prairie, Lisle, IL.
Or the chick-a-dee-dee-dee song rising from a tiny fluff-ball in the prairie shrubs.
Black capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), Prairie Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.(2017)
So many wonders are all around, changing from moment to moment. Simple things, like a jet etch-a-sketching its way across the prairie sky, leaving contrails in its wake.
Schulenberg Prairie, Lisle, IL.
The accordion shape of a December prairie dock leaf.
Prairie dock (Silphium terabinthinaceum), Schulenberg Prairie, Lisle, IL.
Look for its soul-sister, compass plant,aging gracefully nearby.
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), Schulenberg Prairie, Lisle, IL.
Thank the plant for its service to monarchs this year. Pluck a single seed, make a wish, and send that seed on its way.
Common milkweed floss (Asclepias syriaca), Schulenberg Prairie, Lisle, IL.
As it travels on the wind, let your worries and stresses go with it.
Indian hemp, sometimes called dog bane (Apocynum cannabinum), Schulenberg Prairie, Lisle, IL.
Then, pause. Tuck away this memory for later, when you need a good one.
Great angelica (Angelica atropurpurea), Schulenberg Prairie, Lisle, IL.
Here’s wishing for a peaceful week ahead for you. Enjoy the hike.
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The opening quote is from Patti Davis’ and Bernie Leadon’s song, “I Wish You Peace,” sung by the Eagles on their album, One of These Nights. Disagreement over including the song on that album is said to be one of the last straws that led to Bernie leaving the group; he was replaced by Joe Walsh. Oddly enough, Patti Davis is the daughter of former President Ronald Reagan, which was said to be another part of the dispute. An interesting story about how she came to write a song for the Eagles can be found here. “I Wish You Peace” is often dismissed as a “trite and smarmy” song, but Jeff and I had it sung at our wedding, almost 40 years ago. Still love it.
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Seven years ago, I penned “Tuesdays in the Tallgrass” for the first time and invited you to come along for a hike each week. Where did the time go? Thanks for reading, and thanks for your love of the natural world. And thank you for sharing prairie, and keeping the tallgrass alive in people’s hearts and minds. I’m grateful.
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Join me in 2022 for a prairie program! Visit www.cindycrosby.com for current class and program listings. Need a speaker for your event, class, or program? See the website for more information.
“…How swiftly time passes in the out-of-doors where there is never a moment without something new.”– Sigurd Olson
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It starts with graupel. Icy pellets of rimed snow. Soft hail. The graupel rattles the windows. Pelts the patio. Bounces like tiny ping-pong balls across my backyard and into the prairie patch. The winter storm is here.
Graupel, Cindy’s backyard, Glen Ellyn, IL.
Four mourning doves swoop onto the porch. They peck-peck-peck the scattered millet seed around the bird feeders, then shelter under the eaves. Darkness falls. The wind rattles the windows. And at last, it begins to snow.
A light snow cover has blanketed the prairies this week. Critters leave clues to their identities.
Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) or fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) tracks, Lambert Lake, Glen Ellyn, IL.
The prairie grasses, overshadowed by wildflowers most of the year, find snow is the perfect backdrop to showcase their charms.
Prairie cordgrass (Spartinapectinata), Prairie Walk Pond and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
Snow is a stage for tallgrass shadows and silhouettes to play upon.
Cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) and gray-headed coneflowers (Ratibida pinnata), Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
Turkey tail fungi sift snow, letting it powder each arc of nuanced color.
Turkey tail fungi (Trametes versicolor), Lambert Lake, Glen Ellyn, IL.
In shrubs and thickets, black-capped chickadees shelter from the storm. They know how to endure.
Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
From a distance, Indian hemp seems stripped of all but pod and stem.
Dogbane or Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
Come closer. A few seeds still cling to the scoured pods, ready to set sail in the high winds.
Dogbane or Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), PrairieWalk Pond and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
Everywhere is something to spark wonder. “Even an adult can grow in perception if he refuses to close the doors to learning,” wrote Sigurd Olson in Reflections from the North Country.There are stories to be listened to…
Ash tree (Fraxinus sp.) with emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) gallery, Lambert Lake, Glen Ellyn, IL.
…messages to be read in the midst of the snow, if only we can decipher them. If we keep the doors to learning open.
When the doors to learning stand open, what is there to discover?
Perhaps, diversity is beautiful.
Mixed prairie grasses and forbs, Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
Or, Think of future generations, not just of the needs or desires of the moment.
Lambert Lake, Glen Ellyn, IL.
Remember the past, but don’t get stuck there.
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), Prairie Walk Pond and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
Embrace change, even when it’s difficult. It usually is.
Lambert Lake, Glen Ellyn, IL.
Appreciate what you have today…
Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
…it may not be here tomorrow.
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
The choices we make aren’t always clear or easy.
Mixed forbs, Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
There are a lot of gray areas.
Gray-headed coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
But it’s never too late to reflect. To listen. To learn.
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
And then, to move forward.
Lambert Lake hiking trail, Glen Ellyn, IL.
There is so much to see and think about on the prairie.
Common mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum), Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
So much to pay attention to.
Coyote (Canis latrans) tracks, Prairie Pond Walk and Dragonfly Landing, Lisle, IL.
So much to consider, on a prairie hike in the snow.
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Sigurd Olson (1899-1982), whose quote opens this post, was born in Chicago and grew up in northern Wisconsin. He is considered one of the most important environmental advocates of the 20th Century. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area—over one million acres in size—owes its preservation to the work of Olson and many others. Olson worked as a wilderness guide in the Quetico-Superior area of Minnesota and Canada, and his nine books explore the meaning of wilderness and the outdoors. He is a recipient of the John Burroughs Medal, the highest honor in nature writing, for Wilderness Days. If you haven’t read Olson, I’d suggest beginning with The Singing Wilderness. A very good read.
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Join Cindy in 2021 for an online class! See http://www.cindycrosby.com for a complete list of virtual offerings. All classes and programs with Cindy this winter and spring are offered online only. Join me from your computer anywhere in the world.
Begins Monday, February 6 OR just added —February 15 (Two options): Tallgrass Prairie Ecology Online--Digitally explore the intricacies of the tallgrass prairie landscape and learn how to restore these signature American ecosystems as you work through online curriculum. Look at the history of this unique type of grassland from the descent of glaciers over the Midwest millions of years ago, to the introduction of John Deere’s famous plow, to where we are today. We will examine different types of prairie, explore the plant and animal communities of the prairie and discuss strategies specific to restoring prairies in this engaging online course. Come away with a better understanding of the tallgrass prairies, and key insights into how to restore their beauty. All curriculum is online, with an hour-long in-person group Zoom during the course. You have 60 days to complete the curriculum! Join me–Registration information here.
February 24, 7-8:30 p.m. CST: The Prairie in Art and Literature Online. The tallgrass prairie is usually thought of for its diverse community of plants, animals, and insects. Yet, it is also an inspiration for a creative community! In this interactive online talk, natural history author and prairie steward Cindy Crosby will explore historical and contemporary writers and artists, musicians, and other creatives working in the prairie genre: from Neil Young to Willa Cather to graphic comic artists , quilters, and jewelers expressing the prairie through their work. See the prairie in a new light! Come away inspired to appreciate and express your love of the tallgrass as you enjoy learning about this prairie “community.” Offered by The Morton Arboretum: Register here.
“Every morning I wakened with a fresh consciousness that winter was over. There was only—spring itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness, the vital essence of it everywhere: in the sky, in the swift clouds, in the pale sunshine, and in the warm, high wind—rising suddenly, sinking suddenly, impulsive and playful like a big puppy that pawed you and then lay down to be petted. If I had been tossed down blindfold on that red prairie, I should have known that it was spring.” –Willa Cather
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Clouds scud across the February skies. The prairie wind howls. The gray days seem endless.
But wait! Listen closely. There’s a whisper of spring.
Do you hear the crackle of ice melt?
Do you see the skunk cabbage, bruised by the cold? It burns through the leaves and unfurls its rubbery leaves.
Most of the prairie wildflower seeds have vanished. Emptied, the polished shells of milkweed pods grow brittle and loose.
A few of the less delectable wildflower seeds –like carrion flower–hang on, withered and waiting.
Indian grass and other prairie grasses are weather bleached to colorless ghosts.
Still, if you look closely, big bluestem leaves are etched with reds, pinks, chocolates, and yellows.
Sumac holds its flaming scarlet candles aloft…
…while switchgrass throws a party, complete with confetti and streamers.
Near my backyard prairie patch, black-capped chickadees and a cardinal cautiously crunch seeds at the feeder. Startled by a sound, they fly up as one into the maple. There, they tentatively practice their spring mating songs.
Warmer weather is just around the corner.
Can you catch a whisper of spring? Do you see the signs? Look. Listen. We’re almost there.
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Willa Cather (1873-1947), whose quote from My Antonia opens this essay, was a Pulitzer Prize winning writer whose books about the Great Plains immortalized prairie for her readers. She hated her birth name, which was Wilella, and she called herself Willie or William. A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Cather spent most of her adult life in New York City, where she drew on her childhood memories of Nebraska to write stories of the prairie. She was elected a Fellow of the American Arts and Sciences in 1943, although critics dismissed much of her later writing as nostalgic and out of touch with the times. Cather’s best know trilogy of novels, Oh Pioneers! (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), and My Antonia (1918), are classics on the prairie landscape and the immigrants who lived there.
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All photos copyright Cindy Crosby (top to bottom): power lines over the prairie, Timber Ridge Forest Preserve, West Chicago, IL; switchgrass(Panicum virgatum), Glenbard South High School Prairie, Glen Ellyn, IL; ice on Willoway Brook, Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; skunk cabbage(Symplocarpus foetidus), Lake Marmo, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), Glenbard South High School Prairie, Glen Ellyn, IL; smooth carrion flower (Smilax herbacea), Timber Ridge Forest Preserve on the Great Western Trail, West Chicago, IL; Indian grass(Sorghastrum nutans), Timber Ridge Forest Preserve, West Chicago, IL; big bluestem(Andropogon gerardii), Glenbard South High School Prairie, Glen Ellyn, IL; smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), Timber Ridge Forest Preserve, West Chicago, IL; switchgrass(Panicum virgatum), Glenbard South High School Prairie, Glen Ellyn, IL; cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) and black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), author’s backyard feeders by her prairie patch, Glen Ellyn, IL; hiking the Schulenberg Prairie with a butterfly net in February, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL.
Cindy Crosby is the author, compiler, or contributor to more than 20 books. Her most recent is "Chasing Dragonflies: A Natural, Cultural, and Personal History" (Northwestern University Press, 2020). She teaches prairie ecology, nature writing, and natural history classes, and is a prairie steward who has volunteered countless hours in prairie restoration. See Cindy's upcoming online speaking events and classes at www.cindycrosby.com.
Tuesdays in the Tallgrass 