Down By The River

Wild Prairie is an amazing place to live. It really is just that: a wild prairie. The history here is amazing too. In the 1920’s this use to be a gravel washing quarry with a loop of railroad tracks going through it. Half of the tracks are still in place and the gravel washing tower is still here where the trains would load up gravel and washed stone to build the interstate between here and Chicago. I sat and talked with the man who used to roam this land as a kid. He is now 95 years old. He said they loaded a lot more than gravel on those trains: homemade brews and moonshine were part of the cargo 🙂 There also use to be a huge hill here which was completely mined out and the land left forsaken and bare. We have worked hard to restore it: to date: 155 trees planted, many trips to the scrap yard with heaps of metal equipment left in the weeds. Now it is starting to rejuvenate. These next pictures are down at the small river on Wild Prairie. This little river is the icing on the cake. When you need to just Be….this is the place. When you need to feel the earth beneath you and think about all things and nothing here is the place. When you want to see microcosmic life in every little inch coexisting it is right here. Both of my children thrive in this place, mesmerized for hours almost silent the entire time……

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