Pope Farm Conservancy

You may have enjoyed the fields of sunshine in Thursday's blog post; I sure had a great time attempting to capture the beauty on camera and returned a few days later for the Annual Walk of the Pope Farm Conservancy.

The Pope Farm Conservancy is a park of the Town of Middleton west of Madison on Old Sauk Road.

It's one of the highest points in Dane County - permitting a view of Lake Mendota and the State Capitol eight miles to the east.

The distinguishing feature is the 150 (or more) years old stone fence.  It was stacked and shaped by the land and the farm families who worked the rocky ground.

This was a new place to us and we wanted to learn more.  We were not alone.  It was the 2nd Annual Walk (last year attracted 25) and more than 200 people were on hand to listen to Mel Pope (left) talk about growing up on the farm, the land, farm life, and the effort to preserve the heritage of a family farm,

It's as peaceful a place as you might find out of doors.  A park without noisy attractions or diversions.  A park featuring the handiwork of creation and its beauty on the macro and micro scale.

There are six different prairies on the land that might send rain drops into either of three different watersheds.  The prairies are being carefully restored to what Native Americans would have traversed prior to the arrival of European settlers.

Wildflowers dot the landscape - attracting birds and bees and insects of every type.

It's also a working farm - with seven crops rotating among the various tracts.  Sunflowers are the star this year at the top of the hill, but there are other crops, including corn, soybeans, and alfalfa.

Between the fields are wide grassy lanes for walking, running, or cross-country skiing.  The lanes are excellent for reminiscing - quite a pastime when walking past corn stretching 10 feet into the sky.

The farm marks the end of the Glaciers that covered much of Wisconsin and North America.  It's also where the sheet of ice started pulling back north leaving what is called the terminal moraine.

Those are the hills where the last of the ice-borne debris came to rest. 

Through the years, one hillside on the farm was untouched, with some large rocks surfacing amongst the wild grasses.

It's difficult to imagine trying to make things grow in such a place - but in places like it across the country that what settlers did and what this beautiful place preserves.
   Take a camera, take a picnic, take your family for some moments of peace in this park dedicated to educating Madison area 4th graders and the rest of us who could use a little remedial prairie and farm appreciation.