The Hidden Spring

Posted on May 17, 2013 by paulmozina

I’m celebrating! Its been 2 years since I returned to the The Springs and 2 years since I had surgery to remove the cancerous tumor from my neck. So much has changed since then in both me and The Springs; I got healthy, retired and discovered philosophy, and The Springs got some tender loving care including a good cleaning.

One of the most exciting things we did last year was to uncover springs that were totally obscured by watercress, phragmites, cattails, buckthorn, and other brush.

We began the cleanup focused on removing the watercress that was damming the river, without consulting the map above, so it was one surprise after another as we “discovered” the two sets of Hillside Springs, The Hidden Spring and the Hatching House Springs. Yesterday, the morning light was just right and I paid respect to The Hidden Springs.

The views from the steps above the springs.

There are some nice bubblers here.

Marsh marigolds and skunk cabbage frame the springs.

In discovering philosophy, I found my own hidden spring; a spring for my soul. One of the very simple ideas I’m contemplating is from The Yogatattva Upanishad that I found extracted in C. W. Leadbeater’s book The Chakras:

What a beautiful way to visualize the body and breath in harmony with nature!

Chester W. Smith erected the first dam just below the Hotel Springs in 1846 to power a saw mill and the river valley was flooded until 1992. The fires have laid bare the landscape and it is clear where the trout farmers divided the flooded river valley to suit their purposes. We are hoping, if we can check the phragmites and cattails, that some of the original flora might resurface.

This embankment crosses the valley just north of The Hidden Spring.

I continued spraying spotted knapweed on the Indian Campground; this is working very effectively. I sprayed a lot of flowering garlic mustard in the area south of the trail that did not get burned.

This painted turtle was sunbathing on the trail just above the Indian Spring.

I finished girdling the aspen in the area around the old hotel site and piled the remaining brush there as well. Check out this video walking tour.

I spotted some Pussytoes and Wood Betony along the trail by spur to The Emerald Spring. A profusion of new growth is emerging!

See you at The Springs!

Little Yellowstone

Posted on November 2, 2012 by paulmozina

One of “the old boys” who used to manage the maintenance shop at the DNR headquarters in the South Kettle Moraine referred to the Scuppernong Springs as “The Little Yellowstone”. I really liked that analogy. We have our own mini old faithful right here in the Kettle Moraine. See for yourself!

Yesterday I worked on a little bowl, a seasonally wet area, situated between the hilltop I worked at last weekend and the Indian Campground/Sand Prairie. Take a look at the before scenery.

And the view from where I parked my wheel barrel loaded with gear.

I must confess, I had a hard time deciding where to start. I used a brush cutter first and was careful to spray all of the Black Locust saplings with TransLine. There was a thicket of wild raspberry or blackberry 6′ tall and a lot of Buckthorn and Aspen saplings as well. I’m planning to use a foliar spray next Spring to attack the resprouts when they first come up.

Here is how it looked at the end of the day.

There is a lot of piling to do and that is going to be our focus for the next month or so. Check out the nice sunset.

Phragmites Spraying and Indian Campground Cleanup

Posted on October 13, 2012 by paulmozina

On Thursday, October 11, Lindsay and I returned to the Hidden Spring to spray the Phragmites that had grow up since we cut it back in July.

Lindsay used the following recipe:

3 gal. clean water
20 oz. Habitat herbicide
2 oz. non-ionic surfactant

Pour 1.5 gal water into sprayer or storage container. Add Habitat. Add surfactant while pouring in remaining water. He used and even flat fan tip on the sprayer.

While Lindsay sprayed, I cut phragmites by hand that was right in the Hidden Spring and along its channel (shown below, before and after). I made the cuts as close to the ground as possible and then carefully dripped Habitat poison into the cut stems, some of which were 1/2″ in diameter. I also pulled some water cress that had regrown.

After that, we resumed our effort to prepare the Indian Campground/Sand Prairie for mowing focusing on an area where Ron Kurowski showed us a huge patch of Lupine growing last Spring. This is in the North West area of the Sand Prairie.

Here are some before pictures.

And after.

Later, we took a walk around to enjoy the scenery, as we usually do, and I got this picture at the Indian Springs looking back up stream towards the source.

There are a lot of Asters, Golden Rod and other flowers in bloom. We are looking forward to when the whole area we are recovering around the Indian Springs is carpeted with native grasses and flowers.