Only One Day A Year

It was today, and I was there!

My good friend and fellow artist, Judi Colwell, informed me of a local one day of the year event: Prairie Appreciation Day.

The Glacial Heritage Preserve in Littlerock, where the event took place, is one of the few remnants of a prairie landscape that once covered huge areas in western Washington. The prairies were an extremely important food gathering area for Native Americans. Glacial Heritage and other prairies in the area are now important places for ecological studies by professionals and private citizens.

For the past 14 years, many volunteers and organizations have put this one day event together. They do a phenomenal job! Especially fun were the activities geared towards children, but even us young-at-heart enjoyed learning about the area and its inhabitants.

The Mima Mounds were splashed with colors of blue-purple and yellow wildflowers.


The blue-purple camas was an important food of Native Americans. The bulbs were dug in the spring and cooked for 24 hours, usually in large pits dug in the ground.


These wildflowers were intermingled with the yellows of the western buttercup and spring gold.

The seeds from these and other plants are collected in the summer for prairie restoration.