I’m bumping down road 90, west of Olpe, in search of wildflower meadows. It’s a minimum maintenance dirt path, the type I wouldn’t want to be on after a rain, but otherwise love to explore. I know that over that hill is a rich field of expressively curved grass, black eyed susans, purple clover, white wild indigo, asters…. I want to see them in late afternoon light Further on a skunk hurries across the ruts near extroverted colonies of butterfly milkweed, before the road dips to a creek then rises again ending at a wire rancher’s gate. Along the way a couple box turtles were moved safely to the sides of the road. These areas are among the richest grounds for mixed native grasses and wild Flint Hills blossoms, since there is no roadside cutting, and often less use of herbicides than along crop fields.
