Three thousand acres of old-growth prairie is at the backdoor of Fort Worth near Lake Benbrook.
I put the last acres of Flying Hat Ranch up for sale last week. The location for 29.15 acres is 38295 N SH 108, Mingus, TX. The posts of Sage to Meadow since 2009 have been centered on that ranchito, which had started out at fifty-three acres. Ranch Realty Pro, the broker being J. Bryan Davis, of Stephenville is handling the sale the land.
Yes, I am sad, even grieving, that we had to sell. But the traffic to and from Fort Worth on Interstate 20 has become risky, even dangerous. (From my home in Fort Worth to the Far Field is seventy-two miles.)
So this morning, I searched for public places near me that I could go out and trek and commune with nature. I found just a few miles away, the Fort Worth Prairie Park that is under the purview of the Great Plains Restoration Council.
3,000 acres of old-growth prairie
I never knew the prairie was so close, so protected from development.
I took my Nikon camera and hiked three-quarters of mile into the prairie. I could see the flags of Fort Worth development and hear the planes overhead, but no matter, I wandered with the prairie and found wild onion and spring blossoms. I came across an old campsite (historic) that had not been used for several years. Here are some of the photos of my afternoon.
I will go back to the prairie. The link to the Fort Worth Prairie Park site and Great Plains Restoration Council is https://gprc.org/our-work/fort-worth-prairie-park/.
I am connected to all things. There is no “other.”
All photographs by Jack Matthews.
Sage to Meadow ~ Jack Matthews 
Jack, this is amazing for a couple of reasons. There’s a story involved (isn’t there always?) but I don’t have time for it just now. I’ll be back for the telling of it — and how wonderful that you found this place!
Thank you. I hope you do come back and tell me/us.
Sure will!
Thank you for coming back.
All things pass, my friend. But it led you to that beautiful piece of land, so that’s the bonus, yes? I’ve seen that so many times in my own life. It keeps me looking forward. If you want to wander around where the ancient ones lived, you know where to come.
Your words help me, Caralee. You are in a beautiful, ancient place: sublime, peaceful, and natural. Don’t leave it.
Thanks again Caralee. Jimmy and you found a beautiful place and worked it into an art form.
it’s important to know about this big transition you are going through. so glad you found this wild place so close to the city. here’s to our communion with the land. thanks for writing so well about it all these years.
Oh, yes, C.C., here’s to our communion with the land. I so enjoy having read your posts. I feel a spiritual kinship with you, and I hope do continue writing about the land, the living with the land, as Frank Waters said we should do. It is a big transition, C.C. I’ve lost the connection with Flying Hat land, but there are other spaces, aren’t there? I believe so.
Here’s what caught me. When I looked up the location of your new prairie, I noticed that it’s on Old Granbury Road, just to the west of Crowley. As it happens, my mother’s side of the family were Crowleys, and even though a good bit of research convinced me there’s no connection between ‘my’ Crowleys and the town, there is another connection.
My gr-gr-grandfather David Crowley spent most of the Civil War in Texas, with the 34th Iowa Regiment. He made it all the way to Boca Chica, then marched back up the coast and eventually mustered out in the Houston area. He must have liked Texas, because fter returning to Iowa, he and his bride moved here, and camped on the prairie near Melissa, just to the north and east of the DFW metroplex. They only stayed a couple of years, but I have correspondence between my gr-gr-grandmother and a friend from those Texas days that makes clear Grandpa David loved our wildflowers.
I’ve been up to visit Parkhill Prairie, which is close to where they camped. It was beautiful, and your prairie should be equally so. Not only that, while I was scrolling through the photos of the Fort Worth Prairie Park I found a photo of –a Dickcissel!
Oh, my, Linda, there is a connection to the DFW metroplex area, the prairie even. A Dickcissel! I remember how difficult it was to type it! Yes, the prairie is alongside Old Granbury Road. The development of the Chisholm Trail Toll Road cut the road, but I’ve traveled some of the old highway to Granbury. Now that would be a fun blog: “Old Highways.” My mother had close friends from the Iowa National Guard during World War II at Camp Bowie in Brownwood. Thank you for your kind words. Your posts on your blog are so thoughtful and well-written.
Jack, I’m so sorry, and I so understand the grieving for an amphitheater of consciousness so familiar and beloved. I have moved back to my homeland in the Northeast but still ache for the drama of life in AZ. We are connected to all things—it helps to be mindful of this. Thank you for reminding us all.
Debra, I am so glad to hear from you, and to read your beautiful, well-chosen words. Oh, yes, leaving my amphitheater in Mingus, where so many of my posts and photographs for Sage to Meadow were written and taken. I so enjoyed your posting from Arizona in the past. I was always glad when I tested my friends’ links on WordPress, your blog was still running. Are you comfortable back in the Northeast? Are you able to walk in a park or in a forest?
There are nice state parks here (CT). But the towns and highways are crowded and the traffic is horrible and the drivers are crazy. Very different from wide, open southern AZ. But I love the lush forests and green landscape here. Just want to be further within it instead of living in a busy suburb! But can’t complain, I’m doing OK. Thanks for asking!