Liberty Prairie Reserve
Lake County, Illinois

Sunday, April 22, 7:30 a.m., Spring Warbler Bird Walk
Greet spring by looking for great blue herons, wood ducks, and the first spring migrants – the kinglets, brown creepers and maybe some warblers. Build up an appetite for the homemade pancake breakfast that follows! Families welcome. Reservations (847) 548-5989, ext. 107. $5 fee. Funds support migratory bird habitat restoration in the Liberty Prairie Reserve.

Thursday, April 26, 7:30 a.m., "Birding By Habitat"
Byron Colby Barn, Prairie Crossing. Presentation by Sheryl DeVore, assistant editor of Chicago Wilderness and author of Birding Illinois.

Sunday, May 6, Fifth Annual Prairie Pedal
Ranging from relaxed 5-mile family outings to strenuous, 55-mile workouts, these rides accommodate everyone who brings a bicycle.

• 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. registration for road rides (15-35-and 55 mile)
• 10:00 a.m. registration for family ride (5 mile)
• 11 a.m. lunch at Byron Colby Barn. After biking, riders can visit the stable, get their faces painted, or relax with a massage before chowing down at a pasta fest in the century-old Byron Colby barn.

Sunday, May 13, 7:30 a.m., Prairie Crossing Wildland Walk
Byron Colby Barn, Prairie Crossing. Warblers will be migrating through and singing spring’s first melodies. Bring binoculars and come out to learn how to identify them. Overhead and underfoot there is much to see at Oak Openings. Trout lily, May apple, jack-in-the-pulpit, and trillium will be in full bloom.

June 30 - November 15, Farmer’s Market at Prairie Crossing
By the end of June, the farmers market at Prairie Crossing comes to life. A gentle rush of people flows through the muted dawn light, people toting burlap sacks of lettuces and heirloom tomatoes or armfuls of purple coneflowers, prairie coreopsis, sweet William, and baptisia. Other farmhands wash intensely scented basils or coax juicy raspberries and eggs produced by free-range chickens into their cartons.