March 24-26, 2011

Spring Break

I had Friday off for Spring break, so we came out Thursday -- which turned out to be the nicest day. Unfortunately we didn't arrive until 5pm. Just time to fill the bird feeders and water the little trees I had transplanted out front. I was glad to see this Buckeye I brought out 3 or 4 years ago leafing out. I strive to just keep them alive – assuming that eventually they will thrive.

The nectarine and peach seemed to be almost done blooming, and it doesn't appear there will be much fruit from either of these (unlike last year when they were loaded). This picture is of a beautiful nectarine bloom.

I was really glad to see blooms on the pear trees – since I only got 1 pear last year. Two arms of the 3 in 1 were leafed out and blooming (the third was still bare) and the Magnesse was also leafing out and blooming. I'm hoping the pears will do better than the apples. (There were no blooms on the gold rush apple and the pixie delight is too young to bloom. So there will probably be no apples this year since my other apple up and died at the end of last year, and it takes two to cross-pollinate.)

Dining

We ate really well this trip. Thursday night we used the last of the pesto I had frozen last summer and made a delicious pizza. Sally had picked up a crust from ONF and we added onion, black olives, mushrooms, pepperoni, bell pepper, garlic, spinach, and cheese.

I bought some buttermilk on the way out and made bran, black walnut, raisin, coconut muffins for breakfast Friday. Sally had only 1 and half while I had 3 and half (with honey).

And for dinner Friday night we had black bean burgers which Sally mixed up -- cooked on the grill with pepper jack cheese.

Rain

Early Thursday morning, while we were still in bed, we got a very brief shower. Maybe 5 minutes. You could hardly tell it rained. But early Saturday morning we had a hard rain with thunder and even some hail. The rest of the day was drizzly and gray, but we needed the rain. I don't think it got out of the 30s Saturday. (Sunday turned out to be the same, when Fayetteville set a record low high temperature.)

Lopping

Friday morning I took Tender up the hill to the upper pasture and lopped 360 cedars (while Sally made the black bean burgers). Saturday morning I went down the hill, up plume creek, back up into the back pasture (near the downed white oak), and back the track I use to drive back there. I lopped another 570 cedars, and could have gotten many more if I hadn't grown tired (and tired of the task).

Knap Weed

Sally had an appointment in Harrison Friday, so was gone much of the day. The knap weed is already growing and is everywhere. So I decided I would see what an early dose of clear pasture would do it. I was only able to cover the area back of the house and back of the barn.

Black Jack, Oak, Cedars

I then took the Stihl and cut these black jack logs from a tree that had died and I had felled a couple of years ago. Its not good fire wood, but now that I've had one blow log fire I want to get some hollow logs on hand for more fires. Unfortunately I had to carry these down since they are pretty rotten and fragile. (The log on the right is the red oak I had cut on the short cut, taken into town, and brought back out once I realized how hollow it was.)

I then started cutting and trimming cedars on the slope above the house. I didn't bother dragging the limbs into a burn pile, but that will have to be done. In the same area there was an 8 inch hard oak (not black jack, probably red) that had been blown over, so I cut it up as well. I got six decent split-able logs from it, which I threw down the hill in stages.

Birds

When I went onto the porch to remove my boots for lunch on Friday, I swear there were 50 birds that scattered from the feeders. I think most were gold finches. There continued to be swarms like this around the feeders, which was nice to see.

Split Logs

I split the last of the black oak and all the other shorter logs. This is the stack for Denver and Chicago. Saturday I split about 6 of the large white oak logs I have stashed at the barn. One large one where the tree split into two trunks I'll probably have to give up on – at least I did this weekend. That leaves me with only about 6 more white oaks to split.

Bike ride, Weedeat, Walnuts

Sally brought her bike out and after getting back from Harrison Friday, she took it up to the top of the hill and road 221 past where it turns to dirt and down the shortcut road a ways – I think it came to 5 miles or so. While she was gone I got the John Deere weedeater started for the season and cleaned up the high weeds around the back and front doors. I then got a fire started for the black bean burgers and cracked one more box of black walnuts (I'm behind on picking them though, still with another box of cracked nuts at the house).

Blow Log

I kept the fire going as we cooked the burgers (I have a keyholepit and move coals with a shovel to the cooking side). Then I put this black jack log on for fun. In preparation I had put three large rocks in the pit to stand the log up on. But once the fire got good and hot it started popping like crazy and throwing out pieces of hot rock. The limestone rock seemed to do fine, but the large piece of chirt turned into a bomb. I'll not use it again.

Garden

Sally brought out about a dozen plants she had started in peat pots at the house. (I don't even know what they are.) We'd put a couple these in the ground two weeks earlier and they were doing fine, but these we had at the house were spendly and it looked to me like they had gotten to dry at some point. She put about half of them in the garden, and then talked me into doing the rest due to the cold damp conditions Saturday.

Cleared Ditch

The road from the house down the hill is really in bad shape. I've rarely had to do maintenance on this section, but it is needing it now. The December 31st storm cut into the road opposite the barn and created a gravel wash a h

At the sharp turn heading down the hill the Carroll Electric equipment had taken the corner a bit sharp and driven in the ditch. This changed the course of the runoff to be across the road. I took my adz and straightened this back out, plus cleared the ditch from there down to the sole culvert on this section of road.

March 19-20, 2011

I forgot my phone, so no camera and no pictures this week – you can tell I'm not tethered to the thing. Saturday was overcast and in the 60s (there was a chance of rain but unfortunately we didn't get any) and Sunday was clear and in the upper 70s (Fayetteville set a record high of 79).

Logs

I brought 8 logs to the farm from the house: 1 long hollow red oak blow log, 3 short red oak logs for Denver/Chicago, 3 short black oak logs for D/C, and one short walnut log I've had at the house for several years (I suppose I thought I was going to make something from it). Other than the walnut, these were cut on the shortcut on the way home the previous two trips out. I cleaned out the inside of the blow log with a shovel and split all but the black oak.

Garden

The onions and other sprouts had all survived, and some seeds Sally had planted were coming up (spinach and bok chow I think). She tended those and watered (I broke out the hoses) while I continued weeding, and worked one more bag of compost brought from the house in. After lunch I just started using the shovel to scrape up the weeds – the roots were so matted into the packed earth between the rows it was very difficult to get them up. Basically the garden is now good to go.

Well House Insulation

I bagged this up, and hung it in the garage. It is getting pretty ratty looking (it actually does look like rats or something nest in it), but figure I can use it at least one more year.

Afternoon Walk

I talked Sally and Tender into driving to the pond and walking the fields behind the pond and up the hill. I wanted to check on my trees there. The pines are doing good, but I couldn't tell much about the red oaks and walnuts since they hadn't started leafing out. I took my loppers and got 240 cedars on the walk.

We tried to get to the cave, but there was so much downed timber Sally couldn't/didn't want to make it. I guess I haven't been in there since the ice storm. Just one more area to clean up.

Some algae is growing around the edge of the pond. I read a pond management article that talked about an algae bloom being good for the fish. I don't know if that is what we have or not, but I don't like the looks of it.

Prune

I pruned the two pears, the last of the fruit trees needing this. Their leaves were beginning to show but I couldn't see any signs of blooms. I'm hoping for more than 1 pear this year. The nectarine was covered in its beautiful pink/white blooms, and there were a few blooms on the elberta peach. I also pruned the three hollies on the west side of the house – they really needed a hair cut.

Fajita Cookout

Even though there was a fire ban on, we had a cook out. Beef fajitas with grilled onions and bell pepper. Very tasty.

Sunday Morning Walk

We went down the hill, and at Plume creek I tried to get Sally to walk with me up the creek (I've been working on getting it cleared). It was too uneven for her in tennis shoes, so it was a no go. I did bring my loppers along again, and got another 60 cedars. On the way back I noticed a blue feather in the bottom of blue bird house that sits half way down the hill. I opened it up to find a dead blue bird. No nest or anything else. We guessed it was maybe seeking shelter in the cold weather and died of natural causes.

Cell Phone Antennae

Sally was having trouble getting reception, so I got the ladder and repositioned the antennae on the roof. It had slid down 8-10 inches due to the snow on the roof. I tapped it back with duct tape.

March 4-5, 2011

Garden/Compost

I gave blood (my 100th Red Cross donation), so we were a little late getting off. I was anxious to get out and get the garden weeded before it rained (thunderstorms were due to role through about dusk), since its difficult to get their roots to let loose of mud.

I had a truck load of city compost and was going to work it into the garden. Sally had bought a bunch (about 40) Georgia Sweet onions, and wanted them planted first thing. So I worked the compost into the mound next to the fence and she proceeded to plant, then she spread pine straw over them to help with the weeds and erosion. I frantically weeded while she was planting. I worked until dark and only got about 75% of the weeds. It sprinkled a bit, but the heavy rain held off till after dark.

Sally was fretting about her onions during the storm -- thinking they were going to be washed away. She wanted me to go out and check on them before bed, but I refused insisting they would be fine. And of course they were, as proven by this picture.

Cedars

I pulled 290 little cedars while getting Tender out Saturday morning. This was over by the swing where they tend to come up thick under some of the big oak trees there. (Birds poop the seeds out.) Most were tiny, but some were 1-2'. When the ground is saturated they can be easy to pull up (roots included), though you do have to wear gloves. I could have gotten lots more if Tender hadn't been so anxious to get his breakfast.

Rye Grass

Now that we've finally been getting some rain, the rye seed I spread on the road back in the fall has finally germinated and begun to grow. Hopefully it will help a bit with erosion. The road is needing some work.

Turning the Garden

I spent most of the rest of the day turning the compost (and some wood ashes) into the garden. It was hard work but not too bad (made this a 4 ibuprofen day). I was afraid the rain was going to make it too muddy, but other than getting it caked on the bottom of my boots it wasn't a problem.

I did turn up about a dozen of these tomato horn worms in their cocoon stage. I only found one last year, so this may be a bad omen since they can devastate a tomato plant.

Sharpen Stihl/Oak Logs

I was planning to return by the short-cut again this week and get another load of logs, so I sharpened the saw. We had no trouble finding another down tree cut into long sections. I think I made 7 or 8 cuts and ended up with 10 logs. I could tell it was some kind of oak, but not red or white.

Once I got to splitting it at the house I found these broad patches of black on the inside. Maybe its black oak? The bark matches the description I found for black oak, but I couldn't find any references to the internal grain. There has to be some reason they call it black oak.

Its good solid heavy wood, but it has these 1" limbs that go deep into the trunk and tend to bind it together -- making it difficult to split. I wish I had had my wedges at the house.

February 25-26, 2011

Shortcut

Sally was in Harrison and meeting me at the farm, so I came the shortcut. First, Warm Fork Cr was flowing. It was the first time I had seen that since maybe July. (We had received almost an inch of rain Thursday.)

I had seen this tree that had been hit by lightening before, but this time I stopped to get a picture. I think it occurred during the storms that came through December 31st. Note the bark peeled down the pine that is adjacent. This must have been one heck of an explosion to completely splinter a large hardwood like this.

I had seen before these downed trees adjacent to the road that had been cut into long sections, maybe 4' each. Once I even stopped and tried to pick up a section, but it was too heavy. So I decided then I would come back this way with my chain saw and get a load of free wood. (See the last section.)

Tree Transplanting

Before I left town I dug up 10 volunteer oak and hickory trees I had tagged in 2009. (Meant to do this last year.) With the ground good and wet I figured this was the best to transplant them. We also had 4 volunteer walnuts that had come up in the garden, so I dug them up as well. I planted most of them in front of the house along the road, and a few along the lane to the spring. Digging in this chirty soil is a real chore. I hope half of them survive.

Mulch Leaves

I brought my leaf blower out from town and hooked up the mulcher tube to the intake. I then opened the garage doors to pick up all the leaves that blow in there and send them in pieces out into the yard. I also got the ones that had blown up next to the garden and the house. This is much easier than raking.

Weed Garden

Everything was really wet. Too wet. I tried to do some weeding in the garden but the thick mat of roots on many of the weeds and the wet soil made it very difficult. I decided to try again Saturday -- and it was easier then. There are lots of weeds since I had neglected this task all winter, plus the violas that must come up from seed. The violas I will leave, but I want to get the mounds cleared so I can work in a load of mulch the next weekend.

The garlic I planted in November had come up, and there are a few onions that were missed last fall and have survived the winter. Sally even saw some spinach coming up.

Crack Pecans

I've had a bag of tiny native pecans I picked up last November from Dwight's. I brought them out and used my walnut cracker to crack them. I've found that picking them out is harder than picking walnuts. And they are so tiny the yield is extremely low.

Clear Ditch

I'd noticed that the ditch on the left coming in was getting clogged with debris. So Saturday I took my hoe and spent a little time clearing it up. I need to do the same along the road down to the pond.

Drag Cedars

I'd cut lots of ice storm downed cedars at the bluff past the swing, and just left them there. So I spent an hour or so dragging them into a couple of piles. It was wet enough, I should have burned some of the many piles I have -- but I didn't have time. I'm thinking of getting a chipper/shredder to deal with some of these. At least then I would get some mulch out of it.

Prune

I used my new professional bypass pruners on the peach, the nectarine, and the blackberries. I had just started on the apple when it was time for lunch. The pruners worked okay, but I don't know that they were worth what I paid for them. (Used by Lowe's rebate card that I had received from the insulation purchase last fall.

Garden Gate

The garden gate was barely holding together, so I rounded up some wood scraps and rebuilt it. One of the long sides is a strip of plywood siding (couldn't find a second solid piece of 1 by) -- I hope it holds up to the weather.

Red Oak

As I planned, I left early, took my Stihl chain saw, and went the short cut. There were at least 6 other trees like the one I stopped at -- and I only got half of it. As soon as I started cutting I could tell it was red oak. I had to use one log to help me step it up into the truck bed. I also had to sharpen the blade to finish getting my 10 pieces, and I was only having to most pieces once to have two pieces.

I went ahead and split a couple of pieces at the house, and they split very nice. Three of the logs are short enough for Denver and Chicago, so they will come back to the farm for splitting and storage. The base piece is hollow enough I think I am going to save it for a blow log.