Spring 2016 Habitat Update

[Natty Bumppo]

Hey guys....haven't posted an update in a while. I got some major work done in April. I'm a high school teacher and my wife took my kids to FL during April vacation with her family...I stayed behind and basically worked myself to exhaustion for 10 straight days. I am working on my new land that was gifted to my wife and I by my MIL last year. I am putting in 2 food plots...basically I went from 50 to 60 year old red maple, spruce, black cherry, and birch stands to 2 plots that I strategically designed with the existing wild apples in mind.

I burned massive brush piles for 6 of the 10 days and spent the other 4 logging, bucking up and stacking firewood, and planting about 200 trees that I got from the MDC and the NH state nursery.

This first plot is the newest one and is about 2/3rd's of an acre. I dropped most of the trees during the winter of 2015. Spent last summer removing the logs and clearing the plot a bit, but it was still too small. Dropped more trees this past winter and it is now just about 90% clear. Got about 4 poplars and a spruce tree to fell. Going to grind the stumps down and then get some lime down this month and then plant some buckwheat this first year. The plot is surrounded by mature wild apples (marked in yellow). Deer used this area quite a bit before my work. Hoping it becomes a social hot spot.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

The 2nd plot I started about 2 years ago...it's more of an hourglass shaped plot. I got some lime down last summer and had a marginal rye plot last fall, but deer did use the plot. I dropped some more south-side trees this winter and have to buck them up and get them out. Hoping to get more lime down and buckwheat planted this month.

This is last summer.....

This pic was taken a few weeks ago....

And a few more pics around these plots.....

Stacked firewood along 1800's carriage road:

Old cellar hole:

More firewood:

Old farmer's rock pile:

Another view of the 1800's carriage road:

Some wild apples that I had to save after the 2008 ice storm:

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Last pic...I planted about 250 trees from MDC and the NH state nursery. I flagged many of them just to see how they establish this year. I love chopping trees down. But I also love being a good steward of the land and planting new trees. I also need to pull out about 10 young buckthorns and 2 mature trees.

May wife is going to Italy with my kids with her entire family in June, so I'll have about 3 weeks to myself to continue the work. Can't wait! I miss them like crazy when they are gone, but the amount of work I can get done sans wife and kids is just sick!

40 hazlenuts
50 red oaks
25 pin oak
25 black cherry
25 wild apple
25 choke cherry
25 dogwoods
10 swamp white oak
10 sycamores
10 ninebark
10 nanny berry
10 bay berry
10 cottonwood

 

[Native Hunter]

That place is beautiful, and I love the old tractor!

 

[TMIL]

Nice work! And you KNOW I love the Farmall Cub!!

 

[strawhead]

Awesome looking place and your work sure looks nice too.

 

[bueller]

That's a lot of work. Looks great, nice job!

 

[scott44]

Good looking pics, lots of work there. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Thanks guys. Fun stuff!

 

[Bill]

Looking great.

I like those old stone cellars. They remind me how tough our ancestors were. The construction supply company didn't drop those off with a crane. Who ever built it had the family hand loading them onto a wagon. If they were lucky enough to have a horse and wagon.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Looks great Natty !! I LOVE anything old - like those cellar holes and the stone fences and rock piles. The old Farmall is cool too. Ancestral workings have a place IMO. We have old stone fences and rock piles at my camp. They hearken back to when it was a farm in the 1800's and early 1900's. Your carriage lane with the stacked wood is a PICTURE !! Like a Norman Rockwell painting.

I agree with Bill on the hand-loading of stone onto a wagon - or a " stone boat ". Some old-timers had a "sled" of sorts that sat on wooden runners and was pulled by horses. They loaded the stones onto the stone-boat and had the horses pull it to where they wanted to dump the stone in a pile, or stack them into a wall along a path or field edge. No easy task. My father had to clear rocks from his grandfather's fields using that method years ago. When you see those old cellar holes and stone fences, it makes you appreciate the elders' work from long ago.

GREAT PLACE, Natty !! :cool: :cool:

 

[shawnv]

very nice, looks like things are coming along pretty well for you.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Looks great Natty !! I LOVE anything old - like those cellar holes and the stone fences and rock piles. The old Farmall is cool too. Ancestral workings have a place IMO. We have old stone fences and rock piles at my camp. They hearken back to when it was a farm in the 1800's and early 1900's. Your carriage lane with the stacked wood is a PICTURE !! Like a Norman Rockwell painting.

I agree with Bill on the hand-loading of stone onto a wagon - or a " stone boat ". Some old-timers had a "sled" of sorts that sat on wooden runners and was pulled by horses. They loaded the stones onto the stone-boat and had the horses pull it to where they wanted to dump the stone in a pile, or stack them into a wall along a path or field edge. No easy task. My father had to clear rocks from his grandfather's fields using that method years ago. When you see those old cellar holes and stone fences, it makes you appreciate the elders' work from long ago.

GREAT PLACE, Natty !! :cool: :cool:

I agree Bowsnbucks. Being around old stuff reminds us of where we came from and how simpler things used to be. Lots of old barbed wire on my property too....it's everywhere. Thanks for the warm comments.

 

[tinytim]

Looks great, what a lot of work but definitely worth it! Love all the variety of things you've planted

 

[woodduck]

Looking great! Beautiful woods! I like that old Cub too, I also have one that was my great grandfathers.