Chestnut update

We planted close to 80 Chinese chestnut seedlings this year and here's one that is doing well:

From nuts that David gave us last fall, I set aside about 100 for planting this year. We had a nearly 100% germination rate from nuts in a peat moss and sand mix that was in a plastic bag left in the bottom of a spare fridge.

In March, I took the now-rooted nuts and planted some in star trays and some in used #2 plastic containers from earlier planting projects. Both types thrived and I've transferred nearly all down to our new "grove" and among the walnuts.

With the number of seedlings that we're planting this year, we haven't caged all of them. Some seedlings were clipped by deer and/or rabbits and some others suffered through the drier weeks. After some timely rains that have come the past couple of weeks, most have responded back with new growth. I'm constantly impressed when a seedling bounces back from the dead.

In a few years, we'll be roasting chestnuts. Thanks, David, for sharing your largesse with us.

Blackberries!

This one blackberry bush has been producing for about three weeks now. Just enough for a handful of berries every 5-7 days. This Triple Crown thornless variety has excellent flavor for us to enjoy.

 

We planted 4 last year and this bush has given us a taste of what could come in the years ahead. We added more Triple Crown, and then Chester, Navaho and Apache cultivars this spring to make two short rows. All are thornless which means it is easier to pick and easier for the critters to steal from us. The Apache is borderline for our planting zone, but we'll give it a try.

Raccoon and starlings have plundered this and another bush. They seem to know the perfect time that the berries are ripe and have gotten there ahead of us more than once. We added chicken wire to the defenses and now we have had a few berries of our own to eat.

Wednesday wildlife, is this the big cat we've been looking for?

What do you think?

This was taken from our trail camera pointed towards the berries. At the moment between light and dark, I've found that this camera will sometimes create these odd, grainy digital recreations. Neither a daytime picture, nor is it a nighttime IR picture.

Our neighbor's son reported a sighting of a mountain lion to the south of us and with the quality of a Bigfoot sighting, this may be a visual recording of that cat. Let me know if you think I'm full of it, but I'm leaning towards it is a mountain lion.

It's not one of the neighbor's dogs, it's not a deer and it's a whole lot bigger than this guy:

Both predators are welcome if they take out the rodents, rabbits or raccoons. At least until the big cat takes a swipe at me. This little black cat has been a frequent visitor and I'm sure it's gotten its fill of mice.

Wednesday Wildlife, Pheasant numbers are up

We've counted more pheasant this year than we've seen in years and this are but a couple of dozens that the trail cameras have picked up. I haven't mowed around the pond and below the dam and it's provided habitat for our native wildlife. Pheasants and song birds have benefited from me being too lazy to get all my work done.

White oak update

One of the swamp white oaks that David gave us last fall.

It stands about 18 inches tall now. Although a little insect damage on a few leaves, this has good color and new growth as you can see on the top. The deer and rabbits have left this alone and I think we have a good start to this one.

Get to work - another 34 trees planted this weekend

With showers coming, we planted another 34 seedlings: red maple, hard maple, red oak, and white oak. We've had a cool, although dry, summer that's allowed us to plant seedlings in July and now August. Hauling water in the 80's is sure easier than hauling water while in the upper 90's.

That brings our seedling plantings at 317. With 184 acorns planted in the spring, we now have over 500 planted this year.  

And I got the chance to mow:

 

Too bad I didn't have shade like that the whole time I was mowing.