Friday is buck day, three visitors

We've had three different bucks visit the acreage over the past couple of weeks.

Wednesday wildlife, now with twins

Friday is buck day, a couple of big bucks

Wednesday wildlife, when birds attack

This aggressive woodpecker seems to have a grudge against the cameras.

Could it be that I cut down that box elder earlier this year?

Friday is buck day, silhouettes

Wednesday wildlife, doe and fawn

This doe and her fawn seem to have made our acreage their home.

Wednesday wildlife, curious doe

Legacy tree, Kentucky Coffeetree

From a box of nuts that we received from David over at True Blue Sam, this has been one of our favored trees. It was planted 4 years ago on the bottoms where it it gets plenty of moisture. It stands at about 5 feet tall and is the tallest of the coffeetrees that have made it so far.

Dad made several pieces from this lumber and I made a narrow bookshelf that now stands in our living room.

While we won't live long enough to see the lumber milled from this tree, we enjoy tracking its progress.

From mid-May:

And on 6/11:

Get to work and cut those weeds

Don't just stand there, cut the weeds.

Otherwise you may miss this:





I took care of this today.

Legacy tree, our red buckeye

This was one of two red buckeyes planted in honor of our friend and the Mrs' faithful companion, Buckeye (or Buck for short). We planted two on either side of the driveway near the shed last fall although one didn't make it.

This one is doing very well and now stands over a foot. A red buckeye has large blooms early in spring and attract hummingbirds and bees. We wanted something to remember our dog that would feed local wildlife and produce seeds or nuts to share with others who knew Buck, which turns out to be half the county. This gives our neighbors and friends the chance to grow their own small trees to remember him, too.

Wednesday wildlife, doe and fawn

On the night of 5/29/16 a little after 10:00p, this doe and her fawn walked in front of the camera for a short visit:



It seems that they like the corner of the acreage. Here they are again near the apple and nectarine trees a few days later on this morning after a shower:

Wednesday wildlife, pheasants in the morning

The dozen or so pheasant roosters have the run of the place. They run across in front of this camera several times a week and here are some typical examples:

Flowers on Friday, Aronia berries

We have 70+ plants with hundreds of blooms. With luck, we should have a good crop this year.

Legacy trees: David's chestnut

The chestnut that was given to us from David over at True Blue Sam on his visit a couple of years ago.

It now stands over 2 feet tall. Surrounded by chicken wire and fencing, the rabbits and deer have been kept out.

Get to work, this bee is on the wrong flower

 

Why isn't this workaholic among the honeyberries, aronias, or at the apple trees?

The bee numbers seem to be down but I've been working during several overcast and cloudy days. In the mean time, raspberries, more honeyberries and strawberries were planted this past weekend. I also replaced a cherry tree that was girdled by a varmit that climbed the cage.

A fairly productive weekend.

Wednesday wildlife, snow geese and Canadian geese

Snow geese in late February:


And Canadian geese in early, windy March day:

Get to work! Not today

This weekend it rained both days, which meant no planting, no weed cutting and no mowing. It marks the second weekend without much meaningful work completed.

Flowers on Friday, tulip

A tulip that we planted last year has returned.

Friday flowers, nectarines

The nectarines are in bloom

Wednesday wildlife, midnight coyote

Actually a little before midnight on 4/14.

This one still isn't handling the rabbit population as well as I'd like.

Box elder blues, part one

We have 5 box elders that are in the fence line and way too big to handle easily and in one case, hollow. I've been leery on taking them down because the fence doesn't give me an easy escape route in case I predict wrong on the cut or it ends up more hollow than I thought.

In this case, the tree on the east fence needed to come down. With late winter winds, I could see the tree rocking but as I hoped the winds would drop this down, I worried that a branch would crack someone's skull.

 

 As you can see, a couple of broken branches hang against the "dying" trunk. Some of the tree was still alive but the top was pretty much gone. One shame with taking this tree down is that I would be removing habitat and food supply for woodpeckers:

 Without knowing how much good wood was in this, I decided to hook a rope to a point just above the hole shown above. This choice was more because that was where I hooked it than a conscience decision. I gave it a yank:

 

I came down way too easy and this is why:

With only a couple of inches of live wood about 5 feet off the ground, there wasn't a reason for this tree to be standing.

 

And a little up close to that rot:

After digging into the trunk, I found that there was nothing keeping me from the other side:

It wasn't just rot, we found a carpenter ant colony from the ground to about 12 feet up and dispatched them with a dose of insecticide. All we need is for this colony to spread to our stored lumber or to our buildings. The neighbors' are just up the hill and wouldn't appreciate those black ants invading their homes.

With the top of the tree on the ground, it makes it more manageable. I turned my attention to the trunk at the fence.

While the newest strands of barbed wire were at the edge of the tree, I discovered a hidden surprise:

Thirty or forty years ago some farmer decided it was a good idea to staple the woven wire and barbed wire to the tree. Fence staples are not kind to chain saw chains and I hit these dead on and as I cursed the former owner and his folly, we chopped out the middle until we could remove as much of the metal as we could. These are hidden dangers that not only ruin chains but cause kickbacks that could have caused a serious injury.

David over at True Blue Sam has a handy video for chain sharpening that I certainly need.

The stump is now at the ground level and soaked with Tordon. With our luck, it will take years before this tree is finally dead but everything within a 6 foot radius won't grow. The rot continued down into the root system and was filled with ants.

On this past Sunday I put the wood chipper to good use on the branches 2" or less and spread this over the aronias. The dry branches turned into wood shavings while the rest of the wood will be burned as soon as I get a chance.

One down and four to go.

Wednesday wildlife, almost left behind

Taken on 3/25/16 at 7:07am

Get to work with spring planting, butternuts

The butternut or sometimes called white walnut, is a native Iowa tree in the walnut family as the name suggests. While known for its nut production, it does produce very high quality lumber that was prized by my father. A similar grain to black walnut but with a lighter tint, I was able to get a few boards from his estate.

The nuts are elongated or egg-shaped rather that round like a black walnut. In about 25 years we might be able to harvest a few nuts. The hard outer shell of the butternut is rough and a bit sharp. It's not recommended to walk barefoot. Not that I would walk barefoot when I haven't eradicated the thistle or wild parsnip.

My brother gave me over 60 nuts that were viable and I planted 50 on Sunday spaced among the walnuts and potted the rest. In about 70 years, if they stay free from the butternut canker and survive squirrels eating the nuts, rabbits clipping off the tops or deer rubbing them to death, they should make a good supply of logs.

This makes our first official planting of 2016 and a new native Iowa species that we introduced to the farm.

Pheasants on Friday, roosters in February

With no good buck pics, here's a couple of pheasants for Friday

Wednesday wildlife, late February deer

Since it's been a while, a couple of videos of our whitetail herd:

Wednesday wildlife, Bob and Weave

Friday is buck day, now with video

This buck paid us a visit on the evening of 2/1/2016. 

Wednesday wildlife, coyote video

Sorry, I flubbed this one up well and good. It's been that kind of week.

A short coyote video during snow flurries in the early morning of 2/3/2016

I heard a buzzin in my ears

I suffer from tinnitus but I could hear this contraption circling overhead:

I looks like a Rutan design but the flyer didn't land to offer a closer look.

Wednesday wildlife, coyotes in the dark

Friday is buck day, another nighttime buck

Looking towards the neighbor's lights, this rack walked along the fenceline southward.

Wednesday wildlife, our small herd seems to be growing

I counted six.

Our Downy Woodpecker

Take a break from working on your taxes and enjoy this Downy Woodpecker that was drilling on an elm tree searching for a meal. (Not much sound, sorry)

Cabin fever, insulation

A little late for last week's -10 but we were visiting friends.

I got about 2/3 of the walls insulated last Saturday, It was in the upper 20s with the wind howling on the outside while on the inside it seemed warmer with each roll I put up between the studs. A small heater helped a little too.

Pretty soon our cabin can be used as a winter retreat.

The big box of work showed up on Friday

One way to look at it:

This years production-in-a-box to include a couple of varieties of sweetcorn, peas, tomato and peppers. We also have our beans and popcorn. Some for us and some for our small produce operation this year.

Probably only earning enough to pay the gas bill (wait, I don't have utilities hooked up yet). A few meals at the Casual Cafe in Wellman, then.

Update:
Growing Food for Fun and Profit  "Fun" Ha. No mention of the work part of this.

Those popcorn tins that people seem to think we enjoy it? After throwing out the stale popcorn they make good storage containers for seeds, birdseed and even toiletries at the outhouse. A great way of keeping the mice out.

Friday is buck day, a little overexposed

Wednesday wildife, our farm where eagles soar

Like most of my eagle pictures, they are closest to me when I don't have the camera ready and then climb upward when I pull the camera out of its case. These are a little small but I hope you can make out this pair of about 6 eagles that circled overhead.