Help For Spring Chores

Van and Mike were out and helped a ton with the mowing and bush-hogging.

And Creigh came out for two days to help with my timber stand improvement (TSI) work.

We made a lot of progress.

Sometimes it may not have been perfect.

Like burying a saw in a tree that leaned back

Or leaving a hanger that needed felled with the help of a winch.

And it was hot sweaty work.

But we really opened the canopy.  I think that I'm 90% done on the 3 acres that were marked.

On the way out to the farm, I stopped at Jones Fish to get minnows for forage and grass carp to work on weed control.  We saw a heron the next day - wonder if I still have any grass carp.

I'm still chasing pond leaks with bentonite.

I was supposed to get the kitty litter sized stuff but I got the real fine stuff instead.  We'll see how that works.

Creigh brought Marty out for some farm time.  He likes to fetch. Marty fetch

They had several nice explorations.

Covered a lot of ground.

Found butterflies and a couple carcasses.

Went for a swim.

I think Marty likes the farm life.

I got my two summer plots planted.

First disking.

Then dragging.

Planting striped sunflowers for Joan this year (not black oil sunflowers for the deer).

I tried this blend for the first time and added some buckwheat in.

My first time with cowpeas and hairy vetch.

And finally rolled to get seed to soil contact.  Now we just need rain.

I have been putting out minerals for the deer.

Both the does and bucks seem to appreciate it.

We do have fawns now.

And bucks.

The turkeys have survived the Spring season.

It's a busy time of the year.
 

Memorial Day - Rain, Fawns, and Predators

 We came out Sunday and found this in the rain gauge.

I had left a window open on the shooting shed and had this.

You can imagine what the grass looked like.

The pond was as full as I'd seen it in awhile.

And it had a turtle.

And then we got this overnight into Monday.

In between downpours, I did some more work on the timber stand improvement (TSI).

This was a frost seeded plot - looking pretty good.

This one was too but it seems to have a lot more than clover coming up.

And this one is patchy but good.

The existing plots look good.

The fawns started showing up mid-month.

Including twins.

I'm pretty sure what this guy has in his mouth - looks like a fawn leg.

They are around...

and on the prowl.

And so are the foxes.

Poor quality shot but look at this herd of deer on the move.

Two minutes later, this may be why.

I have to have my annual rant about the ticks.

They are relentless on these animals.

Me on invasive control patrol.

I get a collection of these shots near the bird feeder.

The turkey season is winding down but the gobblers are still at it.

And the bucks are really growing the antlers now.

I was delayed getting this one written because I wanted to get Africa done first. Done now.