Redbuds, Morels, Strutting Toms - Must Be Spring

Now that Joan and I are vaccinated, we decided that it was time to visit some family.  So we drove to Virginia to visit our daughter's family.  We did a number of fun things like visit a tulip farm.

And feed some baby goats.

We helped to get a garden planted.

And then we sprinted to Florida where we visited with my parents and my sister and her husband.

And Joan's sister came over to visit with us.  It was so good to be with family again.  It had been too long.

While we were gone, I was concerned that we would completely miss spring and some of its bounty - like morel mushrooms.

My nephew Dave graciously stepped in to harvest some while we were gone.  Here's Dawn and Dave. They picked the ones above.

Joan and I finally passed thru on the way home and we stopped at the farm for a couple hours. We didn't completely miss spring - the redbuds were in bloom.

The pears were done but the crabapples were blooming.

The recently pruned fruit apples had some blooms.

But the redbuds and dogwoods were near peak.

Here's a video of driving thru this redbud tunnel.  Redbud Tunnel

I didn't have much time to appreciate them, but the wildflowers are doing their thing.

There is a potential for snow and a freeze tonight - it could be the end of some of this display.

I spent 45 minutes searching the morel hotspot that we found last year and I found some.

Not bad - I hope to find more when I get back out in a few days.

This should hold me over until then.

Sure to be tasty.

When we got home, this redbud was going.  I transplanted it from the farm when it was a 4 footer.

I have literally thousands of photos from the trailcams for 3+ weeks. 

The gobblers have been strutting their stuff.

This is just a taste of them - I will sort and make another post.

It wasn't just the gobblers.

The bucks are starting to show bumps for antlers.

And we have the normal social interactions.

More to follow when I wade thru the accumulated photo inventory.  The turkey opening day is this weekend - hopefully the snow will be gone by then.

Hope The Bunny Found You!

 Happy Easter!

Here’s a few random links of interest that I found this week:

Meateater Grizzly Conservation

Land Protection

Record Archery Elk

Whitetail Sheds

Cicadas

Morels

Not Finding Morels

Pike Murders

Pike Sheriff

Wildflowers

Border Bulls

Cedar Wars, Forest Canopy Release, New Rototiller, Podcasts, Etc

As mentioned in previous posts, I've been waging war on cedars because they host a fungus that is detrimental to apple trees.  Since I just planted a new orchard (and my old ones are somewhat distressed), I though that I had better address the situation.  So I have been uprooting cedars within a 500 yard radius using the Bobcat.  Then I drag them to the firepit, strip the branches, burn them when conditions permit, and keep the trunks for firepit wood.

The weather was good on Saturday and I got one batch done,  I got a second batch to the pit but it was too windy on Sunday,  It had rained overnight.

I took delivery of a tractor mounted rototiller.  My disk has been gradually self-destructing for years and I have heard that these gadgets are the "cat's meow".  There was a problem with the driveshaft (wouldn't telescope) so I'm waiting for a replacement before I can try it out.

I also got some spraying done.  A couple of the clover plots already have grass invading so I gave them an early dose of clethodium.

Early signs of spring are popping up.

This pear is the first fruit tree to bloom and it's just breaking out.

Chloe made 1/2 of the camera tour with me.  Not bad for a 13 year old.

I put the newest orchard in the highest and driest spot that I could find.  Imagine my surprise when I found it holding water on Sunday morning.

There have been several high wind events so there is always a need to clear trails.

I also worked on the areas that I discussed with Brad, our forester.  The objective is to open some of the forest canopy, let sunlight get to the ground which will stimulate the growth of forbs and cover that is beneficial for wildlife.

This first area is down the ridge trail. Basically, we picked clusters of soft maples in an oak stand and just clear cut that area.

It seems kind of a shame to just let the wood rot.  I may recover some firewood from it.  The next area was off the Charlie trail.

And the last area is below the driveway stand.  This one was a bit of a challenge due to grapevines but I didn't leave any hangers.

These red pricker vines are the wineberries.  I'll look forward to picking the raspberry-like fruit this summer.

The redbuds are just starting to show hints of flowers.

I'm always amused when I find deer fur in the barbed wire.  They have the ability to jump that wire with ease but they often decide to go under.

On a different subject, does anyone have any podcast recommendations?  When I'm walking for exercise or on a long drive, I often listed to podcasts.  Some of my regulars are Meateater Meateater Podcast and Mountain and Prairie Mountain and Prairie.  

I found Meateater after reading some of Steve Rinella's books (which I enjoyed). I consider this podcast to be the blue-collar hunting talk show but they sometimes venture into interesting topics with guest experts.   He's also getting commercial as he builds a hunting empire (books, podcasts, youtubes, tv show, mountain gear, boot endorsements, etc).

Mountain and Prairie might be a little more intellectual with focus on conservation and interviews with creative people from the mountain west (artists, authors, craftsmen, photographers, conservationists, sustainable farmers, etc).  The host is an avid reader and he always solicits book recommendations from his guests.  I've found this to be a good source of reading material - he publishes recommendations on his website.  I think he usually has interesting guests and topics.  I found him after reading some books on grizzlies and learned that he interviewed one of the authors (Bryce Andrews).

On Mountain and Prairie, I heard reference to a nonconventional hunting publication - Modern Huntsman Modern Huntsman Publication.  It's a six issue per year magazine that is more like a book ($35 per issue). I've got a trial subscription and have only seen one issue so far.  It's trying to support many of the "creatives" that I heard interviewed on Mountain and Prairie.  It has gorgeous photography and "deep-dive" articles on all kinds of outdoor/wilderness/conservation topics.  I'm not sure if I like it yet.  It's trying to be different that the typical "grip and grin", trophy-focused, hunting magazine.

From that connection, I stumbled on a podcast called Into The Wilderness Into The Wilderness.  The host, Byron Pace, is somehow involved with Modern Huntsmen.  I've only listened to one episode but, based on it, I think that I'm going to like it.  Seems similar to Mountain and Prairie.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, here's some photos from last week when Violet came on the camera tour.

We've got strutting!  It's about a month until turkey season opens.  I had this out the window today.  Turkeys at Birdfeeder

The usual predators - coyotes.

One hard to see visit by a bobcat.

Some of the more mundane visitors - skunk.

Coon.

Puppy?

And the deer who seem to be enjoying the greening clover.

The worst of the winter weather is over for them.