Establishing Longleaf pines (LLP) on old agricultural fields is particularly challenging due to aggressive weed species and high soil fertility. Careful site preparation is important for success. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: June 2018
Greta
Her name is Berretta of the Autumnfire, but we call her Greta. Continue reading
Longleaf Pines: Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
As we have added to the acreage on our timber farm, two of the parcels included some established cropland. When purchased, the cropland was tended by local farmers and plantings rotated based on market conditions. Two of the typical crops were cotton and tobacco. The former requires quite a bit of chemical augmentation and with the latter we had ethical/moral concerns. Neither really fit with our overall goals to improve habitat for all wildlife. This left us with some decisions about the best management for these areas. We actively sought out other options and eventually learned about the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
Beaver Blanket
On an earlier post, I discussed the need to manage beavers on our timber farm. While the beaver furs have little market value these days, they are still really nice furs. I think they are worth the effort to process. It is hard for me to totally waste such a beautiful animal. They need managing but they deserve respect. In this post I will describe how these animals were recycled into a beautiful blanket that has provided some toasty evenings on the couch watching TV. Continue reading
Turkey Hunting: Spring 2018
This will be just a short post but I wanted to make sure I documented this year’s adventure because it was a special one indeed! This was the season that Jeanette successfully bagged her first game animal ever! And what a trophy it was. A mature, lovestruck gobbler. Continue reading
Trapping
My introduction to trapping furbearers began during my junior high school years. I am not sure how in fact it began, but I and a close friend of mine, Pete Leo (who I had lost contact with and only recently found out he passed away in 1988) started trapping muskrats and raccoon. We were self-taught, marginally successful, and certainly not making any money. We did however further solidify our love of the outdoors and I am certain we became better outdoors-men, if that is a correct term for young adolescents. What happened next was life. School. More school. Work. Marriage. Family. Moving. Divorce. Career. Marriage (got it right this time). Dear Pete, I’m sorry we lost track of each other. May you rest in peace. Hope to see you in the good place in the future.
Jump forward about 45 years. Continue reading