Contractor day!

 It was finally time, it was finally here! The day to meet with the guy that will be helping us to put in the driveway, grade certain areas of the land, prep the front CRP for building, and clear a small patch of trees for the ingress/egress path. This person was a co-worker of hubby's, who then went to school to start his own excavating business. I have heard about him for years, he asked hubby a long time ago if I could be his bookkeeper (hubby said no), and our youngest even worked for him for a very short amount of time a couple of Summers ago, but I had never met him.

We got to Das Zem early so we could get some work done before meeting with him. The guys mowed while I continued to pull honeysuckle from the front CRP and tag some native plants that I found out along the prairie. My spidey senses were tingling in the front CRP and I knew the direction I was to go, and that I would find something there. I found lots of honeysuckle saplings, but also evidence of creatures. This pile seemed fairly fresh. Coyote?

I also found lots of various fungi and mushrooms! They are some of my favorite to photograph.

I open myself while walking in nature. I try to stay as quiet as possible, so I can hear everything. The birds, the different sounds underfoot, the leaves of the Poplars in the winds (so heavenly!). But I also open myself to the sights! What a glorious place to be in!

I found not only garbage to pick up, and honeysuckle to pull, but also more bones. Specifically, a skull. My clue was the smell of death. Although this was no longer containing anything to give off of that smell, it's nature's way of communicating to me in a way that I will understand that there is something there that I am to find. I may eventually find more! That smell could very well be something that is rotting that I haven't run across yet. Bird species unknown, but it's larger than most I've gathered along the way.

The Hexenknochenjager is alive and well still! Some may see this as creepy, but I see them as gifts!

Once the contractor showed up, it was time to walk the front CRP again. I cannot tell you how many times Woodchuck and I have walked it, marked trees, measured, etc. So many so that we have confused ourselves along the way. The contractor wanted to know if we wanted to remeasure or go off of how we had it? My motto? Always double-check us. And I'm glad that we did because some adjustments were made! I have to be honest that I cannot envision what it will look like once it is thinned out. That's part of the reason that I am not a sculptor or carver. My mind just can't see in dimensions if my eyes can't see it.

I really trust the skills and ideas of this contractor. Not only did he remember specifics from walking the land with hubby months ago, but he could envision how the land would look after taking the trees down. I also like that he was on the same page that I was, that we chip away and see what we think along the way and not just go in and bulldoze it all down. We can always start small and take more down, but once something is gone, it's gone. I don't want to have any regrets with this land and what I do to it.

So originally he thought he would be able to get on it in September or October, but said recently that he might be able to get there sooner. Somehow, even with the setback of the delivery of the tractor for how long, we are managing to stay on track as far as the timeline goes for what we wanted to get done this year. I cannot believe we are nearly into Fall already and once Winter comes, our time at the land will be less. But I have to focus right now so that I don't get overwhelmed. Fall will bring the chance to really hit some of the invasives, so I want to stay steady on the things I am working on leading up to that. 

Like harvesting elderberries for the first time in my life! Had I had the time this last day we were out, I would have grabbed them then because apparently you can ripen them after picking them if they are nearly ripe. The birds can have some too, of course! And I did check the blueberries on this last visit, and they were all gone now. But I found something new that I hadn't seen before right next to them!

I believe this 👆 is a silky dogwood (also goes by others names)! It's funny how all of the things that I thought would be nice to have on a piece of property, I am finding here. A flowering dogwood is on the classified forest that butts up to our land and I was kind of sad about that not being ours. Now I have this! I will need to tag it though so that nobody mistakes them for blueberries. They seem to have fruited immediately after the blueberries, not at the same time, but still, they look too similar to uneducated eyes and being right in the mix of those blueberries might be too confusing for some to know the difference. 

So our lists are made for the next trip out and we are expecting the delivery of a drone in time for that next trip! It's about the only way right now that we can see what is growing on the Watershed Preserve. I just hope I don't tank it down somewhere and have to go out there for it. 😖 This time it will be without our youngest son, as he went back to college this past week. So many mixed emotions for us all, and this land is already working Its magick on him. He loves working it and getting his hands dirty. Only time will tell where our futures will land us, but in my own way I am manifesting all that I can along the way. 💚

Date Day on Das Zem--lots of pictures!

 Woodchuck and I used to have date days where we would literally go out during the day time, then it switched to Friday night date nights, then Covid hit and it all stopped. Now that things are back open (at least for now), we usually don't have the energy or money to follow thru with anything. Some times though we'll make it out for dinner during the week, or use date night to stop at the home improvement and price supplies we need. We have been lucky enough to squeeze a couple of dates in recently though! One evening we headed to the fair to walk around and get dinner. Another night we headed out for a short bicycle ride around town, and the most recent trip to Das Zem was an hours long date!

We planned on leaving the boy at home, since we weren't going to be working on "projects" and just trying to take it slow and focus on each other while on the land. Woodchuck needed to oil the tractor, so while he did that, I continued to work on pulling honeysuckle from the front CRP. I know some of you might think that it's crazy, pulling them instead of using an herbicide but there's a ritual involved here and it doesn't involve poison. A sort of soul practice, caring for the land by literally being hands on and connecting. While I do not care for any land in hopes of being rewarded, Mother Earth always lets me know that she sees what I am doing and appreciates my efforts. While pulling honeysuckle, I found this. 

The jawbone is small, it fits in the palm of my child-size hand, and has yet to be identified. The rock is the FIRST and only rock I have found on Das Zem so far. Although you can't tell from the picture, it seems to have a tad bit of quartz in it. Not only am I a Hexenknockenjager (witch bone hunter), but also a big Steinsammler (rock collector). These items are all saved on the land and will be displayed somehow out there eventually. Let us not forget about the fairy ring that I found while we were trying to figure out the trees that will be taken down to eventually build.

Once hubby was done, we headed out, hand in hand, to the prairie. His one little project was to build a wooden box to cover the pipe on the pitcher pump. So while he worked on that (I had to help out for a couple of minutes), I walked around pulling Queen Anne's Lace/wild carrot from that area. Not only does pulling invasives enable me to learn faster how to identify them, but it also familiarizes me with the land, gets me into spots I normally wouldn't go into, and helps me to find new things. Here is a picture of hubby's finish project.

There were lots of paths into the trees this time around. I am assuming that they are deer trails and I did find a couple of places where they bedded down. I went out past our "Charlie Brown" cedar tree and followed some Queen Anne to a spot I don't recall going to before. It wasn't all that easy to get to, there's always thorns involved out on the land, but I did find another cedar, and was led right to another MFR (multiflora rose). I really felt like I was being guided on this day to find things. 

The multiflora rose has been kicking our ass and scratching up our arms. Some times we don't notice it until it lashes out. The ground is so matted with vegetation in spots that I can't even get my shovel/spade in! I just have to tag things for a later date. But on this day, I was able to find more natives than non-natives, for what I think is the first time ever out there! Please note that many plants go by many names.

Monarchs! I dragged Woodchuck out on the previously mowed trail/ingress/egress with me so I could once again see how it was holding up. Two weeks since mowing and it's doing fine enough to continue holding off mowing again...for now. We once again got into a discussion about him wanting to mowing everything down around pond, which would include all of the milkweed. Some times I just need to walk away and deal with his wants another time and this one of those times. 

We have eggs on the milkweed!

Missing the phalanges that are indicative of MFR, so I might actually have something here that is not a jerk! 

Smooth sumac, which sadly might get mowed down. It's not in a very good spot, and we seem to have a lot of it elsewhere that is in areas we can leave alone.

                                                                        Boneset 👆

                                                                            Speedwell 👆

                                                                        Heal-all 👆

    Ragweed 👆 

                                                                    Beggars lice 👆

                                                                        Seedbox 👆

                                                                White meadowsweet 👆
                                                                            

Some of these were found as we made our way to pick more blueberries. It was finally time to use my new waders that I got second-hand at work. They are a great brand, and insulated, AND they are the bib kind whereas hubby's are just the chap kind. That meant that I could go into deeper waters than he could, which was a silly thought anyway because I am so short. Even with hubby's chaps, he'd be able to go just as deep in the water as I could with bib waders. And then. Then I went to put them on. I was in such a hurry when I grabbed them that I was focused only on if they fit my foot and didn't think to pull them all the way up. To be honest, I thought that they would be baggy and huge on me on the top portion. 

So we're standing by the fishing shack, and I'm putting them on. My feet were so hot and swollen that the boots were a bit tight, but nothing too bad. Then I went to pull them up. Wasn't happening. I checked to make sure that drawstring at the waist was all the way loosened. I couldn't get them up past my thighs! I didn't stop to think that they were designed for stick figure men, straight up and down! I am anything but! I am feet of female curves! I was SO mad at myself!!! A perfectly good pair of waders and I can't use them! I said to hell with it, left them pulled up to my thighs and waddled off towards the blueberries. 

I was pouting, hubby was initially laughing but then told me to stop because I was going to fall and hurt myself. I waddled back to him and he told me to turn around. He proceeded to split by waders down the backside, which made me pout even more! There went a perfectly good pair of waders.....and going in deeper waters. Although that did enable me to be able to pull them all the way up, those things are very constricting and there was a couple of times that I nearly fell and would not have been able to get back up without help. Think about a kid in a puffy snowsuit and that's about how it went.

Anyhoot. Here. Here is my embarrassingly funny picture from the moment. Dammit. <still pouting>

                                                                    

Thar be water on those lands!

 

Another hot and steamy day on Das Zem was planned. We always pack a cooler of water and electrolyte drinks, but I admit that it's hard standing there staring a pond (now a swamp) and not being able to cool off in it on the hot work days. Hubby has been after me for weeks now to decide on a spot for a hand-pump well, but I just couldn't decide because everything is still in its raw form right now. I kind of figured that once we decided on what was going where, it would be easier then to decide where to put the hand-pump. But nope. He was set on getting it done and I needed to make a decision.

He had already bought all of the parts, and upon arriving at Das Zem, he told me to head over to the prairie area and decide where I wanted it. I had already said, "Somewhere near where the outdoor shower will be", but that wasn't decisive enough. So when he got out there, I pointed out some areas, to which he said no to. Anyone else have this happen in their marriage? They ask you a question and then argue with or shoot down your answer. My kids do it as well. If you already knew where you didn't want it, you could have told me that so that I didn't focus on those spots. Anyhoot.

A note here that while they were getting the tractor started and ready, I walked around the front CRP and started pulling out small honeysuckle. SO easy when they are small!!! I had an arm full in no time! I asked a nearby white pine to please hold them for me, because I didn't want to forget any on the ground where they can re-root. Once the guys were ready to move, I black bagged the honeysuckle and headed for the prairie.

He ended up putting it where I first suggested, stating that it can always be moved later on down the road. Sigh. Let the post hole digging begin!

Now it's important here to talk about using the right tool for the job. And about how hubby has at least two or three of every tool, yet showed up today without one really important one to get the job done. A sledgehammer. Hell, I'd even say anything big that can hammer! Now, in his favor, he did remember to bring the t-post setter, which was also going to be very important, but the pipe cap was too big to use that initially, so that is where the sledgehammer was coming into the scene.

So they did what they did to try and make it work. Let's use the back side of a really big ax! You know, the flat side! And then crack!

D'OH! So a trip to the next town over, on an empty tank of gas (was planning on filling up on the way home) to get a sledgehammer, only to have Woodchuck remember half way there that he probably won't need it. Why won't he need it now when he needed it before? I wondered the same thing. When the cap broke, the threads on the pipe also were destroyed with all of the hammering, so that pipe was now trash and apparently was never going to stay anyway, it was just being used as a setter. So the pipes that mattered were still good and the t-post setter was going to work for them.

Well alrighty then. He made the trip back to the store this week to return the sledgehammer he didn't use. 

And soon we struck water! Please be advised that this will not be drinking water. Oh no. This water will be for rinsing off hands, cooling heads off, maybe cleaning a spot off of the tractor. And this is most likely temporary, since we have no other water source out there at the time. It took a lot of pumping to try and get the water clear.

                                                      And there it was in all of its glory!

While the guys cleaned up their things, I went in search of some blueberries. I had nearly given up hope, but then!!!!! The teeniest tiniest of the plants was the first to alert me!

There is only one access point right now to the blueberry bushes, and it's still not an easy way to get to them. As far as we know, there are supposed to be around 8 bushes (as shown on an Google Earth map we were given), but we don't think that is a very recent map, because even the shape of the pond is different than what is pictured on it. We do know that because the pond is overflowing or leaking in some areas, at least one bush is now in the water. I think every time I go out there that I am going push through and figure it all out, but nope. I even bought waders from my workplace, and took them with me, and then told myself I wasn't going to need them.

Wrong answer.

I took some supplies to go pick blueberries, while checking out the plants along the way. I knew Woodchuck was going to be close behind me with a machete to clear some plants and I wanted to know what all was out there. There has been one plant out there that I have been waiting and waiting to identify. I drove hubby crazy by telling him to go around them and not whack them down until I can identify them. Turns out they could go, so that will be on my list next time we head out there. Some sort of agrimony that has taken over! BUT, I also managed to save these Spotted Touch-me-nots from the wrath of the muscle man!

                                                               Yes, of course I touched them!

I was in heaven, a very hot and humid heaven, but heaven nonetheless. A green heron took flight from the swampy pond (we wonder if it's eating the frogs?), so many butterflies to see, and birds to hear. I was dripping sweat, it was hard to breathe most of the time because when you get plants that thick and in wet areas, they hold the humidity! But I didn't care. I couldn't believe this was all mine to enjoy! 

And then hubby shows up, overheated, practically panting, whipping my work cart around, etc. Not only was I worried for his wellbeing, but he was ruining my Zen moment connecting with the land. He left and went to find some shade in the forest while I continued to pick. I managed 10 ounces before I realized that I would indeed need my waders.

And those blueberry bushes are tall! About 6 to 7 feet, at least! We don't know a damn thing about caring for blueberry bushes, so that's something we need to research. Have they gotten this big because they were supposed to have been trimmed over the years? Most likely. As mentioned before in posts, we don't think anything has been done on the land for at least 10 years. Adding that to the list!

We are thinking that the next day we go out there, it will be a bit more of a laid back day. I need to pull some plants, hubby thinks the tractor needs to be oiled and fluids checked, and we have some blueberries to pick! What am I doing with them? Well, for now I rinse them and take a sheet tray lined with a thin towel, spread the blueberries out in one layer and flash freeze them. Maybe this Fall I will make a blueberry pie or cobbler from them! Of course we each tested one while picking, and yep, they were fabulous! Of course, we will leave a good amount for the birds, deer, etc. Speaking of wildlife!

On the main path, we noticed that something has finally taken interest in the deer carcass we pulled out of the ditch months ago. It had it spread along the path for a few feet, deer hair pulled out, bones here and there. It was worth all of the effort to get that very water-logged deer out of a very steep ditch! 💚

                                                           Stay tuned for more adventures!