Witness

 With many short trips to the land available to us, we were able to knock out a lot of the smaller projects! The cracked collar of the open/close handle on the water pump was removed and a new regular collar was threaded on. Funny when how when you do these little things, they can feel so massive.

The rising water temps are bringing back a lot of the aquatic plants. This is one of the areas that I really am not knowledgeable in. We've looked up online, through books, and pond/fish hatchery magazines, and I am not confident in my identifying capabilities. If I had to guess, I would guess that this plant is an invasive, just based on the health of the pond to date. However, there are TONS of tadpoles in the pond, hiding in this plant, and the fish are jumping, so those are good signs. Just one more thing to add to the list to research! Amazing that you have to know about so many different things in such a natural setting as this land!

We also made it out on the watershed to cut down the Callery Pear (also known at a Bradford Pear). While work on the watershed is not permitted from April 1 to August 1, we were only taking down one tiny little whip of a tree, but it was already in bloom (which is how I recognized it). I cannot, in good conscious, leave it out there until August 1 and take the chance of it spreading even more. There is already one good sized one on my neighbors property adjacent to my watershed, so I will always have to be vigilant even more so in looking for them and removing them from my land. While yes, they are lovely to look at, they are a horrendous threat to our native eco-system (Northwest Indiana) and there are so many other native options that bloom white blossoms, if that is what you are looking for. These don't even smell good! They literally smell like rotting fish. Even this small whip of a tree, that was maybe 7 foot tall at the most, and literally just a whip in girth, already had so many blossoms and they smelled so bad! Unfortunately, this is a go-to tree for many landscapers! Take a look at business complexes, apartments, and neighborhoods at this time of year and you will see a lot of these. It's important to know too about the trees you are buying from local nurseries and landscape businesses. One organization that I follow that is tied to a University, is having a fruit tree sale. That's all the post says. Dozens of various kinds of fruit trees, but they don't identity the species of tree. Just "pear". Sadly, right now I can look along roadsides, out in fields, and into forests, and these have moved into them and there is nobody taking them out, just like the various forms of honeysuckle and the Autumn Olive. Can you even imagine what these natural and wild spaces would like with all of the invasives removed? 😍 

I found handfuls of opened Oothecas! Did you know that there lots of wildlife that will eat these?! Birds, rodents, ants, chickens, etc. will open them up and eat! Some of these don't necessarily look to have been eaten as much as just broken open. I am honestly surprised at how many I have found on the walking path because I tried finding oothecas out there and only found a couple. Whatever found all of these was a really good hunter AND since these are the invasive Chinese Mantis ootheca, they helped from growing the population. These mantis can kill our smaller native species of carolina mantis, as well as hummingbirds.

Our Earth Day at the land picking up garbage from the front and flagging the Arborvitae we planted up there. I wanted to flag it with a biodegradable, eco-tape, but Woodchuck couldn't see the color well (he's color blind and has macular degeneration in one eye), so we went to Menards and had him pick the color he could see well. I also found a really cool looking hole, that I suspected is from a spider, but I didn't know what kind! I love how they built walls up around the rim! 😎

On walk around we can see that the pipe in the back ditch has sprung another leak and we are no closer to getting this situation rectified. Is the muck on that ditch from the vegetation, or is it being facilitated by what is draining into the ditch? I need to order more Barley Straw Extract this week.

The wild strawberry plants are all over, though I've yet to see them fruit. And I found what I think might be a Serviceberry on the watershed! How did I see this Haploa Caterpillar is beyond me, but I am glad to have seen it! Being witness to the lives of so many things is such an honor 💚

On our latest trip to the land, it was on a warm and sunny day with big, puffy clouds coming in towards the evening. All creatures and plants were coming alive, reaching for the warmth of the sun! Jewelweed sprouts 

A volunteer elderberry (one of many that I am finding sprinkled around the pond) 

I spied this wolf spider right after finding a baby snake (who was much too fast for me to get a picture of, lol!)

Even just seeing this photograph, I can feel the warmth on my face and feel my soul relax.

When we were flagging the serviceberry and elderberry trees, we came across this Chorus frog! The elderberry are starting to leaf out!

I am still trying to identify this tree on the watershed, and will continue to watch it. 👇

And of course, I will always continue to watch the clouds and the sun. What wonderous things they are!

I just never understood why people consider dandelions a weed? I loved them even as a child, and still leave them as long as possible to this day for the pollinators. Unfortunately, I didn't see a lot of those this early Spring.

I checked out what is potentially a chokecherry tree, and saw the male goose floating on the serene pond! Although I haven't gotten a picture yet, the black cherry trees in the front CRP that have been opened up to sunlight, are really leafing out!

It feels like such a struggle to find the time and energy right now to get here as often as we need to. I know I have probably said that numerous times, lol. It will be such a game changer when we can be there full time and just walk out the door into all of this 💚

Not 1, not 10, but 40

 The day was looming ever closer for tree pick up day and we would head to the land nearly every day after Woodchuck got home from work so we could work a couple of hours to prepare. Taking a break from clearing brush, we made cages to protect the whips. I still need to attach fluorescent survey tape on them to keep him from mowing things down (making note to self right now). Finishing up a roll of wire chicken fencing that he had for years, we broke open the brand new roll that I bought from the resale shop a couple of years ago. Shorter than the original, but still useful. His welding table also came in handy for working on (he bought that from a local auction house). 👇

We figured out how we wanted to make the cages, and what size round (though we didn't have the trees at this point yet, we knew they would be bareroot and essentially just twigs). 👇

We bought 40 trees total, and came up with 39 cages. Do we potentially sacrifice one tree, leaving it unprotected and as an offering to the wildlife? Do we try to come up with a makeshift something or other? We seem pretty good at that. We will find out soon that we didn't even need this many cages...👇

We go out on walks before heading home, again taking inventory of what needs to be done and the order we will tackle it all. I found a new plant on the land to remove, with a patch of it in the forest, yellow rocket (also known by other names). I've only worked in the forest one day so far, and have a couple of more projects that I need to help Woodchuck with before I can back in there. So garlic mustard is the main focus to remove from the forest, now with the yellow rocket along the way. 👇

How did I miss these bones? or did I not miss them and forgot about them?! Woodchuck wouldn't let me take them, stating that I have enough already. I mean, I do, but DO I?! 👇

Edible plants are all over at this time of year, but I haven't been harvesting them. Hairy bittercress on the watershed. 👇

On another trip back, we needed to keep chipping away at the edges of the back ditch where we would be planting the trees. Here are pictures of progress, but before it was finished. Even this is leaps and bounds better than when we first bought the land. 👇

By this point, I've picked up the trees and have about a week before we absolutely have to plant them, keeping the roots damp until then. They also told us to just put them in a hole in the ground until planting, because the faster they come into contact with soil, the better they will do. 👇

I had gotten some new rubber car mats for my car and decided to recycle the old small ones to line my work cart with. We would be using this cart to bring the cages out when planting, and things are always falling through, getting caught, and leaking. It worked out really well! 👇

We were in our final day to prep the area for planting and needed to haul away the debris. Instead of using the bucket like we had been, Woodchuck opted to put the forks back on the tractor so he could just get under a pile and lift them.  👇

He didn't see my hand signals that he was too low and dug trenches on the first try. Oops. 👇

He also said it was time to take off the box blade and put on the brush hog. The brush hog is a pain in the whole body to get on!!! He says he's going to make a tool one of these years to make it easier. 👇

After taking the chainsaw to lower stumps even farther, and cutting and treating the leftover the honeysuckle and autumn olive, he mowed the remaining brush down. Before. 👇

    

                                                                        After.....👇

And planting day arrived! Our schedules are so full right now, even on his day off, that we divided planting day into two days. One for the service berry and elderberry in the back and one for the arborvitae in the front. We laid the measuring tape down and dropped a tree every 20 feet to see what it looked like and how many trees we had left. Once that was determined, we filled in. 👇

We have such beautiful soil out here!!! So deep, rich, and black ❤ 👇

We also cut willow branches and used those to stake the cages to prevent them from blowing away. It was not done in the way that I thought it should be, but we went with Woodchucks idea and will see how they hold up! 👇

Alternated 20 trees, 10 of each kind. This is looking East. The pink survey tape is native rose bushes that I am trying to keep from being mowed or cut down. 👇

Looking West, These are native plants that will provide a food source for the birds (and us, if we so choose) and I am hoping that the roots will help keep the bank from slumping any farther. If not, we will need to think about shoring up the edges.

The next day, we went out and did the same process for the Arborvitae, minus the cages because the cages were too tight for them already. 👇

We learned very quickly that all 20 trees were not going to fit up here because we had not been able to clear out space. So we staggered them, fit 16, and put the other four in what might be a temporary spot elsewhere on the land. We also learned, while trying to get water for the trees, that the shut off valve collar has a large crack in it. 😒Needs to be fixed, replaced, removed, whatever. No water today! 👇

Some days we had warmth and sun to work in, other days we had clouds, winds, and cold. I'm not ready for hot, but I am ready to not be cold anymore. This was my favorite view of the day. 👇

20 Arborvitae in the ground! We can re-assess next year, though that should be the year of breaking ground to build and I don't know what all else we will be able to focus on while also staying out of the way and also not planting anything anywhere where it will get damaged. 👇

On our trips back and forth to the land, Woodchuck sees this Chevy truck for sale. We stopped and got the number for him to call. He's looking for something cheap (but reliable), a Chevy, that he can use for material hauls instead of my car. It was VERY rusty, missing parts, etc. and ended up finding out that they were asking WAY more than he wanted to pay. Did I mention that it doesn't run either? He seems to think that it would be nice to have a retirement project because I guess 15+ acres to care for, and finally saying that he will be doing markets with me, he wants us to travel, etc., are not enough to keep him busy while also FINALLY getting some rest. Dude is working 6 days a week and we work the land on his day off. But the project won't be this truck. 👇

In between all of the land work, Woodchuck ran across an SD card reader that he bought so that I don't have to keep bringing the cards back home to read, or take my laptop out there. I tested it out at home first and love it! One of our next few trips out there will be to put up more trail cams too. 👇

I also finally, FINALLY found a pair of work boots to wear out there to work in. I had had my previous pair for years but the material cracked and let in water, so I broke out the new pair that I got from a resale shop (they were literally brand new) and from a well known brand. I was saving them to wear once we moved out there, but I needed them now. They barely lasted me 6 months before the entire sole started separating from the boot. I feel like this brand is overpriced, and overinflates its products, for the value that you get. So I went back to my trusty Sierra.com and found the perfect pair (Timberland)! I would not normally get something so light colored, because they will be stained the first wear out there, but they hit all of the markers I needed, and they are SO warm and comfortable. I wore them on a nature walk with my oldest son last weekend and had no issues with them at all. I also got a two-pack of wool blend socks from the same place and they were so soft and warm (Eddie Bauer). 👇

And last but not least, in between it all, we took our youngest son back to Loyola for a final check-up. This one was for his injured carotid artery in his neck. I vowed to myself to not let the anxiety get to me this time, and I felt great the whole time, and I had a feeling that my son would be okay. We rented a car and picked it up first thing in the morning, leaving my car in a grocery store parking lot across town from the car rental place but near the highway we needed to take coming and going from home base, and then heading to Illinois. The car was absolutely beautiful inside and out and drove so smoothly (a Hyundai Elantra), the drive was event-free (I took the money from the rummage sale and all local sales that I've made so that I could cover tolls and lunch), and we arrived to the facility close to an hour early. They got us right in. Unfortunately, there was a discrepancy in the time frame we were told he wasn't supposed to eat solids that morning and that, along with him not knowing what to expect and getting on Google, led him to nearly throwing up beforehand, but succeeding in passing out after the dye injection.

Once they got the Radiology done on the main floor, we went up to the fourth floor to see the doctor. Again, we were early and again they got us right in! Here in Indiana, we wait no less than hour and a half to see a specialist, who then sometimes turns out to be his assistant once you get into the patient room. He nearly passed out again while waiting for the doctor, but held in there (we were going to stop at the food court downstairs for food when the appointment was done). The doctor was very nice, positive, and upbeat and it turns out...that my sons artery healed on its own. Granted, it was a stage 1 injury, which is the least severe, but I am so grateful!!! They were able also to catch his brain in the imaging where the brain bleed was and there is just a bit of old blood there, nothing active or new. So our prayers had been answered. And what we thought was going to be a long day with a lot of stress, turned out to be a quick day with no stress at all. We can now all move on to the next stage in his recovery, which is getting him back to work next week, and I am grateful for every day with him. Picture is of the Chicago Skyline. 👇