Life in the Forest

 As Woodchuck and I tried desperately to get the girdling done in the forest, of course our chainsaw stopped working. We had only used it a handful of times and something went wrong with the safety and trigger bumping up against each other and not releasing. So we headed into the forest and finished de-limbing the pine trees that we would be girdling. It is our goal to eventually delimb all pines up to head height to make it easier to walk in there. Each time we got for a walk we are getting bitch slapped and our hats knocked off by the limbs. We were really surprised how much space it opens up to remove them! An added benefit of delimbing that high up? Spiders will make their webs above your head instead of at face height, and yes, I know this because I have walked face first into webs with the spiders still on them! EEK 👀

I was really proud of Woodchuck for finding this fungus on a tree and the underside reminded us of a cave with stalactites! The fungus looked to be catching the rain water and moisture, filtering it through its gills, and then dripping it down the tree and on to the ground. Fascinating shit right there!!!

We tried really hard not to disturb the creatures of the forest, but there's always at least one that we run across.

As we neared the edge of the forest, and the property line, we saw how much bigger the pines were getting that were growing right in the middle of a walkway, and knew we needed to take care of them. Some we transplanted to another area of the land, we offered for sale super cheap and had no takers, and these are getting bigger faster than we can think of places to move them to. Woodchuck made the plan to come back on another day and mow them down.

                            We were both excited to find palm-sized puffballs in the forest! 

And I squealed with delight at this gift, sitting right in the middle of a row we were walking down. Luckily he didn't step on it and crush it, since he was ahead of me. While I hate to see my friends lose their life, I know it's all part of the greater picture, and I will honor them.

PSA: don't buy balloons! They are trash, they are a waste of money, they are damaging to eco-systems. Once again I found balloon garbage inside of my forest 😡This is the string that is still attached to a deflated balloon. #balloonsblow

It was time to head out of the forest, walk and rest. I found this dried fungi that I put into my pocket and carried along with us. It reminds me of a sand dollar. I have sooooo many ideas for art that I have to push them all away or I'll get overwhelmed. One day soon I'll pick it all back up again and it will be better than ever and worth the wait!

We sat on one of the benches that Woodchuck built and just melted into the scenery. 😍

Very soon it will be time to move forward with fixing this pond, though with the drought, it continues to dry up more and more. With the exposed shoreline, it would be the perfect time to get some stone on the edges! I've already agreed to use the money from my tips and paychecks for this project, and he has agreed to not spend any more money on stocking it until we can get certain things under control. I would still like to try the barley straw to help clean up the algae situation and then get an aerator or fountain right at the beginning of the Spring season. Stay tuned to see how this project progresses!

 

A rare day of water

 We recently made a trip to the NRCS/USDA office that portions of our land are under contract with, to hand in receipts to request a profit sharing reimbursement for supplies we bought for the back CRP girdling project (that had to have been a run-on sentence, because even typing that I was running out of breath as if I had said it aloud, lol). We made this trip no more than a week before the end of September, with only one more day in September that we would make it to the land, and they requested for us to get the girdling done by the end of September if we could. So we left their office and made our planned trip to the forest to finish the project!

We were even more prepared this time with mosquito netting we could wear over our heads, an ax, and the new electric chainsaw that we bought late last year for this very project. We were reaching the end of the end of the work, or at least this stage of it, and looking forward to marking this project done! ✔  This tree was girdled at the beginning of the project. 👇

It was a misty day, with no rainfall to really tally up, but it was enough to get everything drippy. We decided to take a walk since we couldn't do anymore work at this time. We always talk about how we enjoy seeing the land in the different seasons, and how each year we find something we've never seen before out there! We can also see a difference in the land after each effort we make, one of them being more Brownstem Speenwort  (Asplenium Platyneuron) (a kind of fern) coming up in the forests. 

There's a lot of baby pines trying to come up too, which will be something that I will keep an eye on so that we aren't in the position again of hardwoods getting out-competed. I never realized how much of a balancing act it can be to have a healthy forest, though because they had been let go for so long, maybe once they are healthy they will be better able to take care of themselves. 

As Fall is setting in more each day, I'm always in awe of the colors, but also on how fast trees can lose their leaves. I love long-term colors, but it always seems that just as the leaves are turning and becoming more "fragile" at the end of the stems, we will get a day of strong winds that knocks them all down. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for the sound of walking in the dry leaves, but I love the sound of them blowing on the tree just as well! 

We are also at the time of year when the honeysuckles are getting their berries and I have it on my radar to get the berries off of them and into back bags so they don't fall to the ground. I'm hoping to have that done within the next week or so. Then once I know the berries aren't going to be an issue, I'll cut and treat the plant itself. This particular one is an Amur Honeysuckle.

I also wanted to share what happens when you cut something and don't treat it. Woodchuck and I had a conversation about clearing out around the side of the shipping container, and even though the information was repeated several times, he still did what only he wanted to do: which was mowing it down and driving away. No treatment. And the majority of those sprouts are bittersweet trying to come back up again, because the root system is still alive and well, and the seed bank too.

As hard as it can be at times (less so now that I am more accepting of it and less judgmental of myself and my experiences in life) to be so in-tune and tapped in to the nature around me, I love being able to find the beauty in all of it. So many things that so many people would not notice, and even now Woodchuck is starting to realize all that I see and he tells me that he never would have noticed on his own. Take, for instance, this wet and sleeping bumble bee on some golden rod. It's things like this that make my heart melt, that feed the wonder I have for the natural world around me, and have a greater appreciation for ALL of its inhabitants. 

We were able to walk across the back ditch now instead of haphazardly stumbling across slick logs. Even the deer have utilized it, and maybe this is their approval stamp? 😂💩𐂂

We entered the world of the Watershed Preserve, all ethereal and full of magick. This Dogbane stood out with its colors so vibrant, even Woodchuck could see it. And that's saying something!

I've always been fascinated with water drops on plants. There is such life, yet gentleness, in each.

And I really need to get the right kind of boots for this kind of weather...................

But this kind of weather feeds and refreshes, just as the sunny, warm weather does. The cycles and weather patterns are so important to all.

And my love for Mother E and all that I try to do to help her is always paid back me to ten-fold. On this day, there was just a little extra. Those teeny tiny vertebrae? SWOON 😍 I am rich with these treasures as the Knochenhexe (bone witch) comes alive again )O(

Summer bows out

 As Fall beings to settle in, we are finding ourselves at the land more consistently now. One day a week, and some times only half a day by the time we get out there, isn't really enough, but we are grateful for the chance to keep chipping away at things and to keep seeing things in the different seasons.

A recent walk over the by the blueberry bushes revealed this striking knotweed! I love the color 😍

For the first time, I harvested turkey tail mushrooms! I made sure to have the i.d. doublechecked by a certified mushroom expert before I took the chance of grabbing a look-alike! I thought that maybe they were too old, but he said they were perfect for picking.

It was time to start hitting the phragmite now that the water level is low enough for me to get to more of it! With the pallets that Woodchuck laid out for me to prevent me from sinking in the mud, I was able to get quite a bit done! This is what they look like when cut and you can also see that the water level is so low, the roots are exposed! But there's much more to them underground. 👇

My method is to inject glyphosate into the cut, making sure to puncture through the hard membrane first that is similar to bone marrow. 👇

                   I also noticed the "buds" this year! This is the start of a new phragmite. 👇

It's always my goal to finish an entire project, but my legs and hips were hurting from up and down and squats and back and forth. This is a lot for one person to wipe out in one day, but I'm happy that I got to even more this year than last! I'll have to keep an eye on the ones left so I can cut off seed heads. 👇

Once we were done working on our own projects, we met back up for a walk and to continue dreaming of what the land will look like once we have it under control and in maintenance mode, and once we are living there. I spied this walking stick on a bramble 😍👇

Back at home, there is just as much beauty to be found! Butterflies abound and I always wish them safe travels. 

After having just watched a video on infusing shea butter with jasmine flowers, I found Confederate Jasmine at two homes in the current town we live in! I love the smell of Jasmine, but I don't intend on the making the infused shea butter. 👇💮

We were able to open the windows for a couple of days, but even with lower temps, the humidity has been too high to keep the air shut off. Pierogi enjoyed a good whiff of fresh air and hearing the animals that she only gets to see through closed windows. 👇🐱

It was also time to clear out my car of the nature trinkets I've gathered along the way! Woodchuck nearly smashed all of the insects 😟👇

It struck me one day while I was working in the woods, just how lucky we are. Not just Woodchuck and I, but "us" as humans. To be here, to borrow this beautiful Earth and nurture it. As the trees dropped their leaves around us, I realized just how special it was to be let into that "other world" that goes on without us, but to witness it changes something for the good inside of us. To bear witness the trees vulnerability, the shedding of the old, and to have their company reverses so many bad emotions within me. I truly am a lucky girl to keep stepping into their world and to hopefully do some good for them. 💖 Now to share some of them with you.... 

                                                            A VERY big grass spider 🕷👇

                                                                    A snail 🐌👇

Some friends enjoying the goldenrod (speaking of! I saw a video on how to make a decorative wall hanging broom from goldenrod that you hang outside on your porch. Notes taken!) 

We have this beautiful Shiny Sumac around the prairie and while everything else turns yellow, this goes through stages of red, as shown over the next three (3) pictures! 

                                            Great Spangled Fritillary enjoying some thistle!  

I am calling this the disco spider, but I believe this might be a very small Nursery Web Spider?

Once our walk was done, Woodchuck had a little work to do at the barn while I had to keep watch on the burn pile. It was our last chance to burn before a ban went into place. Once I put the ashes out, I was able to go see the damaged part on the barn that he had removed. It was very......mangled and dented.😐

We spent as much time outside on this particular weekend as we could! The Full Moon with Lunar Eclipse was a show that didn't disappoint!

And the next day was beautiful and sunny! I used that time to harvest more marigold seeds (and seriously, I need to stop because I have more than enough to last me YEARS now!)

We already have our list of things to work on on the next trip out! We will be dreaming of the land, the trees, and the animals in the meantime. 💤💭💚