Tree planting adventure

I may be a self proclaimed Mad Art Teacher, but when it comes to trees in the spring, there is someone in the house who is way more mad!!  We have hundreds and hundreds of little trees planted all over the place here, at various stages of growth.  But they all start out like this.

Bucket o' trees

Off we go to the way back field (as opposed to the field and the back field, well I think I have discussed THIS before!) to plant these babies.  There are a lot more of them in the garage, so we just sort of got a start on it.

Digging holes

Here is the Mad Accountant making his rows of trees.  This kind of cracks me up, as he leaves so little space in between these white pines, we all know they are going to be pretty crowded in 20 years.  But oh well, I'll lend a hand. 

Newly planted seedlings

There are no holes dug for this style of planting- just 2 slices into the ground, like a capital T, lift a bit, drop in the seedling and then step on the dirt around.  Pretty efficient method of planting little trees, I'd say.  We are kind of in the process of reforesting the way back field, as the only way to access it with hay balers and tractors is on the Tuscobia, and using it is sort of frowned on these days.  

Trees in the front yard

This is what tree planter's first crop looks like almost 30 years later, planted in our front yard.  It is amazing how much they grow in a relatively short time.

Swamp full of water

Of course I was unable to stick totally to task- I found a few photos to take on the walk home.  Here is the water in one of the swamps, it was so pretty.  The moss is just so vibrantly green, the browns are getting lively and reddish, the water was very fresh yet from all the rain and snow.  Lovely.

Running water with moss

A little area of flowing water on the walk home.  The swamps have been pretty dry the last several years.  This makes me afraid of the mosquito season we may have!  

Little cabin in the woods, south side

We passed by the little cabin in the woods, only a few weeks and this view will not be visible for the leaves on the trees!  I am in anxious anticipation for THAT event!

House with sunset

Here is a glorious sight- the sun!  This was a great way to end the day.  The Mad Accountant finished his day by raking, a spring ritual.  Lawn mowing can't be too far behind!

Raking

I finished my little walk and tree adventure by visiting the fair Lola.  She is pretty happy about the drier and warmer weather.  The daffodils near Lola are ALMOST ready to bloom, maybe tomorrow!  I know there is a cool photograph awaiting when that happens!

Tete a Tete daffodils

Lola in profile

Spring is winning, you guys!  We can make it through these last few gasps of winter, we will have T-shirt weather, I'm sure of it!

With that in mind, until next time- be a joy giver.  Spread the news that spring is winning.  My friend Jane told me that it's so!  :)

It was a nice weekend, in spite of the weather!

So, my company made it up here this weekend, and we had a great time!  It was a relaxing couple days, where we did not have any commitments or anything!  

Tax season came to a prolonged end, with the Mad-Accountant working most of the weekend to get those last few clients finished, so Jon and Sarah and I had a lot of time to kick around.  So we made the best of it......we went for a walk in the woods!  

Now one week ago, there was much more snow on the ground than this past weekend, but a lot of melting has occurred.  We were able to easily walk on the woods road and go on a mini adventure back to the cabin......  the secondary purpose was to go fetch a deer stand from it's tree.  Sounds much easier than  it was!

But first along the way, we found a culvert that was a little plugged up and a backed up creek!

Oldest son playing in the water (again)

Then we stopped by the little cabin in the woods, and Sarah made a (fake) attempt to chop wood on the porch.  Jon, helpfully, was standing by supervising.  (Also fake)

She had a little hop in her chop!

Hope they plan to use their hand tools for good!

During our little adventure, Jon was supposed to take down his tree stand so he can move it to a spot where he might actually be able to shoot a deer!  (HAHAHAHA)  Sorry, Jon, it had to be said. Removing the stand was not an easy task.  Let's say we had to go get some equipment to cut the straps to get the thing out of the tree.  The hammer pictured above almost got lost when "a burst of energy" occurred and his hammer flew across the forest. The hammer was eventually located and the stand removed from the tree, with only one minor injury.

Jon was attacked by a stick.

So, the rest of the weekend involved eating and talking and early Easter baskets and many visits from #3 son, who knows when good food will be served!  After the travelers left, the Mad Accountant and I were left to our own devices, so we went for a hike to the way-back field.

We have our house that is surrounded by the woods and a field, and behind that is a back field.  Then back in the woods is the way-back field.  Does that make sense?  It is all connected with our woods road, so that Ms Directionally Challenged won't actually get lost in the woods, or any of the fields!  Then if you know the way, there are a few secret spots that have farm equipment that is almost hidden from view, and other lovely things like that.

We first made a stop at the little cabin in the woods.  We inspected the inside, saw that it was 10 degrees warmer inside than outside (fancy thermometer) and then continued on our way.

This will be much more attractive with leaves on the trees

The Mad couple in front of little cabin.

As we traveled on the woods road, I pointed out the ultra cool moss stuff that I had discovered the day before,

and discovered an interesting icicle phenomena next to the stone bridge crossing the creek.

We had also discovered this oddity on a tree on Saturday and we further inspected it on Sunday evening.  Not sure what did this to the tree- maybe a porcupine?  It is unusual bark damage.

Not sure what did this!

We continued on to the way-back field where we walked into the pine plantation.  The path here is from where the trees that make up the little cabin in the woods came.  We walked through the plantation and  I subsequently photographed a new planting of trees, in my attempt to play the game "stump the offspring". This is how I get my jollies, by posting obscure photos of our land on facebook and the children try to guess where it was taken.  

Pine plantation path

You can see the forest AND the trees!

Plantation in the making

We then went further to a secret spot where we had discovered a hay rake on the edge of the woods many years ago.  The rake has 3 trees growing through it, and in fact was somewhat hard to find.  The brush has really grown up around it, and the trees are getting pretty big.

Hay rake and tree still-life

Hiding in plain sight

After the adventure to the way-back field and the woods, we walked back on the old railroad right of way- also known as the snowmobile trail.  We saw where the beavers had dammed up the creek, and the  dam has been since blown up.  The wetland around the creek has been altered somewhat, trees don't live well when their bottom 2 feet are covered in water for a year and a half.  Glad the beaver dam is gone!

Creek and wetlands

As we were walking I had a sharp eye out for railroad spikes from the right of way.  I was assured that most of them were now gone- you know of course I found some- 3 in fact!  Score!  I am making a sort of mini spike fence that I will photograph sometime soon- like when it stops freaking SNOWING!

So we got back from our 2 hour excursion by walking up the road from the Tuscobia, and ended up in the little stand of big white pines that are next to the road in our yard.  There (with sort of a little light shining on it- probably some angel chorus singing) was a deer shed!  Now as you can imagine, the Mad husband (tax season is now done, back to husband) is ALWAYS looking for deer sheds.  I, on the other hand, am not!  I have never even seen one "in the wild" before the boys of the family proudly bring one home and deposit it on my doorstep.  (Sort of reminds me of how the cats leave their gifts of dead squirrels or moles near the door).  But there it was, just waiting to be discovered.  I win!  HAHAHAHA! Of course I gave the stupid thing to the MH.  What the heck am I going to do with it, unless I sink it into cement and decorate it with broken glass- hmmm.  I wonder if Lola would like a pet.  I'll have to ask her.

Look what I found!!

Like I said, it was a good weekend.  Until next time, be a joy giver, and try not to gloat!  :)