Working in the Woodlot

The ERJ compound includes the old home site.  The old house burned down about fifty years ago when the fire ate through the grout in the chimney and caught the frame on fire.  The "new" house is located about 150 feet east-southeast of the old house.

After the fire, the home's owners converted the old home site to pasture.  We let that lapse shortly after we moved here.  We grazed the area with sheep for a few years but there was just not very much forage available there.  It only amounts to about  a half acre.  Black Walnut and Box Elder self seeded in the area.

Today was a great day to be working in the woodlot.  The sun was shining, there was no wind and the temps were in the mid-20s.

Leaners

Doubles.  As you can see there is some slope to this bit of heaven.

I almost left this one because it was leaning to the right, but then I saw it from the other side and it had changed its mind.  A windbreak of White Pine on the right side of the photo in the background.

This is what it looks like afterward.  Box Elder and Black Walnut with no "up-side" removed.  Trees are on about 15' centers and have about 20' of straight, clear stem.  That pencils out to about 200 stems per acre.  Most of the stems are about 6" in diameter.  They should show a burst of growth now that they have been "released".

A graft from last year.  This one is about 8' from the ground.

The next challenge will to be figuring out how to get 25' up in these trees so I can graft on some improved nut producting cultivars.  For the other nut growing geeks out there, I will be grafting Davidson (scion wood from Nebraska) and Sparrow (home grown scion wood).

I will be dragging the poles out after the snow melts.