Relative Something

It is now October and our closing date is just over 2-weeks away. Something tells me the days will pass very quickly. Yikes!

And, yahoo!

We stopped by the property twice over the weekend, on our way to, and from, the lake. That really revved up our excitement another notch, if that is even possible. Sunday, we met my sister, Judy, and her husband, Scott, in Ellsworth, to give them an opportunity to visit our land before they head back to Arizona for the winter.

Each time I walk the property, something new is revealed. It became obvious that we will need to do some serious exterminating. There are a lot of mounds of dirt piled up from gophers. On the bright side, I probably don’t need to worry about aerating my lawn.

I did discover a bit of the invasive species, Common Buckthorn, growing in our woods. Looks like a small enough percentage that I can handily dispatch and control it myself.

There are plenty of trees to be found with cross-branch rubbing, and a few broken limbs that haven’t fully detached. I will have no shortage of chances to play lumberjack in my new woods.

We came upon a significant pile of branches and other natural rubbish, and even some inorganic trash, tucked away in the woods. Maybe I can make that into a bonfire in the middle of winter. I don’t even want to whisper the word, ‘fire’ right now, with the extremely dry conditions we are experiencing.

One drawback of our dream property is the lack of any surface water in the vicinity. No lakes or significant rivers, on or near our borders. There are a fair number of small rivers and streams in the county, but I’m not clear yet, about what the closest river is, with enough water to flow year-round.

Back on the subject of the woods, of the many utilitarian devices we will be needing to purchase, a light and reliable chainsaw is very high on my list. On my old corner suburban lot, I got by using hand-saws for the moderate chores, and hired a tree company (which provided my very own certified arborist) to prune or take down the few large trees that needed attention. I suppose I could check and see if they do any work that far out of the metro area, but I expect the expense would be rather extreme.

I sure would love to have my arborist give an analysis of my new woods. I cherished the map they provided of my suburban lot, showing the location of all the primary trees, each one numbered and identified by species. I can’t imagine how such a thing would be accomplished on our new property, although, I’m sure there is a way to do it. Certainly lumber companies know the inventory of what is growing on their acreage.

The new property starts with a few cottonwoods down by the road, then a variety of evergreens that the current owners have planted in the 11-years they’ve been there. There are a couple of fair-sized willows, a good number of poplars, some big oaks and maples. I’m not so quick on identifying elms or ash, but I wouldn’t be surprised to discover those, as well. Those two have been hit pretty hard by disease or pests in the region, so might be scarce.

I may be inclined to add some cedar, and will look into whether birch will work or not. I can dream. It will be a trick to manage it all while needing to commute to the day-job, so tending to the forest will likely be a weekend hobby for quite some time.

Here’s hoping the current drought goes gentle on our little forest, so I have something worth managing in the years to come.