Every woodlot needs a place to stay

It has been a while since I posted anything because I have not had a chance to go out to the property. One of those reasons is the lack of shelter for the rest of the family or for spending the night. We tossed around the ideas of constructing a permanent tent site with a pavilion, cabin, buying a small home that went up for sale down the road, and even selling the place and buying closer to be able to sleep at home. Five hours of total travel time really kills the chance to get in a good days work. Relaxing ends up being out of the question, and what do we do with a 2 year old daddy's girl when he has to use dangerous equipment? We decided on a travel trailer since it can be used elsewhere for vacations, self contained(ie no utilities), no work to do at the property to be useable, instant climate controlled room to contain my daughter, and no tempting structure to steal stuff from since we will be towing it back and forth. The only hassle will be when I need the tractor and trailer together; so I may start casually looking for a later model 1 ton flatbed to put the tractor on the back and tow the trailer with. It is why I specifically looked for a tractor that was small (8' long) and light weight (1000lbs).

Used tractor implements

A used heavy duty tractor implement is a better buy, in my opinion, than some of the cheap looking new ones out in today's marketplace. The box blade you see to the right is a prime example. It is the proper width of 42" for my little tractor, uses captured pins for the 3 pt hitch instead of the common single sided ones, has a hinged tailboard with bolts to make it fixed, and weighs much more than the current crop of SCUT and CUT sized box blades. The only downside is the cutting edges are worn and have already been reversed. I am looking forward to a little seat time leveling out some of the forest road on our place and the funky off camber slippery slope next to the pond that keeps me out of the woods in the truck any time it is slightly damp in fear of sliding into the water. If we get a dry spell, I will be using it to cut a mud dam the beaver pushed up. My wife will also enjoy the smoother, level paths I can now make. I would also like to give the dealer a plug for going above and beyond. Zimmerer Kubota in Denton is where I found this little gem. They gave me the 3 pins to mount it, which were not shown in the internet listing. They also retapped the rear tailgate bolt holes and fitted new bolts with lock washers. I also had a chat with Len(sp?) Zimmerer about my tractor and the box blade since they opened when the B6100 was new and this box blade brand and style was the model they rented with it when interest rates were so high nobody could afford to buy. It is not every day you get a history lesson and a little implement refurbishing after you purchase something.

Removing a beaver from a pond: Step 2

I made it out to the property yesterday to set up 2 Conibear 330's for the beaver. New sign was everywhere; so it is definitely still around. I had a lot of help from one of the moderators over at The Pondboss forum. I am not sure I would have safely figured out how to set them, or place them properly. He had a simple rope method to set the springs that left our digits out of the danger areas if it should trip. The traps were set in places where the beaver was entering and leaving the water with the trap's top just higher than the water level. We used sticks to block off any other routes to the spot making the beaver go through the trap. A little pile of mud was placed at the shoreline and a twig was some castor lure was stuck in its top. Now it is a waiting game until the beaver decides to use those two pathways or investigate the lure. I hope step 3 will be the removal of a beaver from a trap and not resetting traps to catch a wiley beaver or more beavers; so stay tuned.

Removing a beaver from a pond: Step 1

A beaver can wreak havoc on a forest. Providing one with a nice pond for a home increases the chances it will settle in for the long term. Unless you like the looks of the picture at left, making it leave or removal are the only options. Previous visiting beavers left because of the fluctuating pond water level. Beavers do not like changing water levels. The current resident beaver has pushed a little mud around and, combined with a little silting in of the spillway channel, has managed to establish a stable water level on the pond for now. It has set up a nice lodge on our dirt pile at the western shore. We have been lucky that the beaver seem to prefer the green ash and willow growing along the pond shore and have only chewed a few larger green ash junk trees in the forested areas. I could try to induce it to move, but that would require quite a bit of dirt work redigging the spillway channel. Digging the channel does not create the fluctuating water level, droughty summers combined with it do. The only guaranteed way is removal. Many do not recommend shooting as they get real hard to catch or shoot with a missed shot. Trapping is the solution I am going with. A couple of conibear 330's and a castor oil bait are on their way. I have had lots of help from the folks over at http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php . In fact, one of the members may be able to help me out on site in setting the traps. These are large traps taht are dificult to set and can really hurt you; so I would not recommend setting one without help and first hand knowledge. You may also want to check up on any local laws dealing with fur bearing animals and trapping. I hope to provide the follow up post on the removed nuisance beaver in a few weeks.

The orchard site

I have decided an orchard is the best option for an area north of the pond that has a few trees, lots of grass, and almost no regeneration. Best managment practices say you should not cut trees near streams and other bodies of water. I would not want to plant a tree that I knew would be cut down in the future. Especially since the recommended BMP buffer zone is only going to expand in the future as more people veiw the land as something to protect and not another harvest. The orchard site is in a V between the inlet stream and the outlet stream for the pond. In the photo, you can see the site and the scattered trees that must come out. A bit of land may be useable on the eastern side of the outlet stream as well. A delimna has risen over what to plant. These are not just a yearly crop so you don't want to get it wrong. Mayhaws were my first thought, but the problem is marketing the berries. Jelly and other retail products would be easier, but take a $10k certified kitchen to produce legally. I have begun studying other fruits to grow organically, but run into time, quality, and sitability issues. Pecans are starting to be the front runners now. They have the most proven organic research. A lot of support is available in Texas, including marketing. It is also wide spread and accumulators are present in many locations that buy from small producers. The trick now is figuring out if a small scale operation can make enough money to justify the required equipment. Oh well, more reading to do while I prepare the site by cutting a few trees and starting mowing it down real low in preparation for planting next winter.

Clearing a piece of overgrown pond shore

I would have loved to have spent a day on the tractor, but the job at hand took priority. A skid steer with a mulching head would have been the perfect tool if I had the cash. Free manual labor had to do this time. The original pond must have been rectangular with a dam around all 4 sides. On the north side, it is mostly removed with a big peninsula on the west as pictured below and a smaller one on the east. The smaller one would make a nice secluded campsite. We need room for a tent pad, fire ring, and sitting area. It is relatively flat and overgrown with small trees and lots of thorny vines. You can see how dense it is on the edges of the photo. The brush saw would not stay running for long, but once I started taking the chainsaw to things I realized most was to large for my brush saw anyways. I had about 3 1/2 hours to do some clearing after a quick walk around the place to check everything. One more day should do it on the clearing and then I can take a sharp mattock to any offending stubs and mow the vines. We had a delimna deciding what to do with the brush: burn or chip. Burning is easy and can help clear those vines when done right on top of the clearing. Chipping gives us mulch we can use on paths and the tent camping site. Once all of the cutting is finished, we are going to rent a chipper and make mulch. We might as well make sure there is a full days chipping if we have to rent one for a day. I plan on cutting the larger trunks into firewood for use at home and here. I have a few other topics of interest that warrant a seperate post that I will post in the next few days. They will be about beaver that is still there and starting an orchard in some clear areas at the north end of the property.

The reason for the tractor

Here is part of my reasoning behind finally purchasing some form of tractor. The picture shows a peninsula that semi-seperates the main rectangular pond from the northern shallow pond. It is at a strange angle, overgrown, and generally unusable. I believe it is from excavating the pond and allowed the excavator to reach further portions of the pond during renovations in the past. it is shaped sort of like an inverted V with the north side steep and the south side sloping gently towards the water. I want to shape it with a flattened top, leaving the steep north side, and creating a possible building site or at least a packed gravel pad for my wife to enjoy the pond. A small cabin would have a great view from here of both parts of the pond. I cleared the brush over a year ago with a brush cutter, but the vines and a few trees are coming back from the roots. I am heading out to mow the year old shrubbery before they grow enough next year to require a rotary cutter. A middle buster/sub soiler combo at TSC will be picked up soon for busting up that grass and other gardening uses, maybe while I am out mowing. I will then go over it with a box blade and level it off. The next post should be of my mowing results and maybe a little logging/sawmill action if time allows.

Tractor for work and pleasure

I bit the bullet and purchased a real, albeit small, Kubota B6100E tractor for the property. I had to find one small enough to keep in the backyard for security, and transport it back and forth. It came with a finish mower and a 25 gallon sprayer. The mower means I can actually get the front entry and pond mown and usable. The sprayer has a wand and two nozzles in the pointing down. I can treat the turf areas for weeds and spray the pond edge to kill the hook stealing vegetation. After a little work, we should be able to play a little easier next year. A box blade will need to be purchased for trail maintenance, and renting a few other implements when needed will make structures and access easier. I can't wait to start leveling out the lumpy area in front of the pond and maybe starting on a gravel road to get the truck further in. It slips on slick clay where I must turn and go uphill just feet from the pond edge and keeps the truck confined to the entryway. We don't need that kind of structure in there. I am going to make a hitch connector for the Logrite Junior arch to pull the larger logs. The Junior may be able to handle a 16'x16" log, but it ways a bit much to pull very far by hand. I plan on getting out there within a week and getting some mowing done to start with a fresh cut next year. A few of the plants growing are shrubby perennials and vines that need to be knocked down now before I must cut them and growing grass. It will also clear out the matted down dead grass. I only have 14hp to work with and no rotary cutter. A rotary cutter may be on my rental list once I know I can keep up with the current grassy areas. We also plan to use the tractor for some foodplots on ours and my fathers future property.

Fall Woodlot Report Part 3: Evaluating the pond

Having the pond on the middle of a forested area has been an interesting learning experience. Trees bring all sorts of extra issues to a pond. They can die when flooded, they drop leaves that make muck in the pond bottom, they reseed all over the pond shore, and they are attractive to beavers. A beaver has set up a homestead on the pond. All that great timber to chew on and a nice convenient pond to live in has inticed one to stay. I had passers through before, but they left when they could not keep the pond level stable. It has been stable for over a year now and this beaver has not left, I think. It has built a den (see photo), tried to bulldoze mud into the overflow pipe, and who knows what other damage I am going to find. Luckily the den is not in the dam; so no tunnels have been found yet that might undeermine it. A conibear trap is in order I believe to get rid of the nuisance.

Trees can be a problem around a pond. I have a large dead area that floods to much and will need more flood tolerant trees like bald cypress and tupelos. These areas also make a nice wetland zone between the seasonal creek and the pond. Sediment is trapped in this area and extends the life of the pond. Leaves from the trees can build up in the pond as well creating a 'pond muck'. It is an anearobic sediment of rotting vegetable matter. I have researched aerators and microbes to act against it. The microbes are more in line with my budget and I may try some next year to get the eradication process started. The microbes you add are the same as the ones added to septic systems. They work anearobically to break down the plant matter. Aeration is quicker, more expensive, and needs elctricity usually. Finally, the trees around the pond make plenty of seeds to sprout around the pond. Usually trees on a dam are bad, but I have been told mine is fine by an expert dam consultant. My issue now is they block access and views. I hope to clear some out completely and clear brush/prune under others to make fishing and viewing spots. Willows and buttonbush are another concern of mine. They can take over the shoreline quickly. I will be using an appropriate herbicide on any I find. These grow very close and in the water; so a proper herbicide for around water is needed to prevent damage to the pond itself. My next post will be on the TSI work I am doing salvaging dead trees and cutting culls to make construction wood with the sawmill for projects on the property.

Fall Woodlot Report Part 2: Utilizing dead trees

In part 2, I will be discussing how I am utilizing dead wood from the flooded area. Trees are continuing to die in the flood prone area as their roots succumb to the lack of air and they suffocate. Trees have different abilities to survive flooding. The bald cypress I planted are extremely flood tolerant, and their knees are what allow them to breath when the majority of the root system is underwater. The willow oaks and nutmeg hickories that have died can only withstand 6 months or so of standing water. A few are on slightly higher gound allowing them to last a few years longer than others, but I believe they will all die eventually in this area. I have started trying to get these down before they die or after they are dead but still sound enough to take down. Wildlife trees are also important and the ones I cannot get to or were already damaged will remain for this purpose. The eastern red cedar's flood capacity is not known to me and I am leaving any live ones and taking any dead ones. Luckily, they do not rot and can wait around as dead standing trees until I get to them. Bugs love the hickory so much that the one I took down still had leaves on it and had bugs all the way to center. Smaker and firewood is all these will be good for. I have not taken down any willow oak that died this year. The cold weather should hold off the bugs until spring. I hope to salvage some timber for projects on the property, but they may become firewood if the bugs are to bad. The nice thing about the mill is I can cut down to the heartwood and make lumber while cutting up the sapwood into firewood if the bugs have only made it a little ways into the wood. The cedar I took down was beautiful, and one had a really interesting ring of sapwood inside the heartwood. It is going to become a picnic table for the property since it would be a waste to turn it into posts. Three hours of labor netted me 6 nice cedar saw logs, a short cedar elm, and a hickory that will become firewood. I have to more large cedars to get out and several small ones. There are also several willow oaks to take down that recently died and my not be full of bugs. Two may be to large for the log arch even. All told, I believe I can get quite a stack of lumber out of the dead trees with at least 7 more sawlogs of cedar and hopefully 9 of willow oak if the arch can get them all. I believe those willow oaks are going to be my pavilion posts, perlins, and such since there will be no ground contact. Well, that is enough on salvaging dead trees. Part 3 will be on the pond.

Fall Woodlot Report Part 1: Forest Health

I am splitting up my recent observations and tasks into multiple posts. Today, I will cover the the health of the trees and the seedlings I planted. I suspected this spring that several more trees would die from the high water in the pond. The water was still in the forest and several cedars, oaks, and hickories had succumbed to the flooding. A few cedars I thought were in danger made it through and should not be in danger. The previous owner's modifications to the pond in 2006 must have affected the water level, and the addition of beaver trying to raise it over the last couple of years has raised it even further. There is hardly any sign of terrestrial plants where there were many when we purchased it. The flooding backs into previously forested areas the entire year, except maybe drought years, where the trees will continue to die unless I make changes to the pond. The new wetland areas are nice and I believe I will keep some for diversity and the fish. I am going to continue planting flood tolerant trees where the forest is continueing to die off. Bald cypress is doing well where I planted them 18 months ago. A growth rate of 4-5 feet in that time seems excellent to me. The photo is an example of those planted, albeit not the straightest but the driest to get to. I believe I will mix in some tupelo and sycamore in the next planting. I also planted mayhaw trees at the same time. Those have been flooded to the point I cannot spot any and are probably dead. I hope a few survived. Cottonwood was this years planting near the far north end of the dam. I found a nice series of mud puddles along my planting path and no sign of the cuttings. They should have been moist enough and were growing well earlier this year. I believe the hogs pound their roots to be a tasty treat. The entire area I planted was to wet to inspect, but at least 3/4 of them appear to have been eaten or killed. A few more of the oaks on the fringes of the pond have died since this spring as well. I had time to salvage the cedars, and it looks like I may be able to salvage a few of the oaks. The cutting and utilization of these trees will be part 2 of this series. Part 3 will be about the pond and its management.

2 trips in 2 weeks, amazing!

I made it out 2 times in the past 2 weeks. Hope to make it out again next week to hunt and possibly do a little milling. It sure is looking good out there. Cut some wood for the mill, fireplace, and to deer hunt. I scoped out a concrete pad I am sizing up to build a pavilion on for picnics. The trees were cut for either posts or picnic table for the pavilion. A beaver has been out there but not sure if it is still around. A lot of dirt has been pushed up around the overflow pipe on the dam and I found the den. I checked on the trees I have planted. The bald cypress are doing well with some around 5 feet tall. The cottonwood has been hit by animals, and all that is left is little mud puddles in a neat line where they were planted. The mayhaws also look to have drowned in the high water. I will need to get a closer look with waders or rubber boots to tell them apart from the brushy plants. I will get another post up soon with pics and better details.

A new blog for my woodworking

I started a new blog to showcase my woodworking projects at http://jtcwoodcrafts.blogspot.com/ . I will be showcasing some projects that use wood from my property and milled on the sawmill.

Finding replacement trees for newly flood prone areas

I have come to the realization that the pond on the property is going to flood quite a bit of the timber. I need to salvage what I can, but also find suitable replacements for the species that cannot stand wet feet for a prolonged period. A few more oaks died, luckily junky ones full of epicormic sprouts, and some eastern redcedar that will not rot before I can get to them. I will probably take the few remaining willow oaks that flood because it is only a matter of time before the flooding suffocates their roots. I already planted cypress last year before realizing just how deep and prolonged the high water gets. A few drowned, and quite a few could be seen this spring sprouting above the water or competing vegetation. The competing vegetation needs to be cut down around these carefully. I decided something else needed to be tried to the North of the pond, and was offered some free cottonwood cutting by a fellow from the Forestry Forum. The problem of figuring out which species to put in ended right there. Free trees is the best way to experiment. The area is along a relatively plant free water course exiting the pond along the north end of the dam. I planted them in a strip between the dam and water course where they should have enough moisture through the dry parts of the year. Planting was simple. I just made sure the buds faced up and stuck them in the ground with 2 nodes above the surface. The pic is from a week after planting and they were budding out nicely. a few did not sprout from the late time I planted these and a few were stepped on by animals knocking off the sprouts. If they work out well I plan to find a way to clear out the brush and grass on the other side of this seasonal waterway to make a proper seedling planting area and plant cottonwoods and bald cypress. Well, the time between new posts should be shorter now that I have a plan, simple projects, and some time to get them done.

Suffering as a home body

I never realized how much I enjoyed the outdoors until circumstances forced me to stay at home. First, our beautiful little girl was born last August, and took up a lot of my time. My wife then developed some medical problems forcing me to stay around the house. Hopefully the end is in sight with a surgery and 6 weeks of recovery. I am amazed at the number of crazy ideas I have come up with during my time at home. Outbuildings, cabins, docks for the pond, all growing in size and complexity as time passed. Harvesting and management plans filled my mind with dreams of getting out to the property more often. Last week I settled down and determined what it would take to spend more time out there. Shelter of some sort would definitely help by letting me take the wife and kid with me, but the budget is tight. I took all those interesting ideas and drawings and filed them in a drawer. They were to large for the budget or to complex for the amount of time I have at the property. As I was strolling through the grocery store, a Mother Earth News DIY quarterly caught my eye. It contained an article called called "Build this Cozy Cabin" which can also be found on their website. Simple, inexpensive, and some of the larger timbers could be made on the sawmill out of post oak to save more money. The loft gives me a nice place for my daughter to sleep when she gets older and needs more space. It can also be found online here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2006-06-01/Build-this-Cozy-Cabin.aspx . Now I have something to plan and budget for that will let us all enjoy the woods! I made time a few weeks back to plant some cottonwood cuttings that were given to me by a fellow ForestryForum.com member Brian Beauchamp, but that is post for another time, with pics!

All right, now we are getting somewhere! I took delivery of the Logrite Junior arch recently with the extension handle. It is a well made piece of equipment with everything lining up properly and nice, contnuous, smooth welds. Even the bolts were good quality. The arch can hold up to a 16" diameter log in the tongs and 16' in length because of the extension. I am not sure I would want to pull its full capacity by hand. I can now haul all my firewood as practically tree length material to my firewood pile. It will also hold a log above the ground for bucking into firewood lengths. No more hitting dirt and dulling the chain. I will also start hauling larger, heavier logs to the mill with it. The little lawn tractor was having a hard time dragging much of a log, even with a piece of old barrel as a skidding cone. Cedar was pretty much the limit for it, and short or small diameter pieces at that. I hope to get some use out of it this spring as a lot of cleaning needs to be done and some of those trees will make decent wood for the sawmill. I have been rereading some of my books in preparation for marking and cutting more junk trees to make room for the good ones to grow. I will have a report on how it worked out next time.

Wow, been a while!

It has been quite a while since I updated this series or been out to the woods. A new addition to the family in the form of a little girl will do that to a person. I had to make time to get out and check on the pond and property. A few items on the to do list had to be taken care of also. The pond was very high when I first pulled in the gate; so a walk around was the first order of business. I shortly found out it was to be a slosh around. Water was pouring into the pond with only 1/2" of rain for the month. The ground was visibly saturated with lots of ponding everywhere a low spot occured. In the back of the property, the culvert leading into the pond had water flowing over it. The culvert for the pond dam end letting the spillway lead into the creek was practically washed out. A large pond has formed where the overflow pipe emptied behind the dam. Drainage needs to be deepened for it as the picture shows.l The standing water there explained the stressed trees in that area. Lots of dirt work is going to be needed in the future, probably to tear out the culverts and add small bridges instead.

I was able to work on realeasing a small area of saplings near the sawmill area. There was a funky post oak and some gnarly, bent cedar elms over topping them. I was able to take down most of them, but time constraints meant I had to leave 2-3 for the next time. I also cut some problem trees that were to close to more desireable trees on the way back. The wet ground prevented me from picking up any of the wood; so I stacked it neatly on the side of the path. I hope to accomplish more the next time I am, barring anymore water damage. I need to finish releasing rhw incomplete area and cutting that wood into firewood. I then need to mark and cut any other bad form trees leading up to that area. I have the property blocked out into 5 areas, and I never really worked on area 1 last year. Twice the work, but twice the fun!

Rains and wood

I am really glad I made it out. Previously, I had my wood stack float 10 feet closer to the pond during a big rain event. It has rained 2.5 inches in the last few days, and I am glad I picked up everything. A large portion of the wood was the dead cedar I milled. I added a picture of some to the left. It is some beautiful wood. I also picked up some 6/4 cedar elm lumber and the osage stump I milled. I should be set on porject wood for a while, and need to rig up a router jig to plane the osage lumber becuase fo the size and crazy grain. You should check back in the future to see the final results. The cedar elm has checks in the pith, but I expected that from the small, twisted trees I cut. I believe next on the agenda for the woodlot is to set up the mills wood deck and start collecting up another group of logs starting with rot and bug resistant cedar. If I can get the deck set up, then all of the logs can be kept off the ground and in relatively good condition. It will allow me to log for a while and mill them all at once. Stacking the lumber was a pain when I was doing a log here and there where I cut the movement prone cedar elm well after the eastern red cedar. The cedar stacked on the cedar elm would have weighted it down some, but it is a pain to break up a wood stack every time you mill. I hope to mill a decent stack all at once in the future. I still have quite a few dead cedars to go, some more cedar elm culls, and may cut some stagnant post oaks to release some saplings near the sawmill. The ERC is going to be milled into 8/4 lumber for table legs and a certain style of cabinet I want to make. The cedar elm will become more 6/4 that I resaw after it moves during drying into 1/2" stock. The oak will probably just become yard timbers for a raised bed garden at home, and that means I don't need to dry it. Hope to get out soon, but it may be a while with the kiddo taking up my time!

Woo Wee! Made it out!

I made it out to the property for a little while at least. I did not accomlish much on the forestry end of things other than some pics for a buddy who's business is Texas Timbers. He wants some cedar elm badly to turn into flooring. The photo shows a cedar elm twig with leaves using my hand for size reference. I remember when I first spoke to him on the phone when he was looking for new woodlots to source wood from. He had never heard of cedar elm and wanted nothing to do with it. Now that he has seen what I have done, he has done a 180 on the topic. I am keeping mine for myself, and he has his own sources. I was able to do a little mowing, caught some fish for dinner and through back a 4lbs largemouth, and made sure everything was alright. I made it home with all of the wood I had cut and it appears to be nice and stright with little problems. One cedar elm board has some bug activity, but I think it will pass like my earlier experiments did. Next on the agenda is make some items with all of this wood for the business. Hopefully I will get enough stock built up to begin doing the local Third Monday Trade Days!

Stuck at home, so testing cedar elm

Well, I am stuck at home with the new baby! I guess if there is any reason to stay away from the woods, it is our new little girl. Another good thing to come from staying home is I get to use some of the wood harvested and milled from the property. Here is a pic of a box out of cedar elm I milled from a cull tree that was crooked and skinny. Nobody could tell me anything about the wood except that it must be similar to other elms. Duh, but how close? Well, this is one tough, pretty wood. The interlocking grain makes it stringy, and it is very tough. Sharp tools are a must with this wood to prevent burning. It has a very light sapwood and a medium brown heart wood, and there is a very dramatic break between the two. The sap tears out much more than the heart, and quartersawn rays are prone. It does show a very nice rayfleck in the quartersawn grain. The interlocking grain in the sapwood also shows a very interesting zigzag pattern that can make the planesawn faces nice. The hardness made it dificult for me to remove swirl marks from some coarse grit sanding. I think I have found a new favorite wood as long as I can get past the burning issue. I hope to be out in the woods working soon, but until then I have some fruits of my labors to play with.