Author: Diana Blakney

Posted on

The Crees visit, firewood is added, and a dump run accomplished

Julius, Jessica, Sid, Gavin and … Bianca
Looking over the fields and the forest.
Bianca’s smile is a beautiful sight.
Kay and Bill load firewood cut and split by Mike the woodcutter.
Mike stacked a nice bunch of firewood. We finished it and tarped it against the rain that is sure to come shortly.
Dump run.
Fetching more firewood out of the woods.
Sid successfully grew this tasty watermelon!

Loading

Posted on

Preparing for firewood delivery

To supplement the firewood we are getting out of our own woods, we ordered two cords of maple and alder mix, already seasoned. In preparation, Sid found a good spot for it near or at where the root cellar used to be. We needed three big holes to put posts in for a backstop so that the wood wouldn’t roll down the hill. We rented this post hole digger to help with the job
It poured rain after the posts were in, so when the truck with the wood arrived, the ground was too wet to drive the truck to the location we had so carefully prepped. Guess we’ll be hauling it there with the Ranger, a wheelbarrow and strong backs.

Loading

Posted on

Clear skies – no smoke from wildfires

After nearly two weeks of bad air from wildfire smoke, it is back to work time at the farm!
Bill and Diana, armed to the teeth, head up the Loop trail to check out the status of the road. It is very important to keep it clear of fallen trees in the event a fire requires fire suppression equipment access.
I think (but don’t know) that this mushroom is Chicken of the woods, or Sulphur shelf (laetiporus sulphureus). From the internet:
“Chicken of the woods is another locally harvested mushroom. It is hard to miss, with its vibrant orange and yellow shelves fanning out on tree trunks. With a dense and firm texture and a taste reminiscent of chicken, they are wonderful in soups, stir-fries, marinades and in place of chicken in vegetarian “chicken” salad. These mushrooms must be harvested while very young and fresh before they become tough and inedible. “
Bill hefts a log to block entrance to property that does not belong to us.
Do not take the Ranger onto other folks’ property!
Yeow! A veritable field of poison oak just off the Loop trail.
The Loop trail was impediment free for the most part. Bill and Diana head across Rock Creek to examine the Creek trail.
The riparian plantings (mostly Western red cedar) look good, but the weeds make bushwhacking necessary.
The large wood placement in this area is doing its job well. Look at all the debris!
Back at the house in time to spot Sid while he’s on the roof.

Loading

Posted on

Summer Workforce Makes Big Impact

Tory’s garden has never looked better thanks to Sandra, who spent August making improvements both in and out of the house.
Bianca agrees that Sandra is the hardest worker.
Nina and Alex did their share, too.
Here’s the guy who makes our summer workforce get up and at em every day.
While he puts on shingles.
Hoss would rather ride a motorcycle. Beats hunting!
An errant sapling bites the dust. Sadly, the Reed canarygrass eradication will have to wait another day.
Two patches of Reed canarygrass AND blackberries. A project for another day.
We put the game camera up in the same location as last time. Will the bear, cougar, elk and others return?
The battery pack for the fish counting folks is still next to Griffith Creek.
Griffith Creek is low.
Hard to see, but there are lots of elderberries (both ripe and green) on this skinny tree.

Loading

Posted on

Wildlife galore!

I left my game camera up for nearly two months, and look at what it captured: a cougar!
M2E1L0-0R350B320
M2E1L0-0R350B320
M2E53L155-153R399B383
M2E53L155-153R399B383
M2E53L155-153R399B383
M2E1L0-0R350B320
M2E1L0-0R350B320
M2E1L0-0R350B320
M2E1L0-0R350B320
An elk! You can tell by size and by the markings on his behind. You can compare it with the deer behinds seen later in this blog.
M2E35L45-46R350B320
M2E35L45-46R350B320
M2E34L88-92R391B360
M2E34L88-92R391B360
M2E34L88-92R391B360
Deer
M2E36L95-95R390B367
M2E35L91-90R387B363
M2E27L63-64R385B335
M2E32L36-36R350B320
Where’s Bianca, says the coyote.
M2E54L158-158R399B382
M2E54L158-158R399B382
This little gal and her friends triggered a lot of photos.
M2E35L90-90R391B362

Loading

Posted on

Hot, hot, hot!

Despite the heat (near or at 90 degrees F), I managed a little weed whacking near the barn/big garage.
Sid cut metal roofing material with his saw, suffering a multitude of tiny cuts in the process.
Always lots of mowing to do.
Sid and the tractor trying to scoop up the remaining rock so that this area can be mowed.
Maybe a two person job!
This strategy worked.
Loading up the pickup for a dump run.
No, they weren’t putting it back. I just reversed the order of the photos.

Loading

Posted on

Late June chores

The dark purple row of blooms next to the fence along the cow lane is an invasion of purple vetch. It will choke out everything in its path, given a chance. Mowing or weed-whacking its blooms will not kill it, but will control its spread. I chose to weed whack the couple of patches found fairly close to the house.
My weapon of choice.
Because it is a vine, the Vetch has a nasty habit of winding around the weed whacker, rendering it inoperable.
Sid and Bill mow while I weed whack.
More vetch!
It’s hard to tell, but the field is full of the tiny blue flowers seen in the close up photo above.
Bianca found something dead in the woods. It was like catnip to a cat!
Bianca, watching five deer cavorting in the field.
Sid and Bill moved our extra pallets to the landing where we stack firewood.

Loading

Posted on

Walking the fields with Paul

It is always a treat when butterfly scientist emeritus, Paul H., walks the fields with us. During our two hour stroll, he pointed out invasives as well as precious prairie grasses and flowers worth protecting. Here are a few:

Meadow checker mallow
Cow parsnip, a member of the carrot family. Can cause contact dermatitis. Many carrot relatives are seriously poisonous … like hemlock.
Blue-eyed grass, a relative of Iris
Paul among sedges and rushes, common in boggy areas like this one.
Monkeyflower
A huge patch of wild onion (and ox eye daisy) in a patch of prairie that has high diversity – a rarity.
White owl clover (the ones that look like Indian paintbrush and are yellow and green)
Paul and Bill look over a field white with ox eye daisies.
Mule ears
Yarrow
The bright green grass is the dreaded false brome that we MUST try to control and keep out of our prairie. It will take over otherwise.
“With seedheads that can reach 4 to 5 feet in height, blue wild rye is one of the biggest native grasses in the Northwest. Its wide blue-green blades and thick fibrous root systems can put on a lot of biomass, yet, it usually does not form large single-species monocultures in nature. Rather it tends to pop up in small clumps in open meadows and forest edges among smaller statured species such as tufted hairgrass, California oatgrass, meadow barley, and yarrow.
Blue wild rye does not form extensive rhizomes, but it can spread short distances with stolons and through re-seeding. Mostly it maintains a clumpy growth habit which provides valuable insect nesting and overwintering habitat for species such as lady beetles and ground surface nesting bumble bees. Additionally, the foliage is palatable to livestock and decent for grazing, and is a preferred food source for elk.
We like blue wild rye for its value as an erosion control plant, and its ability to muscle into grasslands, ditches, and forest edges without taking over and crowding out other grasses and wildflowers. It’s also an ideal utilitarian plant for reforestration and agroforestry projects, providing useful shelter for seedling trees and tolerating partial shade as those young trees mature.” 
Oregon sunshine
White and blue clusterlilies
Heal-all

Loading