The summer of 2023, brought visitors to the land to see our progress, between family visitors, public field days, and our wedding the farm and what we had worked so hard towards was under full observation- from many angles.
By mid-July, dates with visitors had wrapped up for the season, they now have time to focus on these areas of concern:
I. Phragmites along the waterways: pipeline & roadsides
II. Canada & Bull thistle in tree plantings
III. Tree die -off.
IV. Invasive plants in dirt piles at the North Scrape.
Together Patti & Brad, make a concerted effort to target, treat, rehab these areas, and create a manageable action plan for the areas of concern.
Below, outlines or demonstrates our observation and action plan.
I. Phragmites along the waterways: pipeline & roadsides
Sadly, Patti forgot to share images of this multi week project. After consulting with experts we needed to tackle these areas in a few ways: locate and track the areas (via GIS), spray before end of Septmeber (ideally twice) with an herbicide, and then mow below growth point, and collect those remnants so it is not to spread. After the areas were sprayed, Patti went out and hand cut many of the areas, bagged them and disposed of the plant cuttings. The only area that is still in need of some attention is the most recent discovery along Old Seymour Rd., part of the navigable stream where the Phrag is moving fast and dense across the road at the neighboring property. This will be an ongoing, uphill battle.
II. & III. Canada & Bull thistle in and around all the tree plantings & Tree die -off.
The first thing we had to do was identify all the living trees/shrubs. We spent a huge amoutn of time walking through the thistle filled rows to find the trees. Marked them with neon flags, then we used all the tools we had available: tractor with 8' mower, our Cub Cadet, DR trimmer, and a hand held weed whacker with blades to trim around these trees. This project began Early July and concluded end of September.
Finally, we rented a Sherpa rideable brush mower to tackle this project! What a life-saver it was.
Once we could see the trees and shrubs, all living. We were able to observation and then determine new on the tree selections to plant. The original tree plantings we figure did not thrive due to a variety of factors: species selection/soil type, planting depth, drought conditions, and rodent & deer pressure. We could clearly see that we had over 80% die off for the Red Pine species along the west and north sides of the property. We determined that to replant these ares with a higher growth tree species would be helpful- Hybrid Poplar & Willow. Additionally, when we replant we will space them differently than originally to allow for us to manage this area better with larger equipment- a small tractor and 8' mower.
IV. Canada thistle that had exploded in and around the dirt piles at the North Scrape.
The images below were taken on 1 of 5 large dirt piles, all of which had varying degrees of invasive growing. The 3 topsoil piles contained dense growth of Canada thistle, water hemp and ragweed. The 2 clay piles had sparse growth of velvet leaf, burdock, and bull thistle growing. It makes sense that the topsoil would have an exploded growth of these invasives as they were contained in the seed bank of the topsoil, due to the decades of agricultural farming. These plant species are opportunists and pioneer type plants that can grow and thrive in pretty much any areas. The clay soil had a much harder time allowing any plants to really take off, as there was no organic matter or top soil included in these piles.
The immediate course of action began with hand cutting thistle, gathering, and burning it.
Images below,
NOTE: this was the 2nd time we had hand cut this particular pile - and it is not a fun nor easy task- 3 trailer loads of debris collected and burned.
-Mowing, wasn't an option due to the height and steepness of the piles of dirt.
-Burning wasn't possible (yet) as there wasn't enough fuel yet to make a hot enough fire.
-Grazing goats, we did explore, but it was determined that with the coyotes that circulate through the land, the close proximity of the highway, keeping an consistent electrical charge on a fence to deter the predators, and the distance from our home to keep an eye this wasn't a plan we wanted to explore (hence the reason why we rehomed our goats earlier in the season)
-Heavy Equipment..... So, it was then decided that we wanted to hire a excavating contractor to finish this area as it was becoming more and more difficult for us to manage by hand.
Below are the images of the contractor smoothing out the clay, then smoothing the topsoil over the clay.
This area is now complete and perfect - we will be able to mow as needed! We reseeded with a 'Buck Buffet' to start with as it was early October when this was completed and still had a tiny bit of growing season, and then we ordered a CRP mix (Indian grass, Switch grass, Mexican grayhat, Black eyed- Susan, and Canada Milk Vetch) to frost seed in with the first snowfall.
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