Volume 3...Starting to Work

as always an intriguing blog and lovely pictures ~ many thanks lori. lovely to follow your forest adventures

agree with sticki lori ............. interesting , keep it comeing . love the birds . have you drawn plans of wot you want to do !!!

Agree with the girls, its so interesting Lori, loving it.

Goodness, you must have some stamina Lori. But it sounds fascinating even tho I feel exhausted just reading it. Go careful and enjoy yourself. Plenty of wood for the fire! Im off to look up chickadees to see what they are like.

They look very much like our great/coal/marsh tits.

Lots of work there! Opening up little areas between the trees will make quite a difference and maybe eventually bring more species of birds in. Take it easy now! :o)

Wonderful blog Lori, its really interesting following your adventure on your new pastures, I don't know where you get your energy from. How far do you have to travel to get your supplies, because this looks very remote.

Hello friends, the FUN continues! Thanks for the moral support..lol..and yes, I will be pacing myself.
Relative to where we lived before, Littlelegs...yes, it is remote. But we have neighbours who are close (about a quarter of a mile up the road)...and we have two small "convenience" type stores within 15 kms. But to do the real "shopping" we have to drive about 60 kms. to Renfrew. It's a beautiful scenic drive...and it's another 45 minutes to Ottawa.
I'm feeling the results of yesterday...a little stiff and I fell into bed about 8:45 last evening! A good type of exhaustion! As a result I'm sitting here at the computer at 6:30 a.m, getting ready to plan today's tasks. It will be lighter duty today. Time to get out the chainsaw.

Lori....you sound just like the early pioneers and you have bags of energy and ideas. Found your last few blogs really interesting, full of information. It will be such fun to see your property developing into "your space" and to see what is under all that snow once it's melted.

You sure did capture a lot of bluejays...they must be quite a common bird there.

Careful with that chainsaw!

Well done for your satisfying day. Glad you caught Woody Woodpecker, and I love those birch trees. Puts my gardening tasks into perspective!! Phew.

Hello Whistonlass...I can't believe how good the extra exercise makes me feel. At last count there were 8 bluejays on the feeder at once. There are reports in the area of a bald eagle family, jays, waxwings and cardinals... would be nice to see a cardinal.. We were talking to the owner of the local convenience store and he was telling us of coyote and wolf sightings. In fact, a wolf took a deer just about five kms down the Matawatchan road day before yesterday! Yes, I have great respect for the chainsaw... mine is the arborist's size, only a 14" blade. Best advice I ever had was: Always pay attention, and don't work when you're tired.
(good excuse to stop and boil a billycan!)
Sheila: When the cleanup is done...I get to start on the flower beds and walkways... already have a bridge and a stream...need to make a pond for the fishies...I think I have enough to keep me busy for the rest of my life!

What a great day you have had Lori. those trees are just huge. i cant wait for ours to get bigger most of them are seedlings we have planted over the years.

Forestry is a science that requires patience. It takes 40 to 50 years for the hardwoods to attain a moderate size, the softwoods grow faster 20 to 30 years..and the birch and aspen grow the fastest 15 to 25 years..so it's not an "instant" landscape. What we have is a piece of forest that has some pretty old oaks...Not exactly ancient, but they must be close to a century old...Not many of the mature Tsuga are left...less than a dozen of the size in the picture, and some middle aged sugar maples..too numerous to count...and 4 or 5 really large golden birch that are not in good shape. Stradling the Matawatchan Road in two places (that I know of) there are reforested and protected forest areas. But there are logging trucks on the road all the time, as land owners take the profit from their land in timber.

Trouble is you dont want a forest replanted with fast growers do you, or certain wildlife wont stay and you need a good supply of hardwoods which take so long to grow. Even some pines take a while. Do you know if any of these land owners replant?
We have brambles and nettles in a 3ft x 30ft patch between us and the allotments. Our neighbour has nothing much in his identical patch. I would love to plant it with hawthorn but he probly wouldnt want the work to keep it in good order. I would do it on ours except we cant get at it having no access whereas he has. Hawthorn is great for wildlife here, being indigenous

From what I've read Tetra, the hawthorn is a problem for people and automobiles. Special care must be taken when pruning and disposing as the spines can puncture Wellies and (in years past) automobile tires. Beyond that they sound like an excellent choice as all native species have the advantage of being indigenous. What about planting Hazel? They would give you nuts to eat.

Its just the bullfinches love hawthorn and nest there. The patch is not a thoroughfare at all just a small space left between our bottom of garden walls and the fencing off of the paddock. We have had a couple male and one female bullfinch for about 4/5 years now. Would love to see them increase as they are red flagged here.

Sounds like a well thought out plan. Good for you. Go for it! Sad when we see species on the decline especially when it's attributable to lack of, or change in habitat.

If they keep trying to build on our countryside I can see this island sinking under the waves with the weight of concrete Lori!

When I stop to ponder the future, I have a feeling of foreboding. Just how long can this cycle repeat? Another member was mentioning the effort to save the hedgerows. I do hope people take it seriously because "this realm....this England" is disappearing under concrete, just as, over here, some of the best farmland in the world (around Toronto) is being gobbled up by developers for "bedroom" communities.

Another great blog Lori I am really enjoying reading them ,and although it is hard work for you it looks great what you are doing, no wonder you are tired......I like tree's and hate to see them being removed for no reason.I only have a medium size back garden but it supports three medium tree's and various shrubs. Also the main road at the front is tree lined......I loved the bird's but not to sure about the coyote and the wolf, take care when you are chainsawing. :0)

Yes we are lucky to have a tree lined street too Mavis (until autumn when the leaves all end up in my drive!) but its great fun to watch the birds fly from tree to tree looking for their next meal. And like you I have 3 medium trees out back but am just going to plant an acer brilliantisimum in the front garden..its been in a pot for nearly 3 years now and ready to go. More leaves to clear up next autumn!
Shame I have no room to store for leaf mould, I really hate throwing them away.

I feel like you Lori. When I see people throwing away really good wood furniture because its "old fashioned". Far better stuff than what we have now. I bought second hand dining furniture, its quality and another way to recycle.

Yes, Tetra, that wonderful word...quality! Nothing of
"quality" happens overnight, does it? What are the unique qualities of the brilliantisimum? I have a number of the acer saccharum...in a month..or a little bit...we are going to tap those trees! Maple syrup, YUM!
Living in the city was a necessity...hubby's work, children's school...but living here in the forest feels like the right place to be.
Mavis: We lived for ten years in the far north just at the "tree line"...(beyond that is muskeg and permafrost) and I yearned to walk under tall trees...well, I guess, dues are paid and here I am...at last. Wouldn't want to live without them again.

:-)....

Mmmm, yes, Lori. You're making me think - how barren our life would be without trees. It is the trees that show us the changing of the seasons, and looking at their shapes and leaves close-up is so rewarding. Our favourite in our front garden is a purple-leaf cherry, and in the back an enormous Whitebeam.

I had a lovely old friend who was ALWAYS positive, and when he was widowed, and had to live in one room in an old peoples' Home, he said "I'm lucky, I have a tree outside my window!" I've never forgotten that.

enjoyed your blog Lori as always, i wish i had all those lovely trees to look at each day and walk through, wonderfull, dont go doing to much will you, lovely pics ;o))

Sometimes the best we can do is just "decide" to be happy...and get on with the rest of our life. I put in a few years deciding to be happy...and to a degree it works. It's nice to say that today, I truly am happy.
Cherries...oh I'd love to have a big old cherry tree! My father in law had one and he used to fret about sharing his cherries with the robins! He had more than he could use or give away...but he bought a net to keep the robins away. :-o...
Thanks Sandras...xo

Oh how sad Lori, it would have been so much more amusing to watch the robins than watch the cherries!

That was my thought on the subject, too, Tetra. Great minds!

im glad you can say that Lori, im almost there lol, i need to back off from certain probs , but its hard when your a mum, but im getting there, maybe when we retire and decide on our move ;o)

Hiya, Lori. I've just found your post and I read it with interest. It looks like you have an entire forest for yourself, it must be so nice to be able to engage with nature and the birds without being disturbed. Neighbours about a quarter of a mile up the road sounds like heaven to me...ours are only 1 meter away...Forestry is definitely a fascinating subject that I don't know very much about but I'm really keen to learn. It goes hand in hand with foraging, which my husband and I are more familiar with. I'll be reading your other posts with interest and hopefully learn a thing or two.

Diana

Sandra: If you and Baz decide to retire to the country I can recommend it wholeheartedly!
Diana: Thanks for your interest in my blog. I'm beginning to feel at home here and settled. I credit my sense of peace to the woodlot, and I'm remembering forest lore that my father told me. He's been gone 25 years. He was a wise and knowledgeable man and I'm happy to finally get to use some of the lessons he taught me when I was too young to realize that I'd need them one day!

but he would be so proud and pleased with what you are doing now lori ~ what a legacy!!

I agree Sticki!

think we would retire more into the countryside, we are half way there in a rural village and surrounded by fields and farms, i love the peace, cant bare to be in a town or city for to long,

The thought of going shopping for a day out fills me with horror San, I like to do the research, find out where is cheapest and make a beeline there and back. No hanging around..well maybe that lovely little Italian restaurant in town...but thats it!

yes Tetra i go into town but know exactly where im going and also go early as shops open before it gets busy, italian sounds good though :o)

Aww.. bless you for saying that, Sticki. It would be so nice to make a little fire and boil a billycan and discuss plans. He made great bush tea. LOL...you'd be surprised how easily one adjusts to travelling all that distance, Tetra. You have an Italian restaurant...we have discovered a Chinese restaurant... Hubby is quite in synch with you both...but I like to wander and look..drives him crazy...makes me angry when he wants to rush off. But I remind him that we are retired and entitled to smell the roses!~ He's coming around to my way of thinking...slowly.

Its like getting glue out of the house where my OH is concerned..he loves it here. I certainly like to smell the roses Lori, but rather have the ones in my garden..they dont have an "exhaust" perfume! lol!

It is such a lovely garden, Tetra... don't blame you one bit!