Experiment with nature's way...

Lori I didn't know anything about Black walnuts until you put photos on GOY I happened to watch something on TV one evening last week the people on the programme had Black Walnut trees and were talking about selling the wood because it is so valuable and fetches huge amounts of money , perhaps you should start a forest of them !! surely the squirrels will take all of those laying out there before the winter is over , they look to be of a more round shape than ordinary walnuts here ....

The nut itself is quite round...I have to report a failure, though. I treated the nuts and thought I had dried them completely in the oven before setting them to cure...when I checked on them yesterday they were white with a dusty mildew/mould. I was very unhappy..to say the least! I did know about the value of the wood, too Amy. Part of the reason it's so valuable (if you have a really good trunk to the tree..) is that they tend to split and lose branches...the wood is so tough yet brittle if exposed to water and freeze/thaw conditions. I think that care would have to be taken when the tree is maturing to make sure that the limbs are strongly connected to the trunk..in an L branch (90* of the trunk)...rather than a V or Y branching which is a weak juncture. A very large tree would be rare and that again increases it's value as they, being hardwoods, don't grow very fast. It might take 50 years to get a decent sized trunk. Growing walnut is a long term investment! lol.

Would you believe my father was a Timber buyer Lori , he knew everything possible about trees he only had to look at one to know how many cubit feet there was in one but in those days I didn't listen or take it in, I would now !

Your Dad and my Dad would have been kindred souls then Amy! My Dad grew the trees...the irony is that he did not live long enough to harvest the best ...my brother's widow was the beneficiary of his hundred plus acres of hardwood.

My Dad would have loved that Lori he liked nothing better than a discussion with someone who knew about wood , I'll tell you something funny , Dad had been called to the royal family's Norfolk home at Sandringham to look at some trees on the estate , he said he was talking to a scruffy old man in the woods about the trees and that the man continually used swear words , when he left to carry on his business one of the other estate workers said " do you know who that was " he said no ! it was King George V1th ... he didn't recognise him in his scruffy cloths :o)
What a shame your father missed out on his best crop , that's a lot of wood ! and a lifetimes work ...........

LOL...god save the king!
(my father's favourite printable oath!)
My dad taught me the names of the different trees...what their leaves and wood grain looked like...and how to sharpen a chainsaw chainblade ! Still have his set of files. My Grandfather willed the bush acres to my Dad and he passed it to his oldest son... I don't think it's still in the family. I know my uncle's sugar bush has been sold off. It's sad that such a legacy has been dumped for spare cash. I'm enjoying my little forest though...it's so peaceful and quiet...deer hunting season will be over in 4 days..then I can go back up the hill...have been staying close to the house for the last 2 wks. have seen men with reflective coats and rifles on their backs along the road to town. It spoils a perfectly good season.

My husband plus siblings lost there farm inheritance when his father took off with another woman , we have the history going right back to when they originally lived in a small Castle in the 12th century , they were left with nothing it's such a shame when things like that happen after working at it for so many years ..
My brother had a sawmill ,he almost severed his fingers when Band-saw snapped they managed to save them ,he still has problems with them mostly in cold weather .. I use to love going into the timber yard and seeing all the piles of timber and being told what they were going to be used for ..
I always imagine you living on a mountain it's sounds so idyllic , It reminds me of a book I once read titled 'I bought a mountain ' what a shame that the deer hunting is so close to you , I assume they aren't entitled to come onto your land , it's the pheasant shooting season here !

The hunting seasons cascade down thro Sept, Oct. and November. ( Grouse and wild turkeys, ducks and geese, bear, moose and deer.) If you do not wish hunters on your property you must go to the trouble of posting it. I bought signs and posted them along the road..but only one side of our property is bound by a road..the other three are just guessable lines in the forest...from one tree to another, lol. the lady who sold us the place said that the end of the property was up that way...(pointing) at the big oak! lol... Have to drive about 90 kms. to Pembroke to see the survey documents. Talk about an "unorganized territory"...that's their term for our area!
As you mentioned about not listening closely when you were younger...I find that common in all generations, don't you? I try to tell my sons all I can about the forest and the land and they take in what they will and the rest they will lament about when I'm gone.
Sad too about your husband's inheritance. My grandfather had a lot of land on the shores of Muskoka Lake as well as the inland forest lots...he gave the lakeshore properties to his favourites who promptly sold them off. My grandfather had a farmstead, a lakeshore Lodge, a large maple sugar bush, a huge rocky promontory we called the lookout rock (above Lake Muskoka) and a livery business on the lake...he built boats and cottages and furniture. His uncle owned a lakeside hotel called Cedarwylde, which was down the lake from my granddad's property. A lot of the family property went during the great depression of the 1930's.

I can only imagine all those creatures on your property Lori ,we have the occasional Muntjac deer also an abundance of rabbits at our gate, that's about as wild as we get , even so we have to dig wire fencing into the ground if not they would eat their way through our garden .
I've never been able to ' take in' Geography but you have inspired me to look up the places you mention I would like to be able to 'see' Lake Muskoka in my mind ! My husbands sister had horses , when she was younger she use to win prizes show jumping .
You have a lot of family history have you recorded it for the future ?
Do you have any close neighbours or are you on your own up there , I worry about the jobs you do in case of accidents etc.
We have been into the city a couple of times this week Christmas shopping ,I'm determined to get it done and out of the way !

What did you find about Muskoka Lakes? the very wealthy people who own the palatial "cottages" on the Lake have an association which has a website...perhaps you found it...The Muskoka Lakes Association?
You will think I'm a terrible Grinch...but for the last ten years we have had a lovely dinner on Christmas day and did our shopping in the after Xmas sales! We gave our boys (youngest was 16 then) a chunk of cash and told them to buy what they would most like to have. That way we had no returns to make! I know it sounds terrible but it worked so well that we continue to do that. It kinda makes Christmas day a day of rest and anticipation. Don't know about retailers over there, but the stores here have Boxing Day sales that last til after new years!
Have been working up the hill this week...as well as rerouting ducting and relocating wiring in the bathroom in preparation for putting up the drywall for the new shower enclosure. Storing sheets of mahogany underlay in the livingroom (lounge) for the kitchen flooring. Our house is very small and casual. We don't have any company other than our children...so we make do by walking around all the materials..lol...Have managed to remove the terrible flooring in the kitchen and have a plan for new bulkhead and shelves above the stove..which will go in at the same time as the flooring...I hope. Would like to have it done before Christmas but I'm not stressing. could be interesting. ah well, it will be done..sometime. lol.
Our son expressed the same concern about emergencies when living so far from town...we have a 9-1-1 service for serious emergencies. I am very careful when working alone in the bush..(forest)..my dad never called it anything else!..always "the bush".
this week I've been clearing deadfall...we've had some wooly weather recently..high winds..remnants of the hurricanes. Two large maples lost part of their tops. It won't be long until the Nor'easters will be starting and the snow along with it. the soil is frozen to about 3" so any snow will definitely stay.
Time to start dinner ...better get a move on.
Have a wonderful holiday. Best wishes for the New Year.

I've been on a road trip to Ontario on the Denbigh to Griffith highway ,it even included the road works LOL ,the trees looked amazing on the lakes with their beautiful colours ... I know a lot more about Lake Muskoka after reading the lake association , it has a very interesting history the name Muskoka is thought to come from a Chippewa tribe chief Mesqua Ukee -- which means . Not easily turned in the day of battle .... it seems that settlers in 1868 could receive free land if they agreed to clear it at least 15 acres and build a house measuring 16x20ft ,that is small I expect they could build bigger if they wanted , there's loads more about the steam ships opening the lake up for logging and the hotels for tourists later , but you know all this I'm sure . It was interesting to read that british planes went down into the lake in world war 2 ,presumably their bodies are still there !
We have after xmas sales here as well ,a lot of people buy then ,it makes sense , several of our younger family members have asked for Amazon vouchers so thats an easy one to deal with .
It sounds as though you have an awful lot of regeneration work to do in your house ,take your time don't over do it .
We have been having strong winds and a lot of flooding in the country ,we have been out collecting broken pots this morning :o)
Take care ☺

If you could take that trip today, Amy, instead of in cyber time, you would be delighted by the white world here in Eastern Ontario. will post a pic ...we drove to Ottawa to visit with our sons on Christmas Day...it was lovely the roads were bare and deserted as the day fell between two storms! We have replaced our summer tires with Michelin snow tires so traveling is safer...temps have been completely crazy...fluctuating above and then below zero... we had wet snow which coated every branch and twig...and then it got very cold. All the trees look like weeping willows! but it's a fairyland when the sun comes out...if only briefly. the wet was followed by drier lighter snow which drifts around with the high winds...trees snap off and fall across powerlines ...hence we had a period of cold and dark. That turned into an adventure...we piled the wood high beside the stove; lit a lovely blaze, and in no time the room was toasty...put the kettle on and got out the cast iron skillet...had hot tea with fried egg sandwiches...! what fun. Power returned after about 24 hours...I'm still lobbying my hub to buy a generator. My cousin tells me that I need a 7500 kwt. generator to run our pump, furnace and kitchen appliances. (I rather enjoyed our little camp outing though)
We made it past the Mayan Fools Day...and I'm not triskadecaphobic...so I'm counting on next year being much better than the one just passing.
Haven't had much time on GoY, managed a dodge in every now and then to check on friends...heard reports of cold and snow in Europe again...how have things been with you? your last winter just never seemed to end...lets hope this one is a "normal" one. was just thinking that I'm not sure I remember "normal"..lol.
I'm still plodding with my "regeneration" work...will finish sometime next year!
Hope you had a lovely Christmas day with the family...
and lots of hope, optimism and happiness in the new year, Amy! xx