Deer Harvested 11/25/2014

Look at tab "Hunting" to see the deer Russell harvested yesterday at Bowden Grove.

Sweetgums to Mushrooms

Back in February of this year I added a post called "Multiple Use Forest".  You can look back and see that post here on this site.  The results are in from cutting these Sweetgum trees out of the loblolly pines.  Fresh, vitamin rich, Shiitake mushrooms.

We inoculated these sticks with the mushroom spores after harvesting them and now we are harvesting Shiitake mushrooms.  These will produce for about three to five years.

This is what "Multiple Use" means!

Fall Work

Yesterday was a busy work day.  Abby and Eli(eleven months old) helped me with tree-stands.  We moved some and worked to repair others to make them safer.  It takes so much time to check 38 stands and get them ready before hunting season.  Of the 38 stands, we worked on 6 yesterday and have worked on others earlier and have about 10 more to check and repair.  

We did take a walk into the new property we last purchased and looked for a place to put a stand on this 15 acres.  The ground was covered in acorns here so we knew a stand must be put up here.  

On that walk Eli got to play in the leaves and with sticks as we sat in the woods for a short break.  He is so fascinated by this new world he is discovering.   

Site Prep Burn

Yesterday, We did a site prep burn to get ready for tree planting this winter.  This can be on of the most difficult burns to complete and get good results.

Here you can see the results we got.  This is what you try to accomplish, moonscape.  This makes planting so much easier.

Go to the link at the bottom of this page (private forest landowner) for information.

Children's Website

Below is the address to a great site for children to play and learn about Agriculture.  There are several games that they will enjoy.
http://www.myamericanfarm.org/

Busy Past Week

The past few days have been really busy.  We were are the Alabama Treasure Forest Association annual meeting at the end of last week and then on Monday we traveled to Moultrie, Georgia, for the Ag Expo and Southeastern Farmer of the Year 25th anniversary.  On Thursday night, a board meeting.  Friday, we had educational seminars an one of the most interesting was about eagles.  Auburn University had the football game eagles for us to see and they shared information with us about eagles.

This foot with its talons were impressive! 

This eagle was Nova.  I know you have seen him on TV before, flying over the football field or at the Olympics. The eagle care giver told about at the LSU game this year where the eagle was

about to fly, the eagle was looking skyward.  The handlers looked up and they saw a Bald Eagle fly over the stadium.  They waited for it to leave then released Nova down to the field.

On Saturday, we had an outside tour of part of Auburn University's forest research property.  The tour was about forest management.

On Monday we drove to Valdosta, Georgia, to the Southeastern Farmer of the Year 25th Anniversary gathering. We stayed there over night and then the next day drove to Moultrie, for the Ag Expo.  That was a mess.  It rained bucket fulls so we left early to get back home.

Fawns Brought Out

Our outdoor neighbor brought her twins out for the first time this morning. She has been staying close around our house every day for the past month.  One day she was about three feet from our garage doors on the concrete drive.  She has twins just like she did last year.  Last year one was a buck and one was a doe.  The buck was hit by a car a few months ago near our front yard.  The young doe is staying as close as possible to the older doe and the fawns.

You might ask, how do you know this is the same doe you saw last year?  Well it is easy, the doe has about a four inch spot on top of her loin. 

As they left they followed the older doe, crossing the road and then the field headed to the pond.