October 10-14, 2009 Grapevine cutting, checking seedlings
The primary objective for this trip was to cut even more grapevines. Ohio DNR has given me more time to complete this project.
The weather from Saturday until Wednesday was cool with no rain. On Wednesday, rain started at midday and I quit and returned home.
I was able to finally finish marking the property boundaries. On the east, north, and south lines, I was able to find remnants of fence, but on the west line, the fence at either corner disappeared after only 10-15 feet. I used GPS to mark the line. As this is only for our use to avoid over stepping our property, this should be sufficient for now. Truth be know, it has been many years since I have visited to this part of the property.
I still have perhaps five acres yet to clear grapevines. I have done the areas that have good trees worthy of protecting. What is left are areas with small trees and dense bushes. This, plus the steep slopes, makes it difficult to traverse.
Late last year, a tree on the east bank of Sharps Fork fell into the stream. This caused to stream to migrate about forty feet creating an Oxbow to the west as the water flowed around the fallen tree. I was surprised to find that the stream now flows to the east of the tree and has shifted about fifteen feet to the east of the original stream bed. There is now a small island about thirty feet wide and fifty feet long.
I did find surviving seedlings from this spring’s planting. Whether we have enough to meet to project goal of 300 surviving seedlings is not clear.
I am trying a different approach to planting walnut seeds. I gathered about 500 walnuts and just dumped these in four locations. Each location was marked with stakes. If all goes well, squirrels will find the walnuts and plant them for me. I also planted 50 walnuts using a planting bar. Fortunately, I can easily gather enough walnuts from just the trees near my cabin. Last year, we planted walnuts and just stomped the seeds into the soft ground.
As usual, we saw many deer and squirrels. I also saw what may be black bear scat and tree marking.
