Thinning to Start Soon

We will be starting a thinning operation on a stand of sixteen year old loblolly pines.

First we have to get the roads ready for trucks to be able to haul equipment in and the logs out as the thinning process goes forth.

Fun in the Forest

We had a great time in the forest this weekend exploring a new parcel of property we have been blessed to purchase.  The Grandchildren had fun hiking, climbing trees, catching salamanders and frogs. 

Our youngest granddaughter is a daredevil.  "Who needs an amusement park when you have a forest?"

No better way to spend an early spring day than hiking in the woods!

2017 Tree Planting

We put in the fire breaks on our newest tract that we harvested the timber on in 2016.  This tract is being converted to native mountain longleaf pines.  It joins a six year old 40 acre tract of longleaf pines that we did a prescribed burn on in March of 2016.

After the breaks were put in we did a site prep prescribed burn.  The main litter to burn was the piles of logging slash left over from the harvest in 2016.  We had enough wind that we really got a better burn than we had anticipated.  

Some of the site had small piles of limbs and these areas burned very well.  As you can see this site will not be any trouble to plant now.  The Piedmont variety of longleaf pine seedlings will be used in this reforestation

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A WEEK AND A HALF LATER... 

On Valentine Day we planted this 15 acre tract with Mountain Longleaf Pines.  This will be a beautiful forest on day.  Looking forward to the rain we are supposed to get tonight which will settle these seedlings in for their growth through the years on this property.  

Cedar Fence

This past weekend my wife and I made a split rail cedar fence.  The wood came from a dead Eastern Red Cedar that fell when we did a prescribed burn on this tract for site prep and the planting of longleaf pine seedlings.

We split the logs using two wedges and a maul.  Lots of work but rewarding to be able to use the wood and not leave it on the ground until the next burn where it would be destroyed. 

We are going to landscape this entrance to our property.