Prescribed Burn 2020

We burned 75 acres about two weeks ago.  The weather was perfect and we were lucky to get the burn completed with all of the rain we have been having.  The lower part of the duff was damp and this protected the roots.  This was the first time this stand had been burned and there were places that lots of logging debris was on the ground.  This stand was thinned last year and was in need of fire going through the stand.

This was the results of the burn.

From a higher elevation you can see we had no problem with smoke.  It was a great day for a burn.  Smoke disbursement was great that day.

The debris pile in the foreground is to be burned as soon as conditions allow.

Merry Christmas

My grandson cutting the perfect tree from our tree farm!

Get Them Outdoors

It is so important that we listen to our grandchildren.  When they say they want to go hunting, hiking, or what ever reason they want to be outside we as adults need to oblige.  This weekend my youngest granddaughter wanted to go hunting with granddaddy.  Her older brother was going also but to a different stand.  We had to look for camo and orange hats for the outing.  We watched the sunrise and different birds in the field and she did get to see a doe.

She had a great time!

Forest Enterprises

We were at the Alabama Landowner Conference in Prattville and there, we were able to go on a tour of two Tree Farms.  One of the farms is now baling longleaf pine straw and doing well with this product.  We got to see the results of several years getting his land ready to make this operation a success.

He bales a twenty pound bail that he sells to retail outlets that sell to homeowners.

His straw is very clean and he gets a premium for his straw. 

He uses this piece of equipment to rake the straw for baling.

This is the baler he uses in his operation.

It was a great tour seeing what some forest owners are doing with their property.

Teacher Conservation Workshop

My wife, Felicia, recently spoke to a group of teachers at Auburn University.  She spoke about private forestland owners and how their forest management benefits all of us.  She shared how our forest help clean the air and most all the drinking water in our state comes down in a forest.  Felicia also shared how we use our property to educate others and how she has sponsored women's events to get more ladies involved in managing their property.   
This was the Teachers Conservation Workshop sponsored by Alabama Forestry Association.

Hot Summertime Weather

Planted chufa in this field for the wild turkeys.  They love the tubers these plants produce.

This is one of our largest fields where we plan sunn hemp for a summer planting.  This crop will be a high protein food available for the lactating does by the end of July as the fawns start to drop.

The first we planted has germinated and it just needs some of those summer showers.

Longleaf: An Amazing Tree

The mountain longleaf is a tree that I would call a survivor.  It has always amazed me at how these trees can grow on top of a rock.  I made this picture a few weeks back along an old road bed while turkey hunting in the Talladega National Forest.  Notice how the butt of the tree has spread out to support this tree that is near 100 foot in height. The roots just twist and turn to force themselves down through the rock.  

As a two year old tree we use prescribed fire in a stand to help in the growth of these trees.  They can survive fire and they thrive with fire.  These trees have evolved into a species that nature has prepared for the environment they live in.  

Their history is a great story to learn!