Today was the second day of record warm weather in a row, 53 degrees F on January 8th, 2003.  Its really too nice of a day to work, so I jumped on the ATV and went for a ride.  Come on along and I'll give you a quick tour of our forests here at Timbergreen.

Just above the barn and the solar kilns is a group of large white oak trees.  When we bought the land back in 1973, this area was extremely compacted bare dirt from 100 years of cattle grazing.  The soil has gradually been re-building over the years, and now regeneration is beginning to become established.  About 15 years ago, I hand  planted some sugar maple in here too, and some of these are now 10-15 feet tall and about one inch in diameter.  These are magnificent large oak trees, averaging about 24" dbh and are about 150 years old.  On the other side of the trail is young woods that sprouted from open pasture.  A patch of Lilly of the Valley is spreading here.

Other areas in this valley that were open pasture are now some of our most productive forest.  We planted pine and spruce in 1974, and a variety of hardwoods have naturally seeded in too.  Ash, cherry, oak, elm, walnut, birch, aspen and cedar are all growing now.  I learned Full Vigor - single tree management on this hillside and adapted it to the forest also.  Thirty year old trees are up to 16" dbh.              next