Last week was b.u.s.y. After doing some honeysuckle/garlic mustard removal early in the week, the weather hit--and didn't stop. The saturated soil brought down trees left and right, to the point where I lost count of how many I cleared and how many I had to go. On Saturday, I was up early to clear a big one before my volunteer work day. When nobody showed at 9, I was disheartened--but at 10:30 I scored two very able-bodied hard workers!
Since there were only three of us, I scrapped the original workday plan of clearing the shrubs along the berm in favor of pulling garlic mustard. We did good work--a lovely and productive morning. Thank you, Diane and Gayle, for the four bags worth of weeds!
I have a bit more tree clearing to do--what was left was "low priority," and I needed a break. Weather is beautiful now, though. Hopefully it will stay that way for when I get home from work!
Use of the Forest
Public use of Saginaw Forest is encouraged. Rules for the public's use include (but are not limited to):
- No parking in front of the access gate.
- Public use hours are from 6am to 6pm only; no camping on the site!
- No vehicles or bicycles are permitted on the site except those for approved research and teaching use (bike parking available at the main gate).
- Dogs with owners are welcome to visit, but they must be on a leash. (Also see here.)
- Dog owners must carry out all pet waste; please bring your own doggie bag to do so.
- No cutting or collecting of plant material; no hunting or harming vertebrates (this includes no fishing).
- No smoking.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Too many.
Four trees fell yesterday.
Four.
3 of them are cleared. Please bare with me on the fourth, I'm tired from the prior 3 and I have to go to my other jobs, too! I cleared some of it (a big multi-brancher), so it's not quite the disaster area that it was originally.
Four.
3 of them are cleared. Please bare with me on the fourth, I'm tired from the prior 3 and I have to go to my other jobs, too! I cleared some of it (a big multi-brancher), so it's not quite the disaster area that it was originally.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Some surprises aren't pleasant.
After looking down and realizing that during your struggle with a honeysuckle branch, you stepped on a fresh, juicy animal carcass.
I missed the bigger part of yesterday's nasty weather here in A2. I was in Novi at the time. Just caught the tail end of it in the evening. After the rain and thunder passed, the woods were a beauty. The sky was a splash of clouds and color, fog rose up around the house, and drips played a little concert under the trees. This morning was also lovely. Our hour hike felt too short, and the work of pulling and cutting and dragging felt like no chore. I took the opportunity to just work around the house today, pulling garlic mustard and cutting honeysuckle and buckthorn. There are few good things one can say about garlic mustard, but it is at the very least easy to pull.
Hope everybody stops by to enjoy the beauty before the next rain.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Ah. Sunshine and silliness.
Guess who calls DPS whenever you're parked anywhere at the (well-signed) front gate to have your butt ticketed?
Yeah. This girl.
The weather is getting nice, so naturally people lose the ability to decipher signage.
Wait, is that how it goes?
Also, stop trying to hide your fishing pole behind your back! I can see it!
Yeah. This girl.
The weather is getting nice, so naturally people lose the ability to decipher signage.
Wait, is that how it goes?
Also, stop trying to hide your fishing pole behind your back! I can see it!
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
May, beautiful May.
Good morning.
And another beautiful one it is.
Currently just finished breakfast, with a husky sleeping peacefully on the couch. We got up at our standard early hour for working and walking. My task for this morning (and tomorrow as well) was raking sections of the trail that have all but disappeared under thick layers of leaf litter. I know it sounds odd, but I think it's a good idea. The little offshoot of path along the west side of the lake has appeared almost hidden, and other sections have turned into water slides where the leaves have compacted into thick, smooth sheets.
I like spreading out my work over the week, putting in an hour before going to work in the morning, rather than bunching everything together on the weekends. Next week I intend to tackle some ambitious invasive removal, but I'll talk more about that another time.
Lately I've had a nasty habit of misplacing items of necessity, but today I found my DW-40 and was able to fix the completely jammed lock on the barn. Finally.
And another beautiful one it is.
Currently just finished breakfast, with a husky sleeping peacefully on the couch. We got up at our standard early hour for working and walking. My task for this morning (and tomorrow as well) was raking sections of the trail that have all but disappeared under thick layers of leaf litter. I know it sounds odd, but I think it's a good idea. The little offshoot of path along the west side of the lake has appeared almost hidden, and other sections have turned into water slides where the leaves have compacted into thick, smooth sheets.
I like spreading out my work over the week, putting in an hour before going to work in the morning, rather than bunching everything together on the weekends. Next week I intend to tackle some ambitious invasive removal, but I'll talk more about that another time.
Lately I've had a nasty habit of misplacing items of necessity, but today I found my DW-40 and was able to fix the completely jammed lock on the barn. Finally.
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