Easter in Saginaw Forest

It's Easter Sunday in Saginaw Forest, and after returning from brunch in town, I decided to do a project: clearing out some of the brambles that are slowly overtaking the area east of the campfire. While the brambles do provide a nice source of berries during the summer, I'm not the only one enjoying them. Birds like to get in there and eat the berries, and poop the seeds out elsewhere in the forest. This has led to brambles cropping up throughout the forest, like weeds. While I don't think that I will be able to halt the expansion of the brambles in other parts of the forest, I know that I can stop them here in the front of the cabin. Therefore, I chose to remove brambles at this time only from a smallish triangle of land that is right next to the path that leads out to PALL. It was full of brambles and one largish rose, and since the path to PALL is also the path used by SNRE students during the annual campfire celebration, I felt that it would be good to get rid of any prickly things that could snag on students' clothes as they enter and egress from the property. (How about that: a nice pat on my back.)

These brambles were also in a rather sunny part of the yard, and so if I were to choose to plant some vegetables, they might be best planted in that area -- in the light, but with some sort of fencing to keep out the dogs and groundhogs. (As for the squirrels, I doubt that much of anything can keep them out.)

After about an hour's work, I had removed all of the above-ground brambles and cut back the rose. I also uncovered a lot of dead wood that could be used to help burn all of the brambles that I pulled. I'll have to go over the area with a rake to get the rest of the small debris, and a hoe or tiller to pull up the root systems if I want to plant there. We'll see, though.

While doing my rounds (there is a definite up-tick in the number of visitors this weekend), I brought my camera along to photograph the dead deer remains that are near the front gate. Kind of sickening, but it's all natural decay. And it's proof of a sort that I get deer in the forest on occasion. What killed it though and how long it's been there I don't know. I only know that I saw it after the snows had melted, but it could have been a casualty that walked onto the property during hunting season.

Testing lake turn-over

Dr. Judd from EMU is out here this morning to test whether Third Sister Lake has turned over yet. The lake's ice (although quite thick during this past winter) melted off quite quickly during the warm spell at the early part of March.

Random mail

Over the years, various caretakers have signed up for various catalogs, magazines, and samplers. While magazine subscription samples is one thing that was a bit of an interesting perk of the position, I must admit that - for me - all the women's clothing catalogs and women's interest magazines are not of that much interest to me.

When I picked up my mail this morning, though, I found a sample for a caretaker from roughly 10 years ago. A sample of what? Tampons and pads. For some reason, this package specifically addressed to a female former caretaker really made my morning.

Rain

Although last night was cloudy - and a little windy - with no rain, I awoke this morning with the patter-patter of rain on the roof. With a temperature of 45F, the rain isn't the drenching cold that normally might be coming down at this time of year. Unfortunately, I left my camera at a friend's house, so no photo of the rainy, spring morning.

There is greenery peeking out from under the brown leaves, and I even saw some daffodils poking up. Who knows... there might be some daffs for Easter weekend!

Engineers in the forest

More engineers in the forest tonight, chanting songs around the fire.

Frogman back!

Prof. Berven is back in the forest this week, clearing up a lot of the damage and fallen trees that are around the frog pond. We chatted a little bit about the possibility of having him look at the front lawn area as a refuge for the brown and green frogs during the summer. I had seen some frogs when I was cutting the tall grass last year, and I think that the frogs are living in there (at least some of them).

It's interesting to note that Prof. Berven has been coming to the forest several years, and previous caretakers have made comments about his comings and goings.

Spring melt

It's mid-March and the snow is melted (save for in a few shadowy corners of the forest). Just a few more weeks, and we might have a bloom of greenery!