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Stressless 'Don't Blink', Ski Jump Pond/View Access. Part 1

Stressless

Active Member
2,418
85
Keene, OH
Double tapping the view we made since last March...

The sugar maples flash a couple days ago was spectacular.

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Stressless

Active Member
2,418
85
Keene, OH
An update on this plot, Ski Jump, is prolly only about 40-50% productive, in that I didn't get a good catch of perennials this spring (pH was 4.9) didn't overseed with cereal rye this fall and didn't control the weeds well enough. So I've been working on the plan for '21 to bump it into the 90%+ productive range like the Spoil plot. Every little bit helps, from what it was, to now just at 40-50% - is remarkable. I added the lime this year - so this spring the frost seeding of perennials will catch much better. I am hopeful that it'll come in as good or better than Spoil plot. We'll see.

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Stressless

Active Member
2,418
85
Keene, OH
Verdant.
Most of the burn and tree scars are faded. Many species have gravitated here to feed daily in the last 18 months.
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Up for the June work and tasks at the farm. Lots of work lined up in a short burst but well tended it'll pay off this fall and keep paying dividends.

Got it all trimmed up, wanted to hit it again with IMOX of Cleth but plumb ran out time. BFT from frost seeding really came in well... Don't figure I'll realy much more on this one. This and Spoil got cut from the woods in 2019, very happy with the quality of the results.

Makes sippin a whisky and enjoying a cigar up here just that much better.
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Stressless

Active Member
2,418
85
Keene, OH
Ski Jump has been transforming since we cut it in Apr of '19. Overseeded an existing legume plot by frost seeding with a heavy percentage of Birdsfoot Trefoil, hit with 6OZ/acre of IMOX in mid Apr. Prolly 60-65% in legumes and the rest grasses and some weeds.

Neighbor suggests Clethodim, I grab the last jug at Rural King and we get the legumes sprayed about two weeks ago.

Fantastic results- 👏 as the wx breaks, its perfect for the legumes to run into the now mulched bare dirt.

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Stressless

Active Member
2,418
85
Keene, OH
Been over a year since I updated this thread and well, by golly, I Think it's worthy. I'm really happy with Caleb's work via MilRay Excavating - The young man has always impressed me with his skill in operating equipment of meet expectations. My 91 y/o mom and her escort Lowell - whom is related to my wife which is fun to all of us. Watching the excavating below the cabin.... "Bob it would make your dad proud", wow he's been gone 12 years but yes I still tear when she says stuff like that....
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The West edge was always a function of the 24" silver maple on that corner. Over the last year or so I've saved up to get this area and the other two done... this fall was the time for it to happen.

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opening up the corners and using equipment to protect my health ... i'm okay with that....
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final and done.
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Stressless

Active Member
2,418
85
Keene, OH
Seeded SkiJump proper in the early Sep with legumes and rye also planted the new dirt with legumes and a nurse crop of winter rye, added 2T/acre of lime at that time to the new dirt. It all came up well and then got the gypsum on it and harrowed and frost seeded in early March. Beamed in Tuesday and a flock was feed thru :) worked the CampCam and enjoyed watching the critters, there were three Toms for awhile but they never all got close enough to get a good pic. They gobbled a couple times but that didn't come thru the cam's mic. I know I've got a lot less legume seed on the ground then I put down 🦃but the new growth as @at1010 stated in his No-Till blog on early green up - the plots that provide draw them in.

Really happy with the way the entire 10 year project to make this plot/opening/view has come about and the results for the local wildlife.

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Stressless

Active Member
2,418
85
Keene, OH
With the very large deadfall area produced by the clearing in Sep I figured it would be just about burnable and there were no crop trees that a hot burn would damage so got after it two weeks ago.

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Let it burn thru the pile, it wasn't as dry as I hoped for but drier than required for burning. Got in and cut and tossed, cut and tossed... and cut and tossed for 7 days. Drug stumps into it that I could move or winch in...

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My niece came down for her first turkey hunt, chores in the afternoon.
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Stressless

Active Member
2,418
85
Keene, OH
Ever since Chris and I cut West line in 2019 I knew I'd have to get after it sooner or later. Well, 5 years later I decided it might be now or never as the spring green-up seems like it's just around the corner and removing trees is 100% harder after leaf out. ... and I'm getting old! Opening the pond called FishBowl up to a full view from the cabin was always the end goal. Every year the trees got bigger, I got older and break even point just might have been behind me in the past tense.

Had a warm up and help with Olivia, we took down 3 standing trees and 2 that had dropped into the SkiJump plot after being girdled last summer. This was a nice wild cherry that was a back leaner over the pond. I wanted that wood so latched the winch on it about 20' up.

We had a great time with Movie night and elk burgers with neighbor Cliff and got busy the next day. Collected a years worth of wild cheery for smoking - so dang good.

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With those five cleaned up and not needing a chiropractor and hand fulls of drugs I got after it Tuesday AM. Total of 14 trees done and 9 of those by myself Tuesday. Stayed with the trend of dropping three or four, limbing, bucking and getting the limbs cleaned up.


A 22" Silver maple needed to go and it's been two years since a dropped the last one in the pond so with no chance to pull that back leaner over I just let it go into the pond.


My excitement grew with each tree I fell, knowing it's just about the last act in a long long play. Opening the curtain bit by bit, opening up the show rather than closing it.

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Besides the medium sized bonfire stack, I put up three stacks for my boy's mushroom hobby, Cherry, Yellow Poplar and Sasafrass (not100% on sasafrass ID). They're supposed to age 4-6 weeks then get inoculated - That'll happen at turkey season.

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I'll get torched sometime this summer. All in all pleased with the entire project and all the folks that helped, Guthrie's, Mooch, Dean and Cliff (God rest their souls), Oliva, Zak and my girlfriend of 36 years.

Left some small Dogwoods on the bank and a big'ol gurl of a silver maple.
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A bonfire, some stumps to cut off at ground level and delimbing the exposed limbs of the maple that went swimmin with the fishes are the only small chores needing done.
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