"I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free." ~Wendell Berry
Purple Martin Season 2025 has begun here on Gobbler's Knob! For the first time ever in my 19 years of being a purple martin landlord, 1 adult male and 2 adult female purple martins arrived at the same time on Feb. 28, 2025.
As of today, March 7, 2025, there are now 8 purple martins here and the first tree swallow of the season is flitting around and singing with glee as he has 14 nest boxes from which he can currently choose!
Here's a short video that I captured on the 28th of the purple martins' arrival.
Time for Missourians to get your racks / housing up!
I should probably start by explaining why I used "Cryin'" in my blog titles. I have always been very hardcore about NOT cutting any trees down. Even to the point of the detriment of my own goals - that of creating better habitat. The whole idea of climate change does bother me and I have heard the persistent, loud, constant drumbeat about it for years. So, I was really against cutting ANY trees down when we first moved here to our 23 acres.
But, as Bob consoled and educated (don't tell him I said that!!) / convinced me that we needed to remove some trees so the others could be more healthy and actually contribute more to our environment, I began to research and agree with him more & more. After the first round of removals many years ago - when my heart said, "STOP", our tree stand was still over-crowded and many trees were still only growing branches on one side. Others, trying to reach the sun, were putting on way too much height compared to trunk thickness, exposing themselves to potential wind breakage.
Thicket of cedar trees, multi-flora rose, Japanese honeysuckle, Winter Creeper needing to be cleared.
In late January of this year, I agreed to a staged approach - first, let's cut down all the small sumac sprouts, multi-flora rose, etc. and then take inventory of the native, healthy, larger trees and see if there were any new varieties of 'volunteer' trees we should make room for.
Good grief - the birds can plant so many cedar trees and multi-flora rose!! We first had to clear this mess. We needed chainsaws, loppers, and protective gear to clear the
small stuff out to get a better view of the tree stand. After lots of
Ibuprofen, heating pads and ice for sore muscles and nursing our backs and bloodied faces & arms (multi-flora rose does NOT go down without a fight!), we spent 2 weeks talking and talking.
The large cedars in the background to the east were also over-crowded and providing cover for Japanese honeysuckle and multi-flora rose. Bob had been wanting to get rid of them for years, so we reached an agreement. The cedars along the outer edge of the property could remain and these could be removed.
After posting a picture of our cleaned out tree stand on a Native Habitat Facebook group, one knowledgeable member pointed out that our "basal area" of trees was still too high. So, off I go to learn more about calculating, 'basal area'. Ok, fine.... I suppose I could always plant MORE trees. You can read an older blogpost here (Tell it to the Trees), which describes all the problems of an over-crowded stand and benefits (even MORE carbon sequestration) of younger trees.
The view from my office window after we cleared out all the other junk.
Finally, with 'acceptance' settling in, I made a post on Facebook, asking if anyone locally needed firewood. My friend Doug, private messaged me and, after a walk-through with his fellow wood-cutters, they decided they could use the oak & large cedars in their wood shop - not for firewood, but for artistic creations! Even better than using it for firewood!
Doug and his 2 friends arrived, geared up and marched into the woods with chainsaws revving and running. My heart was hurting and I could hear the blood was rushing through the veins around my head. The first cut is the deepest....Rod Stewart was right. After the first tree fell, I decided I had to let go now...it was too late to try to stop them. They were on a mission and I was very impressed with their skill in sending the trees in the right directions to prevent damaging to other trees.
The first large oak to fall.
I decided to not take anymore pictures....it was too hard on my heart, so I waited until I saw the results. It was then that I realized the new potential for this area. Our quail, turkey and deer are going to be so happy! And Gary...our resident groundhog - once he gets over being pissed off about the new landscape and finds his new home, he'll be okay too.
Bob thinks we should have removed even more, but I'm happy with this.
This area - the 3 large cedars removed, some small branches cleanup - let the sun shine in!!
With the debris cleaned up - and 4 very large brush piles created, I turned my attention to the new guys in town. New shingle oaks, hickories, short-leaf pines and a hackberry now freed up and with plenty of room to grow.
The New Carbon Collectors arise!
No longer shaded & crowded, a young shingle oak now has room & sunshine to help it grow.
I girdled the tree in back for the woodpeckers, and the young hickory is now free.
A very young short-leaf pine was found after one of the large cedars was removed.
Another short-leaf pine growing under a large cedar is now free.
And ANOTHER short-leaf pine is now free!
A young hickory, maple and oak tree, are very happy they don't have close neighbors.
This hickory tree below was freed up after removal of a very large Eastern Red cedar tree causing it to lean from over-crowding. Hopefully, it will straighten up, or Mr. Freeze will either have to cut it down or take meds.
Young hickory tree - better straighten up buttercup, or Mr. Freeze will have to take meds!
This very, very young hackberry did not escape completely unscathed during the tree-removal operation. But, I convinced Mr. Freeze to let it stay until we see if it leafs out this spring.
A young hackberry covered up by a large cedar - a little damage, but hopefully, it survives.
A very nice, young, straight Post oak freed up.
The tree below is Mr. Freeze's prized shingle oak that we found. Due to over-crowding, it grew really, really tall to try to reach the sun. But, it's also really, really skinny. Hopefully, it will cowboy-up and survive the spring winds and be a beautiful tree.
Shingle oak - Mr. Freeze's prized tree.
This group of 6 trees now have plenty of room to stretch & grow. Eastern Gamma grass already planted here.
Oh my..... my heart is healing and I'm seeing the possibilities now!
And here, for historical documentation is a video of the final results (click on the YouTube link to embiggen - HA!):
Four of these very large brush piles were created, using the tops of the cedar trees (that couldn't be used for lumber, etc.) and the larger branches, etc. These will greatly benefit the wildlife seeking cover for the next 2-3 years, and Gary will have 3 of these from which to choose.
A large brushpile created using the tops of the cedar trees and large branches from the other trees removed. A small short-leaf pine will grow quickly now after being exposed to the sun!
Now, we need to spend the next year eradicating the non-native, invasive stuff that is likely to re-sprout: Callery pears, Japanese honeysuckle, multi-flora rose, winter creeper and any other crap that won't contribute to the new, healthier ecosystem we've created. I'm SOOOOOOO excited and impatient...but the walks to identify the native 'volunteers' through this area will be so much fun this summer!
"Yeah, Baby, you were right about getting this done"! Now, how often do I get to bask in the warm, bright rays of the "you're right" confession? I think I was absolutely glowing.
That's what Bob said to me as "TD", from Midwest Forestry Mulching and Land Clearing made his way through our ravine / riparian area. TD was tearing down and mulching his way through all the Japanese honeysuckle vines, multi-flora rose, sprouts, small trees (including cedar!), etc. so that we can more easily manage this area.
After spending weeks trying to clear this area by hand - chainsaws, loppers, tractor and much blood and backpain, I had had enough fun.We finally had a "meet Jesus" discussion as we both realized that it was going to take a very long time for us to manually cut our way north with that approach. We had lots of obstacles facing us; a) where would be put all the stuff we cut out of here; b) it would probably be grown in behind us before we finished the whole thing; and c) we're not getting any younger and would love to see native plants growing in this area in the very near future.
This was all we had been able to clear in the last few months:
It looked great - but we had only made it about 150 feet northward - if that.
And, the brush pile from just that area looked like the picture below. Even with 23 acres, eventually, you run out of room with these size piles.
It was like trying to walk through wet concrete. The vast majority of the rest of it northward (for about 600-700 feet long x 75 feet wide), was not even navigable.
I found out about "forestry mulching" on the Native Habitat Manager's group on Facebook. After watching some videos online, I was surprised to find out that's really a thing! So, a Google search and a message to this company (and he responded on a SUNDAY!), several reschedules due to problematic weather, and it was on for Thursday, January 23rd!
I can't find the words to convey how happy I am about this...check out the pictures.
Before:
After:
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After:
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More "after" pictures:
Yowza! Next steps - instead of spending the next 2-3 years clearing all this, we can now focus on killing the invasive crap growing in here, then plant some native forbs & grasses seed.
