Tag: Walkabout

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Home Life

2026 Walkabout

Mulberry tree lost some additional branches over winter, yet will still leaf out.

Last week I made my annual inspection of trees, bushes, and plants growing on our property. The large ones continue to deteriorate after the 2020 derecho damage. My rule is as long as they leaf out, I will leave them for another year. There will be an all-day project of cutting dead branches and making firewood from them.

The Pin Oak is in the best shape of the old ones, and the two new apple trees are coming right along. After cutting lilacs back dramatically, they are almost fully recovered. The legacy apple trees continue to die out, with only three of six left. The Red Delicious tree lost major branches during the derecho, and another large branch died over winter. There may be a harvest next year if it makes it that long.

I like the open spaces I created in the yard. The main pathway from the 25-acre woods to points west of our home is frequently used by deer. They leave their footprints all along the way. There don’t seem to be as many nesting songbirds in the row of trees with apple, pear, spruce, and mulberry. They seem to have moved across the yard to the neighbor’s patch of scrub growth. Maybe the nestlings are better shielded from predators there.

Due to moles and voles, our yard looks pretty disreputable. I have never been one to invest time or money in maintaining a lawn. Maybe it’s time to turn everything into an edible garden if I have the energy for that scale of work. In the meanwhile, the first mowing will reveal if there is anything positive about the lawn.

The next part of walkabout is climbing on the roof to inspect the shingles. I’ll wait until the maple tree begins to distribute seeds and clean the gutters at the same time.

This spring ritual has become a part of me. Here are a few photos from walkabout.

Autumn Blaze Maple Damage.
Autumn Blaze Maple leafing out.
Major crack in the Pin Oak tree trunk.
Healing on the Pin Oak where I cut of a dead branch.
The Red Delicious apple tree is a goner, yet there may be another harvest in 2027.
The Blue Spruce is losing needles on the side toward an Earliblaze apple tree.
Categories
Kitchen Garden

Spring is Coming 2022-Style

Working in the garage with door open on Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

I resumed daily walkabouts around our property line after the snow melt and noticed the toll taken on our trees. Of 15 remaining trees, all but one of which I planted, only six have no apparent issues.

Most of them are damaged from either the 2020 derecho, or from one or more of the straight line wind events we’ve had in recent years. Disease is creeping into the two EarliBlaze apple trees as lower branches blacken, die, and are cut off in pruning.

The Green Ash by the house appears to be doing well. We expect the Emerald Ash Borer to take it eventually, although there had been no infestation as of yesterday.

The Bur Oak is native to Iowa and is also doing well. Planted in the 1990s, it will come to dominate the front yard as years progress. It is a good tree. In the backyard there is a Bur Oak planted from an acorn from the one in front. There were three oak trees planted from acorns near the garden at the same time. Two of them blew a kilter during the derecho. I removed one last year and the other needs to come down. The backyard Bur Oak that will remain is flourishing.

The pear tree planted at our daughter’s high school graduation party is thriving. We all placed some kind of organic matter in the hole before planting it. Most years we get pears. They are sweet and juicy and some years there are enough to put up pear sauce. The only issue is it is growing too tall to collect all the ripe fruit. It was a nice addition to the back yard.

The two apple trees planted near the garden have been growing acceptably. I hope they begin to fruit before the three remaining apple trees have faded and are gone.

It is unclear what to do about the trees this spring. I considered taking scions from the Red Delicious tree and growing new from the same genetics. The trouble is it will take from six to eight years for them to grow to maturity and fruit. That’s too long for a septuagenarian to wait.

I planted lettuce. My maternal grandmother passed down the tradition of planting “Belgian lettuce” on March 2. Usually it is to be direct seeded, although the ground was still frozen. I honored the tradition by planting a flat indoors for transplant into a row covered planting area. Spring is coming and we’ll want lettuce when it arrives.

“Belgian lettuce,” March 2, 2022.
Categories
Writing

Walkabout #3

Village Well, Dec. 21, 2021.

Every village has a well. I began helping manage ours in 1995 when I joined the association board for our village of 85 homes. It has been an interesting project. We don’t really call it a village, yet the size is right.

I used this morning’s walkabout to head up the hill to meet with a contractor about a maintenance job. Ever since our main contractor died it has been a challenge to find technicians to work on our specialized equipment.

We met and they explored the well house, took photographs and asked questions. Like those before them they would not commit to bidding on the job. Fingers crossed they do bid.

We have had issues with our mostly volunteer managed well. At one point we bought the generator in the photo so an outage wouldn’t cause us to lose water pressure. When we lose pressure for a period of time the Iowa Department of Natural Resources requires a testing protocol, which is a bit of a pain. We have enough volunteers so whenever electrical power is lost, someone runs up the hill and starts the generator so it’s back on line before running out of water.

Water is life. Every village has a well. While mostly unseen behind the tall pine trees the village well is at the center of our lives.

Categories
Home Life

Walkabout #2

Damaged Mulberry tree.

On walkabout I saw the damage to the Mulberry tree. From the stain emitting from the cracked trunk, we can tell it was trauma. I suspect it was damaged during the Aug. 10, 2020 derecho. Because the damage faces Northeast, away from the house, it wasn’t noticed until now.

I’ll observe the progress of the wound to see how it goes. I believe the tree is a goner, yet will let nature take it’s course. I’m in no hurry to take it down with a chainsaw.

While the mulberry was a junk tree presumably from a seed dropped by a bird sitting on a length of rebar left by a surveyor as a property marker, it has been with us for our whole time here.

It produced berries, mostly for birds, and there may be more crops ahead. It is the last of two volunteer trees growing here when we bought the lot.

If it dies or falls apart I won’t replace it with another. It’s trunk grew to straddle my lot and two adjacent ones. It’s better to keep trees on my side of the line. One should not rush into tree management. Decisions made today are consequential for years to come. Sometimes we make the wrong decisions as I have.

After a quarter century, I’m getting to know the lot we developed. It is time to get outdoors and spend more time in the environment in which we live. Even if that means little more than walking in the yard.

Categories
Home Life

Walkabout #1

Abandoned bird nest.

I added a walkabout to my daily routine. Once the sun rises, and after I finish daily writing, I leave by the garage door and walk the property line of our 0.62 acre. Each day I saw something unanticipated.

The condition of trees, activities of squirrels and birds, and windblown trash deposited on our lawn. The walkabout provides an opportunity to take stock of our land and consider what needs doing, what should be left alone. I’m discovering a lot of neglected work.

There are at least three bird nests I’ve found. I’m amazed at how they take found objects and craft them. Anything pliable seems a likely building material, including plastic wrap and bits of fiber. I don’t remove the nests unless they fall from the tree or bush. For the most part they are woven into live branches with a sense of permanency.

I’d forgotten how large our yard is and how many distinct landscapes are in it. As we head into winter the walkabouts will be a time for observing, thinking, and planning our landscape. I don’t know how I went so long without this as part of each day.