J-birds place

[j-bird]

Wow - really great tutorial and explanation of your thought process on your property and goals. I think you are spot on!

BTW - I wish I could find a good 2 bottom plow and then once I find one I wish I could get it at that price

Okie - I'll be honest I'm not sure how these land tour things are supposed to work so I am making it up as I go. One thing I do know is often times we see that folks do certain things, but we don't get a lot of info as to why. I think the "why" can be just as import as to the "how" or "what". I explain my reasoning and I could be entirely wrong. I am wrong a lot - ask my wife! I know I have some things that are done wrong, but we work with what we have. I know some of the things I have posted here maybe don't belong in a "land tour" and that is fine....folks don't have to read it. I like documenting my place and if I can help someone then the entire process has been worth it. I live on my property so it's easy to keep updates coming and I plan to do just that.

Having a toolbox of tools doesn't make you a mechanic......knowing how, when and why to use those tools makes you a mechanic.

As far as the plow is concerned......sometimes it just pays to be in the right place at the right time! My plow, disc and planter all came to me....I wasn't specifically shopping for them at the time they presented themselves. Turns out stuff is a lot cheaper when folks just want stuff gone! It gets tougher to find this stuff now because of plotters and hobby farmers and the like.

 

[j-bird]

Wow, your deer do not lack for Ag crops to browse, and that must be some rich soil. Really like all you have done with plots, clearings, fruit trees and involvement of younger generation. Looking forward to riding along. It gets me when I realize how early some of you plant the food plots, but then you are not in the hot, humid south.

Ain't many folks in Iowa gonna trade me dirt, but it holds it's own. I really wish I had the opposite from a habitat perspective, even a 50/50 split would be nice. But it is what it is and this is home so I gotta make the best I can with what I have to work with. I have been doing this for roughly a decade so it's been many small steps (not all forward) and the occasional "leap" so to speak. You make a comment about planting times and the like. I remember on the other forum where CnC was posting pics of trees in bloom, I was saying how I had bare trees and soggy ground from the snow melt the MN/WI boys still had feet of snow on the ground. That is why knowing the location of folks is SO important in getting good information. If someone asked when the best time was to plant corn, without knowing their location, replies would vary widely if you, me and say Wisc all chimed in. I am also a little early for me in my fall annual planting as it is, but we are getting rain, which can be a struggle in my area in August so I decided to take advantage of it.

 

[Brushpile]

What a great land thread, 8 years of reading the forums summed up in one thread... and your statistics document your success!

 

[j-bird]

What a great land thread, 8 years of reading the forums summed up in one thread... and your statistics document your success!

Thanks Brushpile. I will make no bones about it, the former forum, a few other forums and some good reading material is how I gained the desire, ability and encouragement to do what I have done thus far. I still have a long way to go, but this seems to be more of a journey and not a destination. A new forum - means a new beginning.....even with familiar people. I figured I would take the opportunity and share my journey and maybe encourage someone else along the way in the process, maybe get fresh eyes on what I have done and get a different perspective.

 

[Brushpile]

I think the new beginning spawned the best of many old threads. I intended the best of my thread to be a source document, and yours certainly is! It looks to me that you've done all the right things, and your thread serves as a model for farm country habitat management. Looking with a critical eye, there isn't much to add, except maybe mulch or weed mat around fruit and nut trees.

 

[j-bird]

I think the new beginning spawned the best of many old threads. I intended the best of my thread to be a source document, and yours certainly is! It looks to me that you've done all the right things, and your thread serves as a model for farm country habitat management. Looking with a critical eye, there isn't much to add, except maybe mulch or weed mat around fruit and nut trees.

Funny you say that - I mulched once....won't do it again. Voles got under the weed barrier and chewed off and the support roots - tree didn't survive. I have since went with gravel from my stream. I put down the weed barrier and put the gravel over the top. Works much better. It will grow some weeds once in a while but I can't say the weeds really hurt the tree growth. Typically I do this with a new tree is planted and after a few years it's established well enough that I don't really worry about it. I can't remember where I picked that up from but it was the old site I'm sure.

I don't know about a resource....I just want to show folks that we all deal with different issues and there is more than one way to skin a cat. Too much of anything is....well, too much. We can certainly see that in wildlife habitat. If I can motivate 1 person to look at their place differently and see where they have gone wrong or see a different perspective or try something new then it's all worth while. I didn't know what I was doing when I started, and there are days I still scratch my head wondering, "What was I thinking". I still learn stuff on these sites on a regular basis and I still try odd things just to see how they will turn out. It's all a big puzzle (sometimes with only a real blurry picture) - sometimes you have to stand back from it and squint real hard to see it. If this was easy everyone would do it - you have to want to learn and you have to be willing to get dirty. Anyone can do this.....even some ding-dong from a state where they are called Hoosiers and not even a Hoosier knows what that is really!

 

[j-bird]

Well I was out between rain showers today putting exclusion cages in my fall annual plots and took some other pics along the way.

Exclusion cage in my north annual plot. Plot was planted last weekend I have some signs of life, but everything was small enough it makes ID difficult...


I took some pics while I was riding along the edge of the woods. Some black-eyed susan.


Golden rod


Ironweed:


Some giant ragweed:


Some jewelweed:

 

[OkieKubota]

That's some great looking dirt where that exclusion cage is...I would have to truck in dirt like that

 

[j-bird]

That's some great looking dirt where that exclusion cage is...I would have to truck in dirt like that

Thanks Okie. I wish I could take credit for it, but the glacier did most of the work....I just live here!

I told you......send me some of that oak regen "problem" you have and I'll send you some of the open plotting dirt "problem" I have!!!

My plots are all former ag fields - so they seem to be fairly fertile from what I can tell. I really need to get a soil test one of these days.......

I actually have some better dirt than that at my disposal.....but it's a secret so don't tell anybody......they may try to steal it!

 

[Triple C]

j-bird...Great thread!!! Just finished reading from page 1. I've had the busiest year with work that I can recall with lots of travel so I'm falling behind on staying current on all the threads. Just clicked the "watch thread" button to stay updated on yours. Great history and great detail. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Flyfixer]

Great update! I sure wish my wife's family had kept their farm in Southern IN, good country and some great deer.

 

[Chainsaw]

j-bird...Great thread!!! Just finished reading from page 1. I've had the busiest year with work that I can recall with lots of travel so I'm falling behind on staying current on all the threads. Just clicked the "watch thread" button to stay updated on yours. Great history and great detail. Thanks for sharing!

Times two. I just got caught up on your thread j-bird;it is put together very well and has shared some very good ideas and experiences. I enjoy the threads style and look forward to following along. I was in awe of your truckload w/trailers of walnut;There have been some good loads of ash cut here but not a walnut over 6 inch DBH to be found.

 

[j-bird]

Times two. I just got caught up on your thread j-bird;it is put together very well and has shared some very good ideas and experiences. I enjoy the threads style and look forward to following along. I was in awe of your truckload w/trailers of walnut;There have been some good loads of ash cut here but not a walnut over 6 inch DBH to be found.

Thanks Chainsaw. The main thing I want to resonate thru the thread is that we all work with what we have. Time, budget, land features, equipment and the like all vary for each of us......and as such there is more than one way to do any of this stuff. I want to share the "why" as much as the "how" if I can. I may be dead wrong in my "why" but we can all learn from that as well.

 

[Elkaddict]

j-bird--great thread. I really appreciate the perspective your history on the place provides. Please keep it going!

 

[j-bird]

OK - I got a weekly update of the fall annual plots and the progress of my corn plots.

Corn plots seem to have ears progressing, the deer have noticed as well!


I checked the exclusion cages in my fall annual plots as well. First one is the North plot, second is the South plot. I can see the oats, brassica and some of the peas coming in as well.....they are real small, but I got something poking thru!



This is the SW plot - the corn I knocked down at dying and again the brassica is popping up as well.




I also "planted" a few "scrape trees" as well. This has been an ongoing experiment for me. I seem to get the interest of does and young bucks, but no proof yet of the older bucks using them. I continue to try however as ......well, I'm a little hard headed! Instead of digging holes I drive a foot long pieces of schedule 80 PVC pipe into the ground and then run a wood screw or two into the wall of the pipe and into the "tree" to ensure the deer can't up root it.


Steve Bartylla always suggested that these "stick out like a turd in a punch bowl" so I try. This is one at the end of my North food plot.


I try to find one with a decent branch that sticks out and I used the rope that I used last year as well in an effort to hold some scent. I also removed the vegetation from the ground and left a little scent on the ground myself. I need to move a trail cam and see how things go.

 

[buckhunter10]

great farm man! I am enjoying tour.

I noticed on my corn some was eaten as well, I figured coons. You think it is deer hitting it already?

 

[j-bird]

great farm man! I am enjoying tour.

I noticed on my corn some was eaten as well, I figured coons. You think it is deer hitting it already?

I find the coons tend to tear the corn down to eat it and the deer tend to pull the husk back and eat it right on the stalk. Some deer will stomp the corn down, but coons are too big to eat it on the stalk. Corn seems to draw lots of attention once the ears start to grow. Coons will also tend to try to drag the corn off as well and you can often times find signs of those efforts to confirm it's coons.

 

[dogghr]

Corn looking great. Loved the weed flower pics. I love it when Ironwood blooms, my favorite each Aug. Place looks ready to hunt.

 

[Brushpile]

You have the same flowers that grow in the Ozarks, but much nicer soil and prettier corn.

 

[j-bird]

You have the same flowers that grow in the Ozarks, but much nicer soil and prettier corn.

Your mountains are .......well, Ok, I don't have mountains........so you got me there! I just think it's funny how we walk past this stuff all the time and don't think much of it.