The Farm - Madison County, GA

[Triple C]

Enjoyed it AC. Y'all should have seen him laying prone on the ground doing his first graft. Classic. And just another story to add to the campfire.

It'll be bench grafting for me from now on! Was kinda funny. Tommy tells me it's my turn to graft. Due to really bad left knee that is quite painful (replacement coming), I just lay prone and got it done. Pretty sure after watching me do that Tommy felt sorry for me and grafted the last one. If my trees do anywhere near what his have done I'll be a happy camper. That guy can grow some fine apple trees which ain't easy down here.

 

[THE LLC]

Place is looking good Tommy! Your gonna be a busy man after expanding those plots!
Which plot is your most productive and what are its terrain features? Ridge top? Bottom etc? Jus curious

My most productive plots are on ridge tops and side hills. Too much sand in the bottoms. The one in front of camp is the most productive. It is a rocky spot but it gets lots of sun and runs north to south. Always produces well and attracts a lot of deer.

 

[Weasel]

The expanded plots look really good. I need to get exclusion cages out, always plan to but it gets pushed back in line.

 

[THE LLC]

I know exactly what you mean, but try to make it a priority. It is an eye opener.

 

[THE LLC]

Got beehives moved up to The Farm this weekend. Apple trees are just starting to bud so they will be very helpful in a couple weeks.

 

[THE LLC]

Close up of the set-up.

 

[Elkaddict]

LLC, I'd love to do the beehives, but I'd have to build bear proof enclosures--something that would take too much effort. Place looks great!

 

[Triple C]

Good stuff! Next thing I may ask for help with is bee keeping.

 

[THE LLC]

LLC, I'd love to do the beehives, but I'd have to build bear proof enclosures--something that would take too much effort. Place looks great!

I can only imagine. I suppose bears are like hogs with thumbs.

 

[THE LLC]

Good stuff! Next thing I may ask for help with is bee keeping.

I'll have to put you with my consultant. LOL. The ol boy that came over to your place with me last year (part owner in The Farm with me), it's his brother that does the bee keeping. You had a good swarm over there last year.

 

[Weasel]

Looks great. Beekeeping is on the to-do list as well. More projects than time!

 

[THE LLC]

I'm going to real interested to see if apple production is changed with the bees there.

 

[lakngolf]

I'm going to real interested to see if apple production is changed with the bees there.

You need to plant some Tupelo trees!!! And then send me a couple jars of honey each year because of my great suggestion!

 

[THE LLC]

A friend and I are going to lease 1200 acres in Glascock County which is in central Georgia on the Ogechee River swamp. Lots of tupelo, so we'll see.

 

[Weasel]

What variety of Tupelo do you have in the south? My farm is polluted with Black Tupelo, they and maples take over after a woods is clearcut in my area.

 

[THE LLC]

Black I'm pretty sure.

 

[THE LLC]

Mother Nature launched yet another all-out assault on The Farm this past week. I swear always something---heat, cold, late freezes, droughts, high winds, you name it. Always something. But this time she took it up a notch. Pulled into the camp yard yesterday just to run up and plant an acre or two of soybeans after church. Noticed these long strips of weird looking stuff laying in the yard. Then it dawned on me and I didn't even want to look. Lightening had hit all three of a group of mature pines behind the cabin blowing the crap out of them. The lightening traveled down the middle tree into it's roots and over to our meter and breaker box. On it's path it encountered our water line, that even though the well was off, must have still had some water in it. It blew it to smithereens blowing a hole over knee deep and 8 feet long in the ground. I found mud clods well over a 100 feet away and pieces of PVC even further away. It blew the breaker box to kingdom come--can't even find the ground wire--and traveled well over 200 yards to our well house taking out the pump there. It tripped all the breakers to our cabin and I didn't see any indication in the cabin's breaker box that it made it inside. The percussion from the thunder was so great that it knocked all our pictures off the wall--knocked some clear across the room---knocked everything out of the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and stuff out of the kitchen cabinets. I found tree roots in the plot in front of the cabins, every bit of 100 feet away. Our fire pit is a piece of corrugated pipe set up on three cap blocks. One of the blocks was sitting over the root the lightening followed and that block was blown in a million pieces. If someone would have been asleep in the cabin up there they most certainly would have had a heart attack. Here's some pictures.

 

[THE LLC]

Notice the double breaker to the well blown in half.

 

[THE LLC]

Can see the hole in the ground and the path taken. Notice the blown up pipe in the ground. And how the fire ring has been moved.

 

[THE LLC]

The "candy stripe" down two of the trees--the third is to the left. The one on the right took the brunt but the path to the power is through the middle one.