You Can See The Forest For The Trees

Greetings all, Its mid-May, and we are finally starting to do some preliminary work on the land. This will be kind of a running journal to update friends on progress who can't make the 4 hour drive up to see what is happening.

I have to admit, as beautiful as it is in the winter, with the sunlight glistening on the trees and snow, it sure looks nicer in the spring! Everything is green! The buds are out, the grass is growing and the mosquitoes are flying a bit. We met with a forester to figure out what our options might be. The property is pretty dense with a variety of wood, including spruce, pine, cedar, and mainly tamarack. There is also a lot of dead, blown down trees too, and it makes it difficult to traverse the property in places, as you can see .

But after a few minutes I was able to clear up some of the trees :-)



Just kidding. We wandered the property, marking the boundaries a little better, marking out a wet area, and getting a feel for the land. We noticed several paths or corridors in the trees, and found "presents" from what looked like deer and moose (we think, because of the size). There were a lot of useless trees that have been choked out of life from the density of the growth, but they made for interesting pictures.
(The oaks are just too lofty, and they grab up all the light-Rush-The Trees).




After a few hours with the forester, weaving through the property, examining the variety of species, and condition of the trees, we parted ways, and he was going to compile some recommendations, and possibly a few estimates for us. We hiked back into the back side of the land, and it was so quiet you could hear the woodpeckers and other native birds (which I will have to learn more about), and hear the breeze blowing through the tall grass in the field across the road, which led to this "nostalgic" New England type picture.

It does seem like a daunting task to clear the property enough to build our little getaway cottage. The mixed thoughts of clearing while preserving nature and whatever little "Eco-system" that exists as well as the costs associated with it makes the mind spin in so many directions. I guess it still is very similar to a garden, which will require maintenance and forethought to turn this rough gem into a shiny jewel, but when all is said and done, this will be the view from the living room!





What could be better than that?