Morning sunshine burns off the moisture from yesterday's rain

After an 'everything is possible' 2017 ... 2018 will be more focused:

There is something special about a Hardwood Forest

There is a small hardwood stand at the front of our property.  Less than 5 acres with a diverse population of Oak, Ash, Birch, Ironwood, Aspen/Poplar along with Service Berry, a variety of Hawthorns and a surprising amount of wild life given that its beside a travelled road.

It always been a favourite.

So this year it will finally be 'developed'.  And the process I use will become the template for the rest of our forest.  What's there?  What's it capable of? What do I want?  Where will/should it go?  I expect it will take most of the year.

Is a forest walk the same without your companion?

2- Maintenance

a. Hemlock Woolly Adelgid is coming.  'Profound' is an understatement of the potential impact on our forest.  We have volunteered to be a monitoring site and will closely follow the developments

b. We have a network of walking trails.  Two more this year will give us complete coverage.

c. Big strides with our boundary lines in 2017, near completion in 2018



3- Education

a. The Biodiversity Course I started in November 2017 has been an excellent primer on a very large topic.  I'm a 'big picture' guy so the details of taxonomy have been a challenge.  Definitely outside my comfort zone.

b. I'm pretty comfortable identifying birds around our feeder.  Not so in the woods.  Cornell offers a course for identifying birds by their calls.

c. I'm looking for a Forest Ecology course. Why things are the way they are and where they're headed.  If you know of one, please let me know.

Bedroom in the tree tops

Finally, my wife and I are building a house in the trees.  'Pretty' hasn't been part of our forest work but I expect it will be on this one.