Ignore the 2017 date on the photo…I failed to notice that the date had not been updated. We put the camera up on or before July 4, 2025 and removed it today, August 12, 2025.
Game camera results in cougar (and more) sighting!
Field plowed, weeds pulled, and wood stacked
Sandra clears weeds while Sid makes sure she doesn’t roll down the hill into the newly plowed field.
Gutters on the Rickshed
Plowing begins
Our neighbors have begun work on the field they have leased to grow winter wheat.
Back at the farmhouse, Bill and Sandra load old furniture to give away.
Sid cleans the mower of all the dry, cut grasses
A few more stacks of firewood and off Bill and Dee go to begin mapping the forest roads and trails.
Stacking firewood & clearing forest roads
Ooooops….too big for today.
Hot summer days
The internet cable comes to the farm at last
It’s hot outside, but cool enough to do a little forest road maintenance.
Looking through the greenery at one of the large wood placements on Rock Creek.
Kay makes sure the Ranger is running smoothly.
European or common centaury
Firewood stacking and road assessment
Evidence that the fiber optic cable exists
The third and last cord of wood delivered
The field nearest the house mowed again and looking good
The mowing of the field across the creek has started
Opportunistic tree cut by hand so the field will remain a field and perhaps someday a meadow full of native grasses and flowers
Game camera placed … hope we remember where we put it
A walk up the Rock creek forest road reveals … yes, more Scotch broom
The forest road that leads to the focal point for uneven age management needs clearing
Tour a success!
Julius came on the Methodist tour, armed with a magnifying glass. Bianca is amused.
The tour consisted of about 20 folks, not counting Sid, Sandra, Rossana, Diana, Bill and Julius. Kay and Anna Maria waited at the farmhouse for the return of the group.
At the turnaround point, approximately .6 miles into the forest.
Two of the three cords we ordered arrived today.
We didn’t do it all at once, that’s for sure.
What else could go wrong? Septic tank? Ranger? Weather?
As we do from time to time, we are having a forest tour for 23 on Friday, June 20. We have been working hard to get everything ready. See Sid, Sandra and Bill carrying wood planks.
Sid has been working hard to get septic tank #1 functioning properly. First a consult with Kevin, then a DIY cleaning, new parts ordered and installed … but something is wrong!
One more consult with Keven and the system works like a charm. Sadly, now the Ranger won’t start and the weather report predicts rain for the tour. Sigh!
BEAR! Fiber Optic Cable, Prepping for Tour, Retreat for DVB
See the black dot? A bear … he or she was seen a couple of days later in the same spot!
Machine used to lay the fiber optic cable. The process so far has cut the telephone line and the water line. All repaired.
Cable is bright orange.
Mike the woodcutter cut a nice swath through some tall grass.
Before the grass was cut.
A lovely patch of native flowers: mule ears. Good for butterflies and bees!
Sid mowed a nice path where our tour group is going to go. Bill and Diana added to the effort.
Resting spot at the turn-around spot for the tour group.
Another resting spot – by the bridge.
The folks who pruned the trees also trimmed the bushes.
Diana went on a retreat for women owning woodlands. I was three days of lectures, demonstrations, and practice on many woodland topics.
Me and three of the board members from Benton County.
Three of us stayed in this tiny house. The event was held at an 80-acre former scout camp.
A little wine break on the porch of the tiny house.
Materials to finish the area between the big garage/barn and the mobile home.
Those suckers are heavy!
But they look great.
