{"id":3773,"date":"2018-12-22T00:28:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T00:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/?p=3773"},"modified":"2018-12-22T00:28:32","modified_gmt":"2018-12-22T00:28:32","slug":"how-to-start-a-tree-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/how-to-start-a-tree-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Start a Tree Farm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pretty simple,  get some land\u2026..then stand back.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Of course we didn\u2019t know that and thought one had to put\nforth a bunch of effort and money.   I find\nit hysterical and a little embarrassing that we actually dug up trees from our\nback yard in Virginia Beach, potted them and moved them to \u201cThe Gulch\u201d.   A running gag now is to point to 20 acres of\nsolid trees about 30 feet tall and say \u201cThere\u2019s the one we planted 8 years ago.\u201d   Just to refresh your vision of what we\nstarted with\u2026..Here is the back corner where the loggers left huge piles of debris\nand all the earth packed down into clay cement from their equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And generally aside from the riparian buffers along the\nspring fed streams everything looked like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, I got on the research train (i.e. the internet) and found that the USDA could hook me up with some tree planter dudes who employ immigrant laborers to hike across these plots and one by one stick two yr old saplings in amazingly evenly spaced rows .\u00a0\u00a0 I arranged for 7K to be planted.\u00a0\u00a0 Here\u2019s a pic of me standing beside one of the babies right after it was planted.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m holding the top of it down by my ankles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s a look at the soil conditions many of them were planted\nin.   Not great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Okay, so pat on the back for that.   Thinking maybe we might be on the planet\nlong enough to see these little sprouts reach head high but, not to be  \u2026\u2026.in a good way.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile the next year things were looking better.\u00a0 Lots of aliveness, even more than was evident in the previous\u00a0heavily forested incarnation.\u00a0\u00a0 Abundance of wild flowers, amazing insects, birds, mushrooms, reptiles, amphibians.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, LIFE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And in many instances we planted additional wildflowers\nbelieving that we were making a future investment in diversity but in pretty\nmuch all cases they never reseeded but looked great for a single season,  like this patch of blanket flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And the seedlings looked like this after only five months.  With nothing but encouragement from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And about 2 yrs later, like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, you can see why I say ,\u201d Just get out of the way.\u201d,  to make a forest.   And although these trees were planted, here\u2019s\na shot of the cabin showing some of the volunteer trees which are equally\nplentiful to the \u201cfarmed\u201d ones.   All the\ntrees to the right of the cabin are volunteers (they planted themselves).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And lastly here\u2019s me again after a few hours of trying to\nopen up some space claimed by all those volunteers.   No need to join a gym. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thanks for reading, sorry if I\u2019m a little tardy.\u00a0\u00a0 Enjoy your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Visit: The Tree Farm Story from the beginning:<\/p>\n\n\n\n