In the last week I have been removing old diseased apple trees from the orchard, as we plan to plant new rootstock and better varieties.. Heres how the tractor helped in that operation
Building a raised bed
I find that using a raised bed with recycled windows for cover and planting winter crops in September is a great solution here for supply of winter lettuces and spinach for early spring harvest. Here is the process I used:
12 – 2’X2’concrete pavers were used and scrap lumber was used to tie it together
Where’s Kyoti?
Extending the Pond Patio
We needed a flat area for the picnic table so I undertook to extend the small patio, peeling off the soil first to extend the floor of stone.
Solar Energy in Metchosin
In December of 2017 I had a set of 14 solar panels installed on our house by Rik Perron of Perron Electric in Metchosin
Pine Nut Harvest
Well not much of a harvest yet this year but my two trees planted over 10 years ago have finally produced some cones..2 each!! They fell off near the beginning of September and now I am keeping them in a warm place until they ripen. The cones exude sap so its best to wear disposable gloves when handling. The key to transplanting Pinenuts is that you must scatter soil and needles from the ground around another pine… any variety, around the base of the new tree in order to inoculate the soil with the mycorrhiza necessary for growth.
There are many websites available with information on how to grow and harvest the nuts.
Apparently the real challenge comes in having to crack the hard casing of each seed in order to yield the nut inside which is prized for eating.
Tree Pruning and Transplant time
I don’t recommend this to everyone but it certainly worked well when I had to cut some limbs from a tree which was too close to one of the farm buildings.
Before it got too soggy here in the winter I used the tractor backhoe to do several transplants around the farm. Originally in the mid 1990s, some plants just got planted in the wrong place, and it becomes obvious once they grow a bit. I find that transplanting trees works 80% of the time.
Fall Tractor work
Some last minute fall work today as the weather is to turn cold and wet, with early snowfall. So today I put on my gardens compost from my steamy pile of a mixture of horse manure, seaweed, wood chips, local coffee shop coffee grounds and and household compost.
And getting a few more buckets of firewood was essential, as it looks like we are in for a cold wet winter from now on .
Pileated Woodpecker at feeder
Other woodpeckers have been using the suet feeder outside my window this winter but this was the first time I had seen the Pileated woodpecker here. The photo was taken hastily through the salt-sprayed window while at my desk, thus the blur! We often see and hear these woodpeckers in the summer as they like the large old fir and alder trees along the property.
Scientific classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Dryocopus
Species: D. pileatus
Binomial name
Dryocopus pileatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Strong west winds fell an old Pear Tree
While we were away, high winds brought a power outage for a day and this casualty: A very old Bosc Pear tree fell over. Today I sawed off the branches and hauled them with the tractor up to the pile for chipping and turning into compost. Some of the 4inch sized branches I have saved for future mushroom logs.
