While I see many guys going out and buying clover and beets and things plowing every year and planting and re-planting over and over again, I have taken a much different approach.
And I am really proud of the work that I have done so far and wanted to share it with you guys. I have worked on this project, with the help and advice from the local FFA for a couple of years now.
Instead of planting small crops that are just going to be eaten and wither when the snows come, I have decided to plant nut and fruit trees. While this takes work on my part to kind of watch over and water them through the first few years, once established, they will hopefully be much more beneficial and productive in the long run and perhaps provide the animals with a large variety of food choices too.
This was done to supplement the large old growth white oak grove that is predominant on the mountain now after the wooly adelgids wiped out most of our pine trees about 15-20 years ago.
During the adelgid outbreak, we lost a lot of pine trees. Probably 15-30 trees per acre. Hiking up there now looks like a war zone with so many dead trees rotting on the ground.
But instead of just seeing death, now I am seeing the old trees decomposing and giving back for the next generations. Not only that, many of the dead falls are sort of "damming up" some of the water that would otherwise just be running off helping the soil retain some of its' much needed water and nutrients from further up the mountain.
There are some new growth pines that have came up the last handful of years on their own and some that have now grown to just above head height now, which I am trying to nurture them by keeping the areas near them clear of weeds and briars and anything that would rob them of water or nutrients to try to give them the best chance to grow as I can because they were one of the main staples of food source there for eons.
And I admit, seeing them all die within a year or two was sad in itself because I had fond memories of hunting squirrels and climbing in them and camping and playing hide and seek around them growing up with my sister and cousins and neighborhood friends.
So, that is where I am concentrating on planting the new food source trees in the openings where all those pines once stood.
So far, I have planted several species of trees. Many of which are naturally occurring here, though in limited numbers.
I have planted multiples of persimmon, black walnut, pecan trees and hazelnut trees (which neither of the last two are native to the mountain but I wanted to try them anyway).
While the trees above should help become a staple and an oasis for the animals that are near to the area, the last two I am going to mention below, I am most proud of.
We have one of the few remaining American Chestnut trees in the county on the property behind our graveyard. My late Pappaw Wolfe and one of my uncles had found them as young saplings in the late 1950's in an area called Shepherds Trail and transplanted them in the backyard of where my Grandmothers house once stood.
The trees are still doing well and producing a lot of nuts even now, 60 some years later. I have been successfully able to get 4 saplings to grow from last years nuts and will be transplanting them around February next year in one of my favorite hunting spots up there near one of my tree stands. They're about 18 inches tall right now. I am glad to be able to re-introduce some native chestnuts back in there.
The other type of tree that I am also proud of, is a simple apple tree. While this may seem insignificant to many, it means a lot to me because my Great Grandfather had an orchard on top of the mountain where they lived over in Perry County and is probably more sentimental to me than anything. But the apple tree that these seeds came from is pretty significant on its' own right in my opinion from a historical viewpoint.
It's called a Rambo apple tree. They're not native to the US but they're my favorite apple in the world. They're so good. Whether just eating straight off of the tree, or fried up in apple pies or apple butter or anything else they are in.
But what makes this one special to me is it came from a direct descendant of a tree that "Johnny Appleseed" himself planted in Ohio on his trek out through the Midwest.
I kept about 2 dozen of the seeds when we put up two bushels of the apples for the winter and placed the seeds in the refrigerator so they would be tricked into getting out of their dormancy stage and have had the seeds planted now for about a week and already have two of them coming up. The one on the right is still wearing the seed jacket on top of it's head like a crown.
My Mom has already asked for one of them, which she will get, but I hope that I get at least 3 or 4 growing so I can plant them up on the mountain to help supplement the food plot. After all, who doesn't like a nice fresh juicy apple?
And I am really proud of the work that I have done so far and wanted to share it with you guys. I have worked on this project, with the help and advice from the local FFA for a couple of years now.
Instead of planting small crops that are just going to be eaten and wither when the snows come, I have decided to plant nut and fruit trees. While this takes work on my part to kind of watch over and water them through the first few years, once established, they will hopefully be much more beneficial and productive in the long run and perhaps provide the animals with a large variety of food choices too.
This was done to supplement the large old growth white oak grove that is predominant on the mountain now after the wooly adelgids wiped out most of our pine trees about 15-20 years ago.
During the adelgid outbreak, we lost a lot of pine trees. Probably 15-30 trees per acre. Hiking up there now looks like a war zone with so many dead trees rotting on the ground.
But instead of just seeing death, now I am seeing the old trees decomposing and giving back for the next generations. Not only that, many of the dead falls are sort of "damming up" some of the water that would otherwise just be running off helping the soil retain some of its' much needed water and nutrients from further up the mountain.
There are some new growth pines that have came up the last handful of years on their own and some that have now grown to just above head height now, which I am trying to nurture them by keeping the areas near them clear of weeds and briars and anything that would rob them of water or nutrients to try to give them the best chance to grow as I can because they were one of the main staples of food source there for eons.
And I admit, seeing them all die within a year or two was sad in itself because I had fond memories of hunting squirrels and climbing in them and camping and playing hide and seek around them growing up with my sister and cousins and neighborhood friends.
So, that is where I am concentrating on planting the new food source trees in the openings where all those pines once stood.
So far, I have planted several species of trees. Many of which are naturally occurring here, though in limited numbers.
I have planted multiples of persimmon, black walnut, pecan trees and hazelnut trees (which neither of the last two are native to the mountain but I wanted to try them anyway).
While the trees above should help become a staple and an oasis for the animals that are near to the area, the last two I am going to mention below, I am most proud of.
We have one of the few remaining American Chestnut trees in the county on the property behind our graveyard. My late Pappaw Wolfe and one of my uncles had found them as young saplings in the late 1950's in an area called Shepherds Trail and transplanted them in the backyard of where my Grandmothers house once stood.
The trees are still doing well and producing a lot of nuts even now, 60 some years later. I have been successfully able to get 4 saplings to grow from last years nuts and will be transplanting them around February next year in one of my favorite hunting spots up there near one of my tree stands. They're about 18 inches tall right now. I am glad to be able to re-introduce some native chestnuts back in there.
The other type of tree that I am also proud of, is a simple apple tree. While this may seem insignificant to many, it means a lot to me because my Great Grandfather had an orchard on top of the mountain where they lived over in Perry County and is probably more sentimental to me than anything. But the apple tree that these seeds came from is pretty significant on its' own right in my opinion from a historical viewpoint.
It's called a Rambo apple tree. They're not native to the US but they're my favorite apple in the world. They're so good. Whether just eating straight off of the tree, or fried up in apple pies or apple butter or anything else they are in.
But what makes this one special to me is it came from a direct descendant of a tree that "Johnny Appleseed" himself planted in Ohio on his trek out through the Midwest.
I kept about 2 dozen of the seeds when we put up two bushels of the apples for the winter and placed the seeds in the refrigerator so they would be tricked into getting out of their dormancy stage and have had the seeds planted now for about a week and already have two of them coming up. The one on the right is still wearing the seed jacket on top of it's head like a crown.
My Mom has already asked for one of them, which she will get, but I hope that I get at least 3 or 4 growing so I can plant them up on the mountain to help supplement the food plot. After all, who doesn't like a nice fresh juicy apple?
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