Category Archives: Silviculture

Phoenix bird 2020-05-10

The firebird appears to be a Carolina wren.

[Carolina wren]
Carolina wren

This Thryothorus ludovicianus didn’t seem to mind that I was three feet from it. Continue reading →

Swamp boat burn 2020-03-02

Dogs like water more than fire.

[Yellow Dog and camouflaged Brown Dog]
Yellow Dog and camouflaged Brown Dog

And yes, Gretchen was putting out fires with a coffee cup and swamp water.

But she found something unexpected. Continue reading →

Blooming pear tree 2020-03-02

Gretchen and the LeConte Pear tree.

[Sniff]
Sniff

We might get some pears this year.

[Smile]
Smile

Thanks to the cousin who gave this tree to us.

And the nineteenth century cousin who found it. Here’s a story about that. Margie Love, Coastal Courier, originally 16 September 2007, updated 26 September 2011, Liberty’s LeConte pear was once famous.

-jsq

Swamp burn 2020-03-01

When you live in a fire forest, you must burn every few years. We caught up on about 23 acres of burning of piney woods, seepage slope, and swamp. All this was inside concentric rings of firebreaks, with no danger of it escaping off our property.

Don’t worry, for the wildlife there are plenty of brambles and woods and swamp unburned this year. More next year. And quail, gopher tortoises, and other wildlife don’t like the woods too thick anyway.

[Gretchen spreading fire with a rake]
Gretchen spreading fire with a rake

For why we burn, see Continue reading →

Prescribed burn, 1.6 acres planted pines 2020-02-24

Here’s why we should have burned this patch last year, but unfortunately weather didn’t cooperate.

[Why frequent burning is necessary]
Why frequent burning is necessary

If we didn’t burn, eventually what we’d get would be an uncontrolled wildfire with much worse flareups than that.

Somebody always complains about burning woods. Let the Longleaf Alliance explain the benefits of fire in a southern pine forest.

It started easy this year. Continue reading →