Restoring a Farm and Building a House
Welcome to this blog about the Crooked River Farm project. Along the bar above, or summary to the left, you can get a little bit of history of the farm and what we’ve done up until about the 1st of Dec 2008. After that, I’ve resorted primarily to the blog format for updates, which end up in the Topics section on the left.
I hope you experience the full schadenfreude of farm restoration and custom home building!
Trish and Chris
Suffolk Punch Draft Horses in Upper Pasture
The brown marmorated stink bug, one of our newest and most insidious and invasive pests, has a symbiotic relationship with the ailanthus tree according to a recent article in the Staunton News Leader. Dr. Ames Herbert, an extension entomologist from VA Tech, says
“Heavy infestations seem to be associated with fields with wooded borders, especially if there are concentrations of the invasive weed Tree of Heaven,” Herbert said. “Both are native to China and the (stink bug) seems to be strongly attracted to that host, especially when the trees are putting out their seed clusters. It’s like a happy reunion.”
The highest concentrations of the stink bugs have been found where the invasive plant is also found in high numbers, Herbert noted.
The article does not offer the best advice for getting rid of ailanthus, but it makes an additional case to do so.
If you google “ailanthus eradication”, this blog is ranked #1. That, and “multiflora rose eradication” are the two biggest reasons people find this blog on their own (over 20,000 hits so far). So over the next few months I will try to increase the information available on this blog about eradicating these invasive exotics. VA Tech and Penn State have both done some research on using Verticillium wilt as a natural control of ailanthus, with the main disadvantage being that it also kills mimosa trees. I will try to post more on that soon.
Green Darner Dragonfly
While working in one of the bottomland farm fields today, preparing to burn the last brush pile from the land clearing, I noticed I was surrounded by hundreds of dragonflies flitting around and feeding. They were green darners – so named either because they look like darning needles, or because their flight path is reportedly back and forth like a knitting needle’s action – take your pick.
What I was witnessing was the annual migration of these creatures. Surprisingly little is known about their US migration – where they are coming from and where they are going. A research scientist in India, however, has documented them migrating there over 10,000 miles, over 4 generations, from north to south and back again to rinse and repeat. What little is known in the US from one short-distance study is that they appear to follow the same migration patterns as songbirds – how long they fly, how long they rest, the general direction they are headed. The dragonflies during their migration apparently depend primarily on local food sources like mosquitos and aphids. Importantly, the annual hawk migration follows right along with the dragonflies – the hawks apparently depend on the dragonflies for the fuel for their migration.
Otherwise, little is known about these creatures migration, which is surprising to me. As far as I know, the only other insects that migrate like this are a few moths and butterflies (Monarchs being the most charismatic example). Given that dragonflies are rather charismatic in themselves, and that they are voracious feeders of many insect “pests” to humans, like mosquitos, one would think they would deserve a bit more study to ensure they stay with us. Meanwhile, I’m very glad they decided that CRF was a good stopping place and feeding ground for them going from who knows where to places yet unknown.
Mama Bear
We’ve been seeing bears off and on at Crooked River, and signs of it (scat) for the past couple of years. I’ve offered a 6-pack of beer to the first guy who actually got a picture of one, and Jamie Scott, our crew lead, finally caught this one today. She had a cub with her, but Jamie couldn’t get a picture with her.
Bears are becoming a much more common sight in Floyd lately. Even though there are fewer bear hunters than in years past, “harvests” have been up almost 8% per year or the past decade or more here in the VA mountains. In fact, it’s reported that there are more bears in Virginia now than anytime in the past 400 years.
All the neighbors have reported bear sightings. As a female bear’s territory ranges anywhere from 1 sq mile (640 acres) to 50 sq miles, we could all being seeing just this one bear. But since territories can overlap, we may be seeing more than just this one. One nearby neighbor reports a “problem bear”, one that gets into his garbage, pet food, bird feeders, or any potential food source he leaves out. Since we currently feed some of our cats outside, and have numerous bird feeders, we’ll likely have to change our practices when we move to Crooked River.
Interesting tidbits about black bears – 90% of the food they eat is vegetative, but most of the protein they get comes from insect larvae such as ants, termites, and yellow jackets. They don’t really hibernate – they can be easily roused in the wintertime, which is when they also bear their cubs, anywhere from 1-5 of them, but only every other year once the female reaches sexual maturity. There are now an estimated 1 million black bears in North America – the largest population and largest range of any bear. Unprovoked black bear attacks are extremely rare, and there reportedly has not been a single one in Virginia.
So we’ll be more than happy to “home” this bear, and will appreciate seeing her when she deems to make herself known, and be very careful not to tempt her from her wild ways with such freebies as Purina cat chow on the porch.
After a very cool and wet spring, we haven’t had any rain for almost 10 days now. Local gardeners are starting to worry and complain, while grass-farmers like myself are rejoicing. It’s been about as perfect a hay-growing year here in Floyd as we can imagine. The early rains brought all the green stuff along just great, and then quit entirely just in time to bring in the crop. Many, many years we can get exactly the opposite, resulting in a poor or spoiled crop.
Mowed, raked and baled ’till after dark all week, and finally got the last of it up on the 150 acres or so tonite just as we heard thunder in the distance. Couldn’t ask for anything more. Great crop this year. Floyd cows will eat well this winter.
Hay Bales
The 20 acres or so of bottomland that were just 12′ high in multiflora rose and other undesirable species when I bought the farm 3 years ago are coming along very nicely in the grass, forbs and the clovers I planted, but given their previous state, I decided to once again just mow and lay it down to feed the soil, rather than baling it. It takes several years to “establish” a grassland, where all the biota are working in harmony to build true fertility and sustainability. We’ll start harvesting when we actually get to that point. But I’m not in a hurry – it’s immensely satisfying just to watch the fields get richer and richer without taking anything from them. If I were any happier, I would have to be two people!
All of the hard work over the past couple of years on the hayfields is starting to really pay off. Over a hundred tons of lime, overseeding clover, and twice-annual mowing and just laying it down to feed the soil is resulting this year in a very thick and rich clover stand amongst an every-increasing grass stand, and ever-decreasing weed stand on the long-neglected pastures. I already have all the hay sold on the 150 acres, and what a great crop it should be! Of course, it hasn’t hurt that we’ve had copious amounts of rain this spring, too.
The red, white, and yellow clover that we have overseeded over the past couple of years, plus the proper management of it has resulted in just thick, thick, thick masses of it everywhere now where it was hardly seen before. Having too much clover in your field is like having too much money in the bank – the clover provides a free nitrogen supply to the grasses and forbs, and provides more protein than the grass itself. I couldn’t be more pleased with the progress.
Mixed Clovers
Proper management of grasslands builds true, longlasting, soil fertility faster and better than anything in the world. The whole success of mid-west croplands has been entirely dependent on the deep, rich topsoil, (now almost entirely depleted) created by centuries of previously being grassland. Grassland has in the past built empires, and the loss of them have caused empires to fail. We’ll continue to maintain our grassland, and continue to build the natural soil fertility of it as best we can. And clover plays a BIG part.
Now let’s hope that the weather cooperates for the harvesting of this years crop.
Absolutely gorgeous spring day on Sat – perfect for a massacre. Garlic mustard is the latest invasive exotic threatening the woodlands in Floyd (and throughout half the US). I’ve seen pictures where the entire forest floor has been taken over by it. Right now it’s blooming and easy to see – I pulled up thousands of them yesterday. The Ailanthus is also starting to leaf out, identifying those that I haven’t killed in the past two years. The good news is that every single one of them larger than a pinky are now dead. The bad news is that they are now already falling over everywhere – into pastures and paths which will require serious work to clean up. And there are still thousands of sprouts smaller than a pinky. Did the “hack and squirt” on hundreds of them on Sat. It was a good day.
Below an aggravating sight – garlic mustard, ailanthus, and multiflora rose all in a 2 square ft area. Sometimes the task seems overwhelming….
Unholy Trinity
One of the many ecological problems with the farm was that there are a lot of steep hills that had previously been used for pasture that maybe shouldn’t have been. Last year, I mowed every inch of the farm I could with the tractor – about 150 acres. I then met with our local forester, Dennis Anderson, and worked out with him what to plant on everything else. We both agreed that white pine would be best for much of it – white pine grows GREAT in Floyd (witness some of the big WP trees we used to build the garages). White pine can also act as a “pioneer species” around here, encouraging a true long-term mature hardwood forest to eventually develop on these steep hillsides, protecting the precious soil and providing more habitat for indigenous flora and fauna on the farm.
We hired a crew to plant these trees just about this time last year, and Dennis just now sent me pictures of them doing it. Good job guys – thanks! Thousands and thousands of trees planted.
Tree Planting
Crew
It’s been COLD here at Crooked River Farm the past few weeks. Cold enough that the river has frozen. Mark, the mason, said that he walked all the way across it a week or two ago. He’s been held up with his work as it’s just been too cold – 5 degrees F at times, and you just can’t lay block/brick in that kind of weather. Rather unusual for this time of year – we’re on track for this to be the coldest December on record. And the forecast for the rest of the winter is no better. I was told today that all of last miserable snowy winter the temperature never dropped below 10 degrees. Lawd’a mercy!
Frozen River
When building a house, there are bad owner months and good owner weeks. Progress will seem to drag on and on and on, and then all of a sudden, big apparent progress will happen. Putting up a timberframe is one of those ecstatic owner weeks as so much seems to happen all at once. Sheetrock (drywall) going up is another. Windows is a big one. Windows went in this week. It was a good owner week.
I designed many of the windows to go all the way to the floor. Sure, it means you can’t put any furniture up against the wall there. But older houses often had them, and they are truly wonderful, particularly if you have nice views out of them. Furniture, other than a bed, a few chairs, and maybe a few tables, is highly over-rated compared to windows.
South Windows
Breakfast Nook
East Windows
Well, the house is finally mostly dried in. The roof sheathing is all mostly in place in any event. We’re using this product, from AdvanTech, which is basically plywood, but with a rubber-like coating on it that sheds water. You seal the joints with a special tape, and you have a non-leaky roof for a while – at least a year. Beats the heck out putting up tar paper and going back up to fix and replace periodically. The wall sheathing is a similar AdvanTech product, so no need to put up ugly Tyvek there, either, with similar problems. Good products – we like ‘em.
The windows will be delivered in early November. Until then we have put plastic or sheathing up just about everywhere to start the process of drying the house out.
In the picture below, you can see the porch piers in place – building the wrap-around porch is the next project for the carpenters. While the porches are pretty big themselves, we’re hoping they will actually make the house look smaller, as they should tie the house to the ground much better.
Dried In
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