Once again, the skies were partially overcast. At
Photo 1
The “two hills” and back lawn area
Again, the crows were talking, and a small mixed flock of birds worked its way up and down the shrubbery and tall weed stems to the south of the “Coming of Age” plateau. This is to the far left of this shot.
I would like to see the eventual reversion of at least some of our land
to something approximating the pre-settlement black oak barren described in
historical vegetation maps of the area according to the
I hiked back to the southwest corner of our land to get a picture of
what may turn out to be a good seed source.
Black Oaks remain in the fence rows of our next door neighbor’s
property. There are several black oaks
growing along his back fence line. They
are seeding themselves out into a currently abandoned 10 acre field. The big one in Photo 2 may be 70’ high and
measures about 3’ at the base. It
probably dates back to the first quarter of the 20th century. 70
plus or minus 10 years is my guess. I
asked
Photo 2
Black Oak on next door neighbor’s property
What continues to puzzle me about the church property is the large number of relatively small fenced-in areas on the back half of the land. The fences are still intact in many places and deer trails are apparent at the breaks. The fences contribute to the isolation of these areas. I’d guess the fences date from the 1960’s or 1970’s and were used to keep various small groups of cattle or horses separate. It is clear that some fields were abandoned earlier than others. In one field, most of the woody stems are between 2 ½” and 4” in diameter. The field which was abandoned earlier is a lot easier to walk through. In another area, all the stems are significantly smaller, going from 1” to 2 ½” for the most part. This area is impassable in summer and requires a lot of pushing and ducking in winter if you don’t follow the main deer trails.
Photo 3
Fences near the southwest corner of our lot
The black oak in Photo 2 is about 200’ due west of this fence
corner. Note the three bar aluminum
horse fence that marks the edge of the fields which still bear the sign,
“Lexington Horse Farm” erected by the man
Photo 4
Older abandoned area near
The older abandoned area is a lot more open. Clearly there is a relatively short life expectancy for a lot of the smaller stems on the more recently abandoned area.
Photo 5
More recently abandoned area to the east.
In the summer I suspect that there is very little foot traffic on either of these two abandoned fields in the southwest corner of our property.
I tracked across the southern border of our property from west to east, crossing the stream on a large fallen log which does not quite reach the west bank. It was covered with snow and quite slippery, so I was risking a 4’ fall onto the ice of the creek, and probably some very cold wet feet. Luckily, my balance is still good enough for me to get across. There are apparently a couple of dogs which are allowed to roam the area, probably from one of our neighbors’ houses. Every time I’ve been down by the expanded septic field area, I’ve seen dog tracks in the snow in addition to the tracks of various squirrels, and at least two different deer.
One of my favorite “winter scenes” is at the southeast corner of the church property just east of the excavation done to enlarge our septic field. There used to be several large trees which tended to hide the dogwood growing under the canopy. When the septic field was enlarged these trees were cut and the logs disappeared. I suspect that one of our subcontractors made several thousand dollars “on the side” for the large oak and maple trees that were removed. This year just enough leaves stayed on the under story trees to give them shape against the trunks of the taller trees.
Photo 6
Under story by septic field
When I turned and started hiking back toward the church, I counted the number of front-end loader “piles” our contractors have poured into the woods on the sides of the road used to access the septic field. When the work was being done, heavy equipment got bogged in the clay and the soft surface muck was scooped up and dumped off the road in an effort to provide a more stable road foundation. Because the soils here are so thin and there is so much clay in the subsoil, I suspect that these nine or ten piles of dirt scooped out of the road are probably a lot more fertile than the road surface. It is my hope that we can mobilize an effort to level these piles and salvage the soil. There may be a lot of broken and decaying vegetation inside some of the piles which will make it difficult to dig them out. The other problem is that the soil was dumped around a number of young trees and any effort to return the land to a more natural contour may end up sacrificing them. If we don’t dig, the trees may die anyway.
Photo 7
Piles of soft clay dredged from the road
Photo 8
Another big pile – this one has a lot of plant material embedded in it
Photo 9
Equipment damage – This may have happened several years ago when the septic field was built
One of the trucks or digging machines driven back to work on the septic field ripped a branch off this young maple. It is trying to recover, but close to a third of the outside surface of its’ main stem was exposed. I’m surprised how quickly the tree has formed a ridge on either side of the wound. This damage could have been prevented. If a single branch over the road is in the way, cutting it off with a chain saw rather than driving a piece of excavating equipment through it would have been a lot easier on the tree.
Photo 10
More piles along the septic field access road
Photo 12
Symbolic – A broken wheelbarrow and thistle next to abandoned brick pile near the outdoor sanctuary. A paving effort was abandoned here leaving maybe 150 bricks stacked next to the wheelbarrow.
Photo 13
Buckthorn Berries against the sky
Even “invasive species” can be beautiful.
One of the strange things which caught my attention on the way back up the hill was an area where the wild roses have been galled by some insect. Whatever they do to the stems of the plant makes it grow balls of leaves and stem material in a tight clump instead of a normal long straight stem.
Photo 14
Rose galling
Photo 15
Another rose gall
Photo 16
Enlarged Storm water Basin
When I got back up near the church, I stopped near the edge of the road to snap this picture of the exposed ground we created complying with county flood control regulations associated with the expansion of our building and parking lots. This area is hard pan clay subsoil which will swallow up a vehicle if it is wet. Fortunately, so far, no one has driven down into it. Give our track record for running off the edges of our parking lots and getting stuck in the mud when driving on the “back 40” let’s hope nobody gets the bright idea that it might be fun to go “4 wheeling” here.
Photo 17
My truck in the new parking lot
It is hard to believe that this picture was taken on a Sunday about 15 minutes after the second service was over. The Religious Education wing looks empty, even though I know that there are several small groups of people meeting in various rooms. The congregation still hasn’t grasped the fact that we have a new parking lot with easy access to the RE Wing and from there into the older part of the building.
Photo 18
Kid stuff
Some of the outdoor play area equipment which used to be south of the temporary classrooms sits alone at the edge of the lawn. All the ground sloping upward toward me is currently bare, but is expected to be turned into lawn this spring. We’ve got a lot of planting to do! It is good that the play equipment is sitting on more established lawn rather than the newly graded bare ground. We should probably plan to set it up on established lawn for at least one full year and give grass time to get established on the flat ground to the south of the RE Wing.