I am aware that reports of my farm visits are repetitive. I post them for my own diary entry equivalent. Anyway, if you read this far and want to continue, thanks.
Got three pieces of bad news. First, and really bad, is that flooding associated with Hurricane Matthew destroyed most of the seedlings that the State of North Carolina was growing. There will be a severe shortage for the 2016-17 planting season. This affects Virginia, since we are so close, but also because the North Carolina folks actually grow Virginia’s longleaf pine.
Second, I learned that the helicopter that they use to spray our pines crashed. I heard it fell some sixty feet and was totally wrecked. The good news is that the pilot was not hurt.
Last was a lesser disappointment. I ran into the guys at the hunt club. They were not having much luck, seems the dogs were having trouble following the scent because of the wind. One of the hunters said that the hunting dogs have a new PC designation. They are now called “deer mobility facilitators.”
My first photo shows the view along SR 623. We own both sides of the road, although only about 50 yards on the right. The road used to be the property boundary, but they moved it 1960. Next two photos are the longleaf pine. You can see them better now that the grass is browned out. After that is the loblolly on the Freeman place. My friend and neighbor Scott Powell bush hogged the path in the middle, so I could walk into the wood much easier. The last photo is the end of the day on the CP place. I spent most of my day cutting vines. There are lots of them. I enjoy cutting and pulling them down. I have been using my hand tools most of the time. The power tools are faster, but they make noise.