Finally, this year, we reevaluated our approach to this area, and figured out what we’re going to do.

2/8/2013

4/10/2013

9/15/2013

We still didn’t feel that we had the time or energy to clear it all of brush.  We had heard of someone who could do the clearing for us –  he has a big machine that cuts and grinds up everything in its path, so we would be left with a thick layer of wood chips, but no brush.  Before committing us to that, I decided to try walking through the brush, to see what it really looked like from the inside.  Up until now we’d just been observing from the outside – I wasn’t even sure I could get in.

9/26/2013  This is the area where we had cleared by hand a few years ago.  It’s still pretty open, with a few young Burr Oaks, and some other brush and small trees starting to fill in.

9/27/2013  The is the way the woods looks along the top edge of the prairie.  A pretty intimidating thicket.

9/27/2013   Once I pushed my way inside, I was pleasantly surprised.  The woods was much more open than I had thought, and there weren’t as many weeds or weedy trees as I had expected.  Most of the trees are Wild Black Cherry saplings, with a few Box Elder, and a few Buckthorn.  The understory is Honeysuckle, Elderberry, and Prickly Ash – but not very thick, so it’s all very light and open.  There are a few 6-8 foot Burr Oaks.

9/27/2013  I made a path, so it was easier to walk, and started thinking about letting it grow up into a woods.

So we’ve decided not to cut it down, but to let it grow and watch it change over the years.  We spent some time cutting and carting away the Buckthorn, and there’s more work to remove Honeysuckle and Buckthorn seedlings.  And we’d like to make a better path so we can walk through it easily.  But it will be fun to watch and see what happens.  I’ve renamed it Pine Point Woods – in memory of the pines that used to be here.

10/17/2013