Posts from the ‘woods’ category

From the woods

The property my house sits on – my name on the deed: the woods that are part of that property – they are magic to me.

The woods have light and dark, color, warmth and enveloping love…unexplainable.

I’ve been in this woods at all times of the day and night.

After Karl’s passing, the woods were hard to be in for awhile. He and I…we spent so many days and those last months…nights in the woods. The nights I especially remember as it was winter and dark. But, those times were so special. My memory of those times is warm. And some nights now, when I walk in the woods with Bear, in the dark, I wonder how it was that I did not trip over downfall, or feel fear? How did I feel like I could walk and follow Karl in the late night and very early morning and be ok?

Sometimes, Karl stopped and sat or lay down and so did I. I sat on a stump, or sometimes just lay on my back in the snow on the ground – Karl near and quiet all around us.

I know these woods well. I know the game trails, the crooked trees, the copses. I love these woods and I feel that the woods love me and mine.

From the woods.

**I don’t usually have the house spot lights on when we walk in the morning and night as they actually make it harder to see the ground as well as the night sky. I turn them on for a bit before we go out to alert the wild things, then turn them off for our walk. The morning I took this photo, I accidentally left the front spot on but we were out and Bear wanted to go, so we went. As we walked in the woods, I happened to look toward the house when the crooked tree was blocking the direct path of the spot. It looked so like the woods feels to me that after our walk I went back out with the camera to see if I could capture the way the woods feels in the dark. I’m happy with the result.

Thistle saga

I have spent a fair amount of time whacking thistles this summer. They are extremely prolific!! And the St. John’s Wort. And most of the other weeds classified by the State of Montana as noxious weeds…weeds that by law must be eradicated. For me, it is not just the law, it is thoughtfulness for my cattle ranching neighbors as well as for the health of my woods.

So, I’ve been pulling weeds and whacking thistles. But, this year…the thistles, especially, are out of hand!

Thistles, like most of the noxious weeds have their beauty. They attract butterflies and bumble bees. My first practice shots at getting bokeh were in a small patch of thistles in my woods. As a side note…bokeh and/or depth of field – it is that part of photography that I love most. Depth of field is the one thing that I set my camera for with intent. For me, it is the way to tell a story with a photo. I highly recommend reading, practicing, learning…how to use depth of field. Thus ends today’s sermon :)!

Albino thistle??? I don’t know, but pretty!

Back to the out of hand thing. The thistles…they are out of hand…and they are impossible to pull by hand unless you have steel gloves. Hence my whacking approach.

But…I googled….and I bing-ed and I discovered that whacking them off did little to control them. Thistles have a strong and deep root system. Rats. Now, what???

I hated the thought of a chemical solution, but after some discussion and reading, I decided on RoundUp applied low on the thistles to avoid the seeds that birds, bees and butterflies eat.

I bought a new sprayer.

It has a 3 gallon tank and is mounted on a wheeled frame.

As I was looking up information on the ratio of the RoundUp Pro concentrate to water, I happened on a tidbit of info that sent me away from RoundUp. The original patent was held by Monsanto. I will not knowingly use a Monsanto product.

A week or so earlier, I had read about using vinegar on weeds. I had even dumped the end of a bottle on some driveway weeds and was astonished to see them turn brown overnight. I use a vinegar mix – half distilled white vinegar and half water – as my household cleaner. I spritz it on the floor before damp-dusting with a cloth mop. I clean counters and appliances with it. A spritzer sits in my shower and I spray the shower walls, doors and fixtures as a daily cleaner. I even spritz my head once a week to get rid of hair product build up. I use the same kind of vinegar full strength to clean my coffee and tea pot.

And then I found this article: Vinegar as an Herbicide

So…

The thistles drank Heinz Distilled White Vinegar – straight up – this morning.

So did some of the driveway weeds:

Above was taken mid-afternoon after a morning spray with straight vinegar.

It is hard to tell from this photo, but the thistle leaves have started to brown and curl also.

I have yet to find anything that suggests there is a downside to using vinegar on weeds. Time will tell if this really works, but I’m far happier spraying vinegar than any chemical.

The morning after

The air felt heavy early this morning but as the sun rose, so did mist and all is rapidly drying out after yesterday’s series of thunderstorms – most accompanied by torrential, although short in duration, downpours. One storm did a lot of damage to parts of the valley as high winds took down trees which took down power lines. Here, there was a little wind and a few loud crashes of thunder as the fronts passed overhead, then a burst of rain with a sprinkling of graupel followed by a sun break before the next squall. When I shut down last night I thought we might be in for a night of storms but not…just the short squalls and I didn’t hear thunder in the night.

This morning after: birds are singing, the air is clear and still and the sky is blue….

…and some of us are having a Sunday nap.

Indian Paintbrush in the woods

Saturday had that gorgeous morning light and then a sunbreak here and there. Sunday, was overcast, cool at 43F and it rained most of the day. The rain was a gentle, easy rain – the kind of rain that allows everything to get a long, cool drink. The woods floor glows with the color of Spring green.

I was out with Bear. He was preoccupied with a squirrel so I puttered about pulling noxious weeds and digging up thistles…you can not pull thistles unless you are my friend Hal who apparently has VERY tough skin. (a shout out to friends Kris, Hal and Magic: their amazing Samoyed puppy!)

Wandering here and there – amongst the lupins, I found a lone bloom of Indian Paintbrush.

Indian Paintbrush in the woods.