News from the Farmstead

In mid-March, I pruned the Red raspberry canes, since before winter, I had left about half of the raspberry canes for spring cleaning. These cuttings were burned in the outdoor fire pit. Our 2022 Christmas tree (possibly a Turkish fir) was cut not long before we bought it locally. After taking it out of the house on the last day of December, it looked like it was still alive and trying to grow!!! It is!

This mid-March weekend, I removed the tree stand. I found three strong roots protruding where limbs had been cut, and above the tree's butt end. I dug the hole and planted it. I used black plastic and rough-cut Doug fir bark around the base as a weed barrier. From the process, I now have cuttings of this fir tree in a planter pot and will hopefully have upwards of ten new trees to plant come fall or early spring next year. I already have a modest number of planted Nobel and Douglas firs for use as Christmas trees; some Ponderosa pines for pitch and other uses. Pine pitch is medicinal for both topical and internal uses. It is all grown without the use of herbicides and pesticides. I call it - "earth-friendly" but as I found out, the growing of Christmas trees is otherwise not an "earth-friendly" industry.