Many thanks to commentor JR in WV:
The pic at the head of this post is the newly graveled path at the top, just south of the pond. I think they did a good job. This is intended to make a wheel chair / cargo dolly path from the parking area up to the front door, as well as being a nice path through the pawpaw patch and the woods and boulders.
Next two pics are of the new pond.
The liner showing below the stones holding down the liner, I’m still debating what to do. I’ve read somewhere that you can run some moss through a blender with buttermilk and spray that on anything that will be moist and moss will start up pretty quickly. If anyone has learned that elsewhere, let me know.
Before we had big flat rocks against the old liner, but the guys building the pond used those around the pond… before I figured out what was going on. Oh well. I may get into the pond and just try to redo that stuff myself.
This is the first boulder you come to, mossy, I have had mushroom logs leaning on it, and we’ve had the little copper sculpture of the dancing frogs on it for years now. There’s also an old Chinese style lantern behind the sculpture — we get to put junk we collected to use like this. The pond will be full of frogs and tadpoles come next spring, which we love. We missed the song of the frogs the last few springs since the old liner sprang a leak.
This is a real garden picture. I’ve been planting ramps every spring all over this hillside for years now. People dig ramps out in the woods in the spring, and sell them by the roadside. I buy bundles, we eat some and I plant the rest — they always take off and do really well. Ramps were a natural plant everywhere in WV in the long ago. But here in Lincoln county, while it was all subsistance farming, in the spring the ramps were the first green plant to come up, so people ate them. All of them. And if I planted these away from the house, they would dig and eat all of these too. So they’re just out from our front door, and off limits.In summer, after the ramp greens have died off, the plants with enough reserves stored up, will put up thin stems with round blossoms on top. When they are pollinated and make seeds, this is what you see in late summer going into fall. These ramps are probably 10 or 12 years old now. I dig just one or two from each clump in the spring, and mince them to saute with onions and bacon and grated potatoes… really good.
This is maybe 150 feet down the path, where it switchbacks toward the bottom of the hill where we park. You can see the red car down at the end of the path, and vaguely the house in the distance. There’s a tiny stool seat right beside the path, too.
This is the big boulder the path swings around, covered with moss that the wife grooms and waters in dry spells and with a big patch of maidenhair ferns at the foot of the boulder, which I have planted a clump or two in the spring off and on. They are native around here, but not real common, so I plant more just to help Mother Nature out with these really pretty ferns.It’s pretty rustic, just enhancing the woods a little bit from time to time. Nature, enhanced.
Hope everyone enjoys seeing the woods and all.
***********
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Aleta
“I’ve read somewhere that you can run some moss through a blender with buttermilk and spray that on anything that will be moist and moss will start up pretty quickly. If anyone has learned that elsewhere, let me know.”
My brother in law is a very good carpenter-contractor in wealthy area of MA; maybe 15 years ago he said that some people whose houses he’s built want moss on the roof and that’s how he does it for them. He/we thought it was funny (cause we’ve had houses in the woods with such roofs). I’ve never asked him about results.
Beautiful path. Woods love.
JPL
How much land do you own? A neighbor who backs up to part of my land owns 11 acres and twice a year hires a crew to clean up the woods. My lot is less than an acre.
Thank you for sharing the photos with us.
satby
J R, you really have a beautiful, peaceful looking property. I like the frogs dancing on the boulder. I have a teal frog on a stump in the front garden bed. I miss the frog peepers from the pond next to my former house in Michigan too, especially since they would feast on the crickets currently overrunning my garden here.
Edited to add: thanks to your story about planting ramps I started to plant them in the rear of my yard too. Last year several came back, but I didn’t harvest any. I’ll let them go several years before I start to take some.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL:
I hope they rake as part of the job.
NotMax
Gingerly admit one of the first things which came to mind was “mosquito nursery.”
OzarkHillbilly
Yes, this is true. I think my book says 50/50 water/buttermilk with ground up moss mixed in. Was going to do that in several locations this spring but never had the time for the associated work. I’ll look it up in a bit to confirm.
Amir Khalid
At this point, I was thinking, “A smoothie recipe?”
satby
@JPL: I spent my few free hours that it wasn’t a humid hellscape outside working on the new hugelkultur bed in front of my house, so now I’m paying a yard service to mow and clean out the back raised beds. I showed the guy the poison ivy coming up (another reason I just let it go) and he’s not allergic! It’s going to be so worth the money to just get it all done at once.
satby
@Amir Khalid: that’s how I think most smoothie recipes taste, so you’re not far wrong. I never got the appeal of smoothies.
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: Same. Mmmmm…..moss smoothie.
It’ll keep you facing north.
mrmoshpotato
@satby: Never wanted to drink an entire pineapple?
OzarkHillbilly
As always, love your place JR.
@NotMax: Here in Misrey, the MDC has been installing “wildlife water resources” (small ponds, app 50-75′ in diam) on ridgetops and such. I call it their “Mosquito Restoration Project”. Come Aug/Sept it can get pretty bad around them. JR can take countermeasures.
satby
@mrmoshpotato: I like vegetables but not nearly fruit as much. Most fruit and smoothies are way too sweet. If I want a smooth cold creamy drink it will be a chocolate malt.
NotMax
Rain and blustery winds moved in six or seven hours ago and have cooled things down enough that the temperature is not only very comfortable* without any fans running but also had to shut some of the windows for the first time since May.
*Pace Maxwell Smart: “…and loving it.”
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: Walking around with too much tasty, tasty blood inside you, I say.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Cool enough to have to bust out some long pants from deep storage?
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I would stealth seed them all with mosquito dunks. Kills the larvae, doesn’t bother another living thing. I love mosquito dunks.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
NotMax
Coding fix.
@mrmoshpotato
Unfamiliar with such an esoteric term.
;)
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
The pictures are beautiful???
Mary G
Beautiful peaceful home in the woods, J.R. I love maidenhead ferns, but it takes too much water to keep them alive.
NotMax
Remain disgruntled over the cigar reorder placed this week. Phoned it in Tuesday when the place (in Florida) opened for the day. Was given a confirmation and told they would ship out that day. Come Thursday received a call from them that – oops – it turns out they are out of stock and aren’t expecting any more in until this coming week’s Wednesday, which means they won’t arrive here until the Monday following that. So am severely rationing the remaining supply here, and not at all a happy camper about that.
Yes, could have ordered earlier but chose to wait until September began to check if they were offering a discount coupon for my brand this month, which was affirmative. Savings from the coupon enough to offset the postage charge and then some. First time they’ve been out of stock in all the years which have been ordering from there.
satby
@NotMax: switch to pot?
OzarkHillbilly
@mrmoshpotato: That’s what my wife is for: Mosquito/chigger/tick bait. We’ll sit on our porch and she’ll be swatting left and right while I sit completely untroubled. I swear she gets 20 times the bites I do when walking thru the woods, even if I’m walking ahead of her. I think they all go, “No not this leather skinned old goat, wait for the tender, tasty morsel following behind him.”
@satby: I’m not sure how many dunks (I love them too) it would take to treat 50-100,000 gallons of water. Besides, they dig these things on MDC and National Forest land and one only comes across them while hiking/camping.
mrmoshpotato
@satby: And look at the back of a $20 bill.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: Involuntary blood donation! Definitely not LifeSource.
JPL
@satby: The last two years, I’ve hired someone to take care of my leaves.
satby
@JPL: yeah, every year I want to do less gardening and lawn maintenance than the year before. That’s why I planted a lot of perimeter shrubs, to reduce the lawn area that needs to be mowed.
satby
Oh, forgot to mention it before, but my record with big trees that have it in for me continues. One of the sugar maples in the parkway in front of the house had a long, thin branch mostly break off, and it was dangling down into the yard just out of my reach. I’m short so I asked my neighbor’s SO, a really tall guy, if he would mind just grabbing it and trying to yank it the rest of the way off. I wasn’t under it but standing next to my gate which is as tall as I was and may have saved my life when the larger branch broke off instead and crashed onto the gate four inches from my head. That branch is about 5 inches in diameter and 7 feet long. Freaked my neighbors out, but I was fine.
NotMax
@satby
Gave up on that back in 1974. Stuff did nothing for me.
JPL
@satby: Lucky indeed.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning ?
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Missed ya again. Did you give it the finger after?
Lapassionara
Love these photos. Thanks for sharing.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: too surprised.
If the rest of it comes down on this house, I’m ready with full replacement values insurance and plans for a steel roof though.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Huh, the same year I did, for the same reason. Well almost the same reason. It never did anything for me either until the time somebody passed me a dipper. That one did something to me.
Zinsky
Nice pics! I was out biking in a nearby state park on one of the absolutely picture-perfect days we had last week and saw a snapper turtle nearly the size of a manhole cover! Astonishing! I didn’t have my iPhone with me to capture it. But it made me think twice about wading in any nearby pond… Yikes!!
JPL
OT If our British friends around, could you update us on Boris’ latest antics. It seems like Brexit never sleeps.
OzarkHillbilly
@Zinsky:
Ah go ahead, just remember to count your toes afterwards.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Amir Khalid: Moss in a blender with buttermilk is a plot incident waiting to happen.
J R in WV
Our place is several tracts that add up by deed to somewhere around 110 acres. So mostly just wooded hillsides and boulder outcrops… some of it is too steep to stand on and too slick for spikes to hold.
I’ve already put a couple of skeeter rings in the pond. Monday plan to get some water plants and a goldfish er three. The old pond which was shallower I got 3 for a buck at walmart, probably the last time I was in there.
Will try the moss spray asap. Have a new project from my cousin — I’m trying to scan two cases of old family photos from that side of the family. At first was loose pics, went pretty quickly. Now into larger second tote full of albums, first one from 1919, granddad was in the army for WW I, pics of old style trucks wrecked, Sgt standing there furious.
Have got it down to a science, scan first one, then edit it while next one is scanning. Problem is photos of ancestors, great uncles and aunts and second cousins… don’t know names for them, cousin will know more than I so will get with him again soon. Scans much improved over most faded photos with contrast enhancement.
Going slow, though. Albums with photos glued in, will scan 3 or 4 photos at once, then “trim” around them and treat individually, perhaps. Would be 3 times faster to just do a whole page! Hmmm…
Glad you enjoyed the pics.
When we went up the hill to neighbors for dinner, saw that T had a new toy, little portable wood burning pizza oven, get up to 800 degrees with little sticks burning — in like 10 minutes! We had 6 little pizzas all different with fresh garden veges, roasted tomatoes, garlic, peppers, fresh Mozz cheese, fresh herbs, wine and beer, chatted and snacked all evening.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Next day: “These daiquiris taste … odd?”
Amir Khalid
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
“You drank that?! I was going to spray it on the roof!”
NotMax
@J R in WV
The software that comes with some scanners includes an option to scan multiple photos at once and have each of them treated as individual scans, provided there is sufficient space between the photos when placed on the glass.
OzarkHillbilly
@J R in WV:
Mmmmmm. Why didn’t I get an invite?
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
So how fine should you go for pulsing the moss do you think? Just green slush? My ag sprayers have all had herbicide in them, so I was going to use the trigger sprayer we use to torture the cats when they’re being assholes at dinner time. It would have to be pretty fine for that little thing to work at all.
Sister Golden Bear
After more than a 2-1/2 hour delay, the Cal (UC Berkeley)-Washington game finally finished up at 1:24 a.m. local time.
The second half was the best game nobody saw — except a few hundred Washington fans, and the visiting Cal fans. Cal’s offensive seems to finding itself, and had come from behind drive to kick a winning field goal with 8 seconds left.
Here in Thailand it looks like tonight’s monsoon storm is winding down, so I’m debating whether to walk to one of the nearby restaurants instead of doing the hotel restaurant again. Street restaurant is better, but how wet am I willing to get? (Especially when things take forever to dry here.)
OzarkHillbilly
@J R in WV: I would probably avoid the sprayer, I can’t imagine it would not clog up. My horticulturist buddy would just pour it over the places he wanted it to grow. As to how fine, I really don’t know.
My book (Covering Ground, my new fav) says 50/50 water/buttermilk with moss crumbled into the blender, blend until a little thinner than pancake mix. If in doubt, thicker is better. Stale beer can also be included in the mix.
“Pour the mix anywhere you want moss,then keep the area moist until the moss begins to grow. Be sure to mist, but not water heavily; a strong stream of water will wash away the bits of moss before they are established.”
It also says to not collect moss from the wild, I do not know if that is because our native mosses don’t propagate so well via this method or if it is because they don’t want to encourage backyard gardeners to strip the woods and streams of moss. I suspect it is the latter. I intend to use the moss growing on our place as it is well adapted to this environment and I can “reseed” the areas I take it from easily enough.
Ken
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Swamp Thing reboot.
bemused
I think moss is under appreciated and most people just don’t take time to notice the variation in colors and the beauty of a lush and velvety patch of moss.
Years ago we were walking around our rural yard with my in-laws and walked through the very shady part of our lawn. My father-in-law, in his 80’s, noticed all the moss under the trees and proceeded to tell us how to get rid of it. We started laughing. “We love the moss, it’s gorgeous and much less lawn to mow”. Father-in-law was like a lot of guys his age. They tried to achieve the “perfect” lawn, spot killing dandelions and other weeds with something probably toxic, a real exercise in futility in a rural country setting. So happy that 50’s-60’s lawn ideal has faded out. My father-in-law passed away before seeing the growing popularity of turning lawns into a plot of wildflowers and vegetables and just imagine his reaction. He’d have shook his head and said “what a mess”.
Sab
@OzarkHillbilly: If I try this in my yard will my cocker spaniel get food poisoniing if he tries to clean up the buttermilk?
debbie
@J R in WV:
Good luck with spraying, but I don’t understand how the liquid will not slide down off the plastic liner and into the water.
Beautiful, woodsy photos. Thanks!
Denali
Great photos! I have always wanted a pond. Even with the mosquitos.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby: Congrats on finding someone to take care of the poison ivy. Not a task I would dare take on.
Gvg
Moss recipes I have seen, suggest making a slurry with manure and things like spoiled milk plus moss of course. You paint it on rocks and can even use a roller for the ground. I have not done it but have been wishing to try for years without an appropriate place.
I think I have also read you get better results if some of the moss is in the fruiting stage, I.e. about to send out spores. You are supposed to keep the area watered or misted while it establishes and blow off leaves on the moss once it establishes so it doesn’t get covered up. I think Japanese gardening books may have more.
TaMara (HFG)
@Denali: Ducks are a great deterrent to mosquitos and flies. Just saying. ;-)
Love this property. Would love to have enough land to build the ducks a pond.
In other news, I inhaled peat moss dust and am paying the price. next time, mask!
Terry Dawson
There’s a thing called Rock on a Roll. It’s basically a sandstone looking border on a tough as nails backing. Before I have up and redid my pond from the hole out that was what was hiding the liner. I’m in Pueblo CO so moss isn’t a possibility. When I lived back in Huntington moss would have been my first choice
Dorothy A. Winsor
@TaMara (HFG): Hey, Duck Lady. Did you see that Louise Penny has a new book out? She’s the one with the character who has a pet duck, Rosa.
OzarkHillbilly
@Sab: Doubtful. Dogs have a digestive tract second only to vultures.
Steeplejack (phone)
@rikyrah:
Good morning! ?
MomSense
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, JR your place is a Shangri-La. My pup would love to run in those woods. We do walk in the woods just about every day, but she has to stay on leash.
I’m watching Chuckles this morning. The political situation depresses me terribly.
MomSense
@Gvg:
I usually just transplant some to the places I want it and then keep it moist, watered but not soaked. It spreads beautifully. I’m too chicken to try all the concoctions and end up with bugs or critters. My woodland garden bed is all “mulched” with moss. Helps with the weeds and it looks really nice.
JPL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Ruth is such an interesting character. I haven’t read the book yet, but will soon.
JPL
@MomSense: The president is not stable nor is he a genius.
MomSense
@JPL:
I’m pretty depressed about what appears to be happening on the Democratic side, though. We’re in an existential crisis and I think the strategy is based on really bad analysis of what happened in 2016 and ignoring what worked in 2018.
debbie
@MomSense:
It’s too early to despair.
MomSense
@debbie:
The patterns seem to be pretty established.
debbie
@MomSense:
The Democratic Party is inwardly facing because of the primaries. Once that passes, the party will turn to face Trump. Barring Russian interference or any of the usual GOP trickery, he will lose.
Now, getting him out of the White House (literally) may be a different matter…
MomSense
@debbie:
Hope you’re right.
debbie
@MomSense:
Yeah, me too. :-/
TomatoQueen
Y’all with your buttermilk moss shakes owe me a new keyboard (wipes).
wv blondie
@debbie: I’ve had a fantasy for months now that we’ll get to watch him being dragged out of the White House kicking and screaming and crying by some of those Marines in fancy dress.
debbie
@wv blondie:
Not that I’m vindictive or anything, but this is the exit ceremony I’d like to see.
Yarrow
Thanks so much for the photos, JR. I love WV and it’s such a treat to see your woods. Love the ramps.
laura
The dancing frogs are very charming. The pond looks like it’s going to be really lovely too.
Spouse went to harvest tomatillos for Chile verde and found that the fruit inside the outer huskes were microscopic and so he yanked em out. I’ll be weeding the bed today and seeding marigolds that I hope will be in full bloom in time for the Dia de los Muertos shindig in November.
SisterGoldenBear, your posts from a far are so wonderful- come for the reassignment, stay for the satay. Regarding the Thai massage, is that where the weight of the body is used to loosen up the muscle tension, almost like an underneath instead of on top method?
Miss Bianca
@TaMara (HFG): just spent some time out at a friend’s property where I haven’t been for a while. She started with chickens, then added turkeys to the mix, and then this year some ducks – all of the Penelope/Pearl persuasion. The ducks and chickens were adorable. The turkeys, ugh – not so much. Huge, smelly, and they NEVER SHUT UP. Honestly, all I could do was look at them and think, “Thanksgiving can’t come soon enough.”
Miss Bianca
@Terry Dawson: Pueblo! (Waves from Custer County)
Doug R
@NotMax:
Koi will keep the mosquito breeding down. You’ll have to put up netting or have a deeper pond to keep it from being the local raccoon free sushi bar.
Kristine
I love moss, rocks, and green.
That said, Portland-area friends are always removing the moss from their roof–they said it damages it over time. Maybe it depends on the shingle material.
mrmoshpotato
@TomatoQueen: Who said anything about adding ice cream? It would affect the natural flavor of the moss.
Another Scott
@bemused: I remember being out hiking in Dolly Sods, WV and coming across a wet bank of moss that was lit up by a sunbeam. It was the most gorgeous electric green. Just beautiful. My hiking partner grabbed a handful of leaves, threw it over the moss, then took several pictures. He liked the contrast or something. I thought it was perfect the way it was…
Beautiful pictures and stories, JR. Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
@Zinsky:
” I was out biking in a nearby state park on one of the absolutely picture-perfect days we had last week and saw a snapper turtle nearly the size of a manhole cover! Astonishing! ”
When I was a little kid, we visited a pal of my dad’s who had a big (for WV) farm outside town, with farm pond etc. Dad did meet a snapper turtle, way too close and personal… it bit him on his thumb and true to form would not let go!
The farm guys disassembled the turtle to get it off dad’s thumb. Was both fascinating dissection and kinda gross, so perfect for a 4 y o boy kid. No lasting harm to my dad, but the turtle was a goner. They used tools to take the head apart to finally get it loose. Do not want to have that kind of event with a big one, this fella was only the size of a terrapin, only less colorful and flatter, so a young one.
Once saw a really big snapper, the size of a big truck tire, lurking beside a highway. Would have stopped to help it, but thought of dad, and the size of the thing, and drove on… easy 4 feet across, must have been ancient!
opiejeanne
Thank you for sharing a little bit of your world with us, and I’m glad the frogs are back. I can see that your ramp replanting project has had success. Are they happy to be replanted or do you lose most of the transplants?
We don’t have any standing water here but all summer we’ve had a frog singing to us at odd hours of the day. I would like to put in a pond or turn the little dry creek into a water feature, but while the spirit is willing the flesh is definitely weak.
opiejeanne
@J R in WV: I didn’t know snappers got that big. I don’t want to meet one that size. My cousin had a huge blood blister on her thumb when we visited her family in Colorado, the result of messing with a little box turtle. I’d never seen a blood blister before, I think was about 6 and she was 8, and I was fascinated by the turtle which was still in a shoebox on their back porch. I did not touch it when I saw how far it could extend its neck.
opiejeanne
@Dorothy A. Winsor: When I was a kid I asked my uncle for a glass of milk. He poured out a glass and I took a big gulp, and it was BUTTERMILK! I spluttered and told him I had asked for milk, and he grinned and asked me why I thought that glass was for me. Stinker.
Zinsky
@J R in WV: Wow! I thought I had seen a monster! Four feet – that could bite off a guys hand!
OzarkHillbilly
@opiejeanne: Common snapping turtle
Alligator Snapping Turtle.
SWMBO
@NotMax: http://mentalfloss.com/article/548281/reason-why-there-are-no-mosquitoes-in-disney-world
https://www.aol.com/article/lifestyle/2019/07/29/this-is-why-you-never-see-mosquitoes-at-disney-world/23781924/
SWMBO
@debbie: Just wait til he goes golfing at one of his resorts and change the locks. Duh. Like he’s going to figure out how to walk to the back where the door is unlocked.
Mohagan
@Sister Golden Bear: My husband just finished regaling me with the story. Go Bears! We met at Berkeley in 1972 and he taught me to appreciate football. Love your nym!
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
“Dogs have a digestive tract second only to vultures.”
You think so? Second to? Our dogs quit eating their kibble in the fall, during hunting season. Most hunters only take half their deer out of the woods, and dogs, coons, possums, and vultures eat the rest, no matter when they find it nor how horrible the smell is. Emissions smell toxic, although so far no one has died of it.
Thanks everyone for the compliments on the farm. We sure love it, I can’t get the wife out to go to a show without much begging!
J R in WV
@opiejeanne:
Planting ramps is te most successful garden planting think I have done. PLanted ramps that are pretty ragged, have obviously been out of the ground far too long, usually survive at first if watered at all, and thrive if it rains a few times.
After just a couple of years they reproduce by underground runners to change from lone plants here and there to thick patches of green shoots in the spring. I find that if I limit myself to taking 3 or 4 plants from a small clump, it does little to no damage to the clump, and the remaining plants will out produce what was taken that first year.
After a few years, after the ramps go back to summertime dormancy, they will put up thin shoots with round balls of flowers, 10 or 12 inchs tall, which by late summer (Now) will be dried and gone to seed. I have been told that these seeds don’t germinate well, but my experience is that letting them spread naturally leads to new plants seperated from the clumps that produced the seeds.
And in early spring, they are plentiful and delicious when fried with potatoes, eggs or an omelette, anything that would be good with garlic or onions will be better with ramps.