It's been almost a year since we purchased our new farm that we've come to call the "Fungi Forty" for research and recreation purposes.
Although the farm has some great topography and is located in a great spot from a hunters perspective, it's not a world class whitetail property yet by any means. On the farm side the property has a great maple syrup stand or sugarbush which is a family activity we love to do in spring. As everyone knows we have historically farmed Mushrooms which require a lot of water, however this farm has no water source to draw from in significant quantity which is a major issue for us that we aim to remedy with a pond ASAP so we can resume operations.
The fungi forty had a veneer cut log job performed about a decade ago and the hard maple dominated canopy is getting nearly closed again. The groundcover is almost exclusively invasive yellow sedge gass and wild Sasparilla, the shrub layer is tall ferns and american leatherwood predominately, there is very little to almost no woody stems like young successional growth tree seedlings over 1 foot tall emerging due to hard browsing from the migratory deer... in short, it's a deer desert in many ways. It's not all gloom and doom though, there is some decent white and burr oak tree veins are grouped along the conifer dominated thermal bedding areas in the wetlands that are worth saving, but mostly the new property is a complete gut job.
I was lucky enough to trade my visit to Jim Wards Whitetail Academy property for a consultation at my place and he came out last summer to take a look as a trusted second opinion. After walking the 40 he reassured me that my concerns were valid and the course of action I was entertaining was the solution. I had already contacted and interviewed loggers in early spring up to just prior to his arrival when I finally settled on one I liked, afterJims visit, I signed a contract for the timber harvest to begin in April of this year and conclude by August 2025. So last year, despite my intense desire to get to work out there, I really couldn't do much because the log job is the starting point and until that is done everything else has to wait for the most part. I did do what I could where I could like; making mushroom plots, creating interior roads, improving deer trails, going to war with thistle, warm season grasses, sedge grass and eliminating the leatherwood in many areas. I marked the Oaks and gnarly deformed wildlife home type trees i value so they wouldn't be cut. Most importantly I have consistently scouted and performed 2 hunting seasons of observation to define how/when deer use and move across the property, then I developed a plan based on my sites advantages.
As we draw nearer to the spring I am committed to taking you along for the ride as we journey forward into the future. I will film and blog every aspect of this project from pre logger work, to season opener and beyond.
It may look different because I'll be showing you how I integrate my approach of Fungi-centrism and organic farming experience into this space. We'll do a lot of experiments, crack a pile of jokes and of course we are going to forage or grow a lot of food, some of which will have antlers. So buckle up ya'll, here we grow!
Cheers,
Matt