Hi from UP Michigan

[NorthwoodsHens&Chicks]

Hello! I’m a new member looking to gain some extra knowledge and tips about all things gardening. DH and I build a new home on 60 acres. We will be starting a tree farm next year so this year is prepping the land.
In addition, our ‘yard’ areas are bare clay-sand- gravel and in desperate need of plantings, other than weeds. We have lots of work ahead of us and it is a challenge not to feel overwhelmed. I look forward to sharing our journey and gaining some great gardening tips from all of you here.
One more thing! I like emoji’s and you can bet your begonias I will likely use them often. too often

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Hello! I’m a new member looking to gain some extra knowledge and tips about all things gardening. DH and I build a new home on 60 acres. We will be starting a tree farm next year so this year is prepping the land.
In addition, our ‘yard’ areas are bare clay-sand- gravel and in desperate need of plantings, other than weeds. We have lots of work ahead of us and it is a challenge not to feel overwhelmed. I look forward to sharing our journey and gaining some great gardening tips from all of you here.
One more thing! I like emoji’s and you can bet your begonias I will likely use them often. too often

Welcome from NE Alabama!

You'll love this group. I joined couple of years ago and have learned so much from them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome from Louisiana, glad you joined.

One of the best ways to improve any soil is compost. lots of compost and organic matter. There are few on here that can give some testimonials, right @baymule.

 

[flowerbug]

welcome to TEG from mid-Michigan - i've spent most of my life in this area. but i did also spend 15 years living in the UP over in the western UP and up into the Keweenaw Peninsula where i walked the streams and fished and also spent time in the winters visiting friends.

 

[baymule]

Welcome to the forum from Trinity County Texas! So happy to have you here!

Poor soil is my specialty. LOL The farm I sold in Smith County Texas was pure white sand. I planted my first year garden and it all died. Texas summer heat is stuff of legends, the sun cooked the tops, the sand heated up and cooked the roots.

Humus. Humus in any form, and lots of it. Compost, animal manures, leaves, straw, wood chips, anything and everything.

You are starting a tree farm, do you have any animals? Even a chicken coop and run can make fantastic compost. Fill it with leaves and in a short time, chickens will scratch the leaves to bits, poop all over them and mix it thoroughly. It needs no further composting. And you get eggs!

What kind of trees are you going to plant? Directly in the ground or in pots? Will you sell retail off the farm or wholesale only?

 

[NorthwoodsHens&Chicks]

welcome to TEG from mid-Michigan - i've spent most of my life in this area. but i did also spend 15 years living in the UP over in the western UP and up into the Keweenaw Peninsula where i walked the streams and fished and also spent time in the winters visiting friends.

seriously?? I lived in the Keweenaw since 94. I have a camp on Medora and hunt in the Brockway area I know those trails and streams very, very well. Best place for thimbleberries and blackberries (shhh).
small world.

 

[flowerbug]

seriously?? I lived in the Keweenaw since 94. I have a camp on Medora and hunt in the Brockway area I know those trails and streams very, very well. Best place for thimbleberries and blackberries (shhh).
small world.

i haven't been up there in some years now, but i still have friends up there and at one time was considering joining the brothers at The Jampot aka the Monastery, but i couldn't bring myself to do it as i happened to be heading towards less and less religious/spiritual and could not really see myself submitting to the authority of the head honcho, as much as i liked them and still considered them friends. both have now passed away so my closest links to them are now gone. all the newer members came along after my time was with them and i only met them briefly. i left that area in the early fall of '96.

some good blueberry picking in spots up there too and me and a friend used to wander around looking for wild or old abandoned apple trees to get apples from so he could dry them.

a lot of good memories from up there being there that long.

 

[Dahlia]

Welcome from the PNW! You found a great forum here and we are glad to have you!

 

[NorthwoodsHens&Chicks]

i haven't been up there in some years now, but i still have friends up there and at one time was considering joining the brothers at The Jampot aka the Monastery, but i couldn't bring myself to do it as i happened to be heading towards less and less religious/spiritual and could not really see myself submitting to the authority of the head honcho, as much as i liked them and still considered them friends. both have now passed away so my closest links to them are now gone. all the newer members came along after my time was with them and i only met them briefly. i left that area in the early fall of '96.

some good blueberry picking in spots up there too and me and a friend used to wander around looking for wild or old abandoned apple trees to get apples from so he could dry them.

a lot of good memories from up there being there that long.

My spouse and I would see Brother Basil in summer…we picked berries for the monks. good times!

 

[flowerbug]

My spouse and I would see Brother Basil in summer…we picked berries for the monks. good times!

i didn't know he had passed away until yesterday when i checked out how they were doing. the end of an era for them for sure. it makes me sad, we'd spent many hours together.

at one time they were learning Tai Chi and made the trips down to the university for classes and in the summer when they couldn't take that much time to get away we'd drive up and hold classes on the beach, but i knew them well before then as i'd already taken the time to hang out with them and also helped out in the kitchen as a volunteer. this was right when they were starting out and only had the one room addition on the schoolhouse, they hadn't added on to the Jampot yet or many other things, but they were always busy and always working on how to expand and buy the land they mortgaged and all their other projects too like renovating the tiny cabins and an extra cabin they had in the woods. it was just the two of them with all those ideas looking for people to join them. the best time of the year for me was after the winter Christmas sales were shipped off and they'd close down everything for the winter and you could be on the shore of Lake Superior with the snow and storms and nothing else getting in the way of anything. they'd try out new recipes and enjoyed cooking in general, both were excellent chefs. we'd talk about anything and have music on and talk about that and then on their schedule they've have their prayers and ceremonies. i've always enjoyed a relatively simple life so it wasn't any kind of challenge to me in terms of routine or not being much of a watcher of tv or listening to the radio. the world is always a bit more distant from up there.