Site Discussions

Are there biting bugs in the alpine meadow?

Dave,
Welcome back. As I’ve said before, you’re an excellent writer. This blog was enjoyable for both content and phrasing - “...The land wears the weather…” Nice. I’d like to see further discussion from your readers on the issue of logging for fire suppression. In view of the fate that befell the valiant 19 out in Arizona recently, I think we should be especially vigilant in finding ways to mitigate fire losses. Thanks.
Ed

I know this is a woodland plant discussion, however I have gotten a nasty reaction to something stinging that stuck in my skin at the beach.  It was not an insect but the minute it stuck in my skin it burned and hurt.  I have been on an antihistamine, trying to not itch for days.

It looks like a bug bite with a large red diameter (size of a dollar coin) and it is swollen a bit.  It was originally on my shirt and I brushed my arm back and a minute thing with cone like bottom stuck in my arm.  I have searched and cannot determine what it is and would appreciate any help. The under side of my arm is so itchy and it hurts to touch.

Thanks in advance,  Janet

Your seemingly simple question, Michael, is a lot more complicated than it sounds. Here’s a story that gives some backstory on the when-should-I-cut question. http://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/it_pays_to_keep_good_trees_growing

I’d contact a veneer buyer in your area and ask him.

We have two old wells that are located on our hill behind the farmhouse. During the 1940s my Dad dug up the lead pipe and sold it for scrap. It originally ran down the hill, across a wetland and up a slope to a storage tank in our cow barn.

Remembering Spruce Gum….

To Dave Fuller

I also remember when my father cut a chunk
of Spruce Gum from a tree and gave it to me -
I had the same action in my mouth, it all became
crumbs and my Father told me to keep chewing and
it will get good…and It did…I got to love
it and looked forward to it when we went into
the woods again…
Thanks for this article…brings back great memories.

Regards
Larry

What diameter does a black cherry tree need to be to be harvested for veneer?  Thank you

Thanks for the comments. I think a gravity feed to the farmhouse is unlikely, given the distance and intervening terrain. So, probably for livestock. It is a dug well but, as Diane suggests, also appears to be taking advantage of an existing seep. Alas, as far as I can tell, no treasure buried at the bottom…

Is it a dug well, or a spring that has been “improved”?
Either way, it looks lovely, and those mysteries are such fun to ponder…
Thanks for sharing.
Alex

The well you found was probably originally a perched water table. The ground water perculated down through the soil, hit an impermeable layer such as clay and seeped out of the side of the hill. The landowners, as suggested by Ms Feighner, could have enlarged this seep to create a watering hole for their animals.

We have these wasps also that like to cling to a maple tree stump.  But last year they were completely all black with a 3 inch tail.  This year we killed one and it was mostly black with yellow head and has 3 tails.  Will they sting?  I’ve never seen them before and they have shown up within the last 4 years.  Do they like to hang on only dead wood?

The other possibility is that it was a gravity feed well to the farmhouse.  Our family farm in Woodstock CT had a well on the hill in back of the house and a lead pipe that gravity fed cold water to the kitchen sink.  It was very erratic and went dry the first winter we moved in after my grandfather died.  Came back to life after snowmelt in the spring.

Thank you for the excellent description of the spruces.
I vacation each year in Maine and like to collect pitch from the evergreens for use in my violin varnishes. There are no spruces where I live in central Virginia.
I have been collecting only spruce resin this year and would like to be able to identify the kind of tree that it comes from.

I’ve been lucky to have had two New Zealand- made air tight, double combustion Fisher Stoves in my family for many years. My clever father built a unique design of cowl to fix the draw issues. It fixed the smoke problem, too. One of them has a wet back. Myself and others are helping get his cowl all over the world as it isn’t only pre-EPA stoves its helping.

Its success is how it maintains flue conditions by engineering a natural pressure differential chamber. Negative pressure is something that I think has been ignored as a significant influence on incomplete combustion/ emissions, as adverse winter inversion conditions or general negative pressure conditions are dealt with separately from appliance testing, which manufacturers can get away with filters and air tubes not assessed in realistic consumer conditions.

A cowl doesn’t force the sale of new appliances though does it.

Appliance assessments here use the Condar method. They assess with rubbish pine fuel. People who have replaced have only been replacing fairly recent appliances. In a lot of cases all that has changed is the dampers are being stuck wide open, and the more complicated the appliance is down below, the more likely there will be back flow problems. Bob Fisher should have realised that a double combustion chamber requires more draw. Wet backs need more draw. The appliance tests don’t adequately assess draw!

Frankly, I think the OMNI/ EPA regime is a disaster, and the problems need to be fixed back in Underwriter Laboratories - as a safety standard! Forget about particulate matter. Focus on creosote. Maintain flue conditions throughout the burn cycle, in all winter conditions, and give our damper control back!

They do exist in the wild we have a pack living down the road from us that were fathered by a dog.

I have (don’t want) stinging nettle in my vegtable garden and I keep pulling it up.  But it replenishes faster than me!  At least from your article I now know what it is.

In partial answer to Judy’s comment, the original stump dies and gradually rots away. The new sprout is an individual stem that can be cut wherever desired. I believe that thinning the sprouts is a good idea. Simply pick the best formed individual, or pair, and cut the rest away. Of course, there will be resprouting and the pruning can go on for years, but the original selectively chosen stems will likely be dominant.

My experience is that red oak and red maple sprout vigorously and form something of a bush. The mature bush is difficult to cut as the many stems impede the saw. The bush generally is filled with weak and distorted stems that ore often of little use.

If you wish to non-chemically eliminate a tree that sprouts, the pruning and chopping of the stump can go on for years before the sprouting ceases.

I enjoy your stories.

When coppicing is used as a continuing harvesting method, where is each successive cut made?  A new cut made below the original would gradually shorten the original stump, a new cut made above the original cut would lead to many smaller stumps on top of the original stump, and a cut exactly along the original cut must have it’s own difficulties.

Also, since there would likely be many sprouts, are the sprouts thinned and which ones?

Great article, thank you for taking the time to write it.

These things have been the centre of many a nightmare for me! I moved to Alberta in 1988 and 3 days later spotted my first one…. I have been bitten but I’m scared more of them just landing on me! Jennifer is right! They are everywhere in Alberta and I have not been able to enjoy a summer since I was 11 years old! I hate these things sooooooooooo much! I am looking for info on their life cycle and such so I can enjoy some summer this year!