EcoEcho Forest Cultvation week 2 continued: The buckthorn swamp monster

So I accidentally had buckthorn seeds in my boots the first time I surveyed the land to consider buying the property. Luckily I bought the property since otherwise in five years the buckthorn would have taken over, destroying all the biodiversity of the flora. This is one "bush" that I dug out - that had grown in just two years. I thought it was the worst. I had over the past week gone over practically every square inch of the EcoEcho forest - to look for any buckthorn seedlings. When the buckthorn seed takes root in the wetland muck then it thrives. I was confident that I had gotten all of the buckthorn - that had spread from my boots - until I suddenly encountered the buckthorn swamp monster.

So if you look in the trees - there hangs the brains (roots) and branches (legs) of the Buckthorn swamp monster. It took me at least three hours to dig my fingernails deep into the dirt (I got dirt way down under the nails into the nerve area). The roots had twisted and weaved over and under other roots of the native trees - the willow and aspen.

So in the trees hangs the remains - to desiccate and die off. But I still have to confirm that the roots will not come back to life - Zombie like - if they get wet again. It's about a ten foot by ten foot area and the root grew to about an inch and half diameter. So this I dubbed the Swamp Monster as the buckthorn grew at an amazing quarter inch a day - by my rough calculations! I never had this kind of buckthorn on the land where I had been pulling it - as we didn't have this kind of wetland swamp land. I didn't realize the buckthorn would thrive so easily in this wetter land.

Here's what - 17? about 17 Alder logs that are newly inoculated - and so I will soak them in the tanks in a couple weeks. Right now they have enough water - at the 30% level - for the mycelium to begin feeding on the logs as they continue to die off. So I should get some Shiitake this fall but also it will continue to produce Shiitake shrooms for another couple years. I have to set them up as a "crib" log stack - like a little mini-log cabin - to harvest the shrooms in the fall.

Part of a bird egg - so already they're having babies! Probably a Robin - but since I don't have the full egg then it could be a Thrush?

So the soak tank water is actually quite clear once the clay settles to the bottom - from the well water.
This photo shows floating plant material that had fallen in and then the drain plug is near the bottom. So then on the bottom you can see the clay.

Presenting the Wood Frog.

OK now I'll go to part 3.