….and then he says “do you want some trees”

The “soil” here is basically pure sand once you get away from the river and wet meadows. Basically beach sand from an ancient vast inland sea that dried up and the sand drifted into dunes that have eventually been stabilized ( mostly) by grass and other vegetation. Very few nutrients in the soil, and it is also very permeable, so any precipitation is quickly soaked away and evaporated.
The grass is far from thick enough to out compete any thing. Even well managed pastures have sparse vegetation. Cedar trees are the one exception as they are fairly invasive and many ranchers go to great lengths to keep them in check. But this area is one of the best cattle producing areas of the country, if not the world.
Geologically a very unique area.
And it is just as sparsely populated as it is vegetated, AND THAT SUITS ME JUST FINE!

 

Very interesting.
Looks like dead wood everywhere, a very target rich environment. What's your primary go-to saw been?

 

357 with a 20” yesterday mostly. But used a 266 wearing a 24” to drop the biggest and only tree I actually had to cut down.
Yeah there’s a lot of firewood to be had. Most of what is in this picture is inaccessible without doing a lot of cleanup with the skid steer to get to it. Lots of rotten deadfall. There’s another section I’ll check out today for accessibility. Several dead white barkless trees I can see from a distance.

 

Very nice

 

Sandhillbilly cut them all down!!!

 

Today’s episode:
First load of logs that I had bucked yesterday
This is the area that I worked today


Done with everything I wanted. Pretty much the same camera angle

The dump truck threw a fit so the stepson didn’t make it back for this last load. I wanted to get my machine home, so this last load will have to wait until some point in the future. To far to haul the machine back to load with and find another driver. So when I go back I’ll just take the dump truck and a couple saws and buck it to length on site.

 

Impressive amount of wood.

Too bad about the dump truck.

 

Agreed 100%. I definitely appreciate the pics and envy the truck, barkless score and handsome doggo, but do not envy driving 30 mi to cut a yard tree. But at the same time It all depends on your demographic.

 

Not sure I’d consider these yard trees. Homestead trees fits better. I would imagine that at least some of them were planted at the same time or shortly after someone took up residence there. I’m gonna have to try and check the growth rings on the bigger one that came from nearest the house. Quite possibly about the same age as Straw house

 

Not sure if it's just the way the camera makes it look.......but it looks so brown there.

 

It's pretty brown up here too, although some small patches of grass are just starting to turn green in the warmer spots near the asphalt or next to buildings.

 

Thats just the way things look here over the winter & early spring if there is no snow on. Things are starting to green up here but may take longer out in Sandhillbilly s neighborhood with the sandy soils & cooler temps.

Once the temps starts warming things usually green up pretty fast.

 

It's pretty brown here too (not as much as some "winters" though!) but its starting to green up/grass is growin already...some spots might need mowed in the next week or two.

 

With the unseasonably warm weather, if we could get some moisture things will start getting green.
You should see the area in mid June if we get adequate moisture, beautiful!

 

Must be yalls type of grass too. We have some fields/areas that are brown like that, but there's usually a trace of green somewhere....not as monotone as the pic looks.

I imagine somebfolks have cut their grass here. I need to in the next couple days if I can.....some of the grass and weeds are jumping. Glad to see the grass in the pastures is greening up and growing.

 

I remember coming up to the Sandhills from the Platte River valley in my college days to go deer hunting in November. I recall saying to myself “ who would live in this god forsaken place? And why am I coming up to hunt deer? There’s no place for them to live and hide!”
Now I’ve been here going on 35 years and can’t imagine living anywhere else ( ‘cepten maybe Alaska, Wyoming, or Montana. And probably in that order )