Lemonade.  Some say that if life gives you lemons, make lemonade.   In that vein, we thought “if extreme drought gives you dead oak trees, make hardwood flooring!”

One summer morning in 2011 while drinking our coffee, we noted the difference in the woods due to the drought. We pondered how many oak trees would ultimately die due to the drought and how many we would cut down to prevent a hazard.  How were we going to dispose of such large quantities of wood?   We already had more firewood than we needed and chopping all of the dead trees into firewood, even with a hydraulic splitter, was more work than we wanted to contemplate.  Ronnie starting talking about buying a portable sawmill and making the trees into lumber.  At some point he mentioned that a friend of his knew of a mill in Huntsville next door to a facility that makes hardwood flooring. 

From there we had a eureka! moment.  Was it possible to harvest the dead water oak, have the mill cut the logs into lumber, dry the lumber in the mill’s kiln, and then take the lumber to the hardwood floor plant  to make hardwood flooring for the future Dogwood ranch house?  We began to get excited at the prospect of turning a tragic situation caused by the drought into something positive.  We would not have to waste all of those trees!  Flooring made from wood from the property would be unique and enjoyed for many years in the ranch house.

After hours of research, the plan was official.  We took an inventory of the dead trees, classified them by type (water oak, red oak, American elm and cedar elm), measured the trunk circumference and estimated the number of eight-foot trunk lengths we thought we get out of each dead tree.  We marked them with an orange ribbon and spray paint.  Our survey only included trees that were easy to get to and not those deep in the woods.  We ran calculations of how many board-feet the trees would yield and how many board-feet we need for hardwood flooring in the house.



Evan helping Ronnie paint the ends of logs

Water oak, a type of red oak, is commonly used for hardwood floors.  We took the dead trees down, cut the trunks into 10, 8 or 6 foot lengths and sealed the ends with a protective paint.  For dead trees near infrastructure, we hired professionals (“tree monkeys” as they all themselves) from Rodger’s Tree Service in Brenham.  As expected, Roger’s team did an efficient and professional job at a reasonable price.



Ronnie loading logs onto Frank's trailer

To haul the logs to the mill, we hooked-up with Frank Belt from Huntsville who was doing construction work in Brenham.  Frank was driving a large flat-bed trailer back and forth between Huntsville and Brenham every day so we hired him to pick-up the logs at Dogwood and drop them off at M&G Sawmill. http://www.mgsawmill.com/



Logs ready for Frank to Haul to M&G Sawmill in Huntsville, Texas

Unfortunately, the guys at the mill say some of the wood is not suitable for flooring because the logs are too soft in the middle, a common problem with large water oak. They will cut as much lumber as possible and dry it in their kiln for several weeks.  That’s where the wood is now.  We hope to get at least enough flooring for the living room. 

We also have logs from two red oak trees we plan to use for lumber to build the front door for the house.  Those logs will be included in the second batch we take to the mill.

Invasive Brush Plants – Part 3 – Yaupon Holly Continued

Cut & Paint Stump Method – For the larger trees with trunks two or three inches in diameter, we find this method most efficient. This situation arises most often when yaupon have grown right up next to a nice larger tree. The yaupon often forms a thicket around the larger tree and some of the yaupon is quite large and tall, growing up into a tangle in the limbs of the larger tree. Poison ivy may also be on the main tree and obscured from view due to the yaupon so we are always very careful around these yaupon clumps. See post of August 5, 2010 about how to handle poison ivy.

First, we use the chain saw to cut the yaupon, close to ground. We pull the yaupon out of the tangle and stack it. The pile of cut yaupon is tied to a rope that we hook to the hitch on the ATVE and drag it burn location. More on our brush burning pile later.

Next is the painting process. We mix Remedy with diesel oil or vegetable oil (whichever one is cheaper, right now I think diesel is cheaper) and a squirt of liquid dish soap and apply it to the stump with a paint brush. The Remedy is the key ingredient; the oil’s purpose is to make sure the Remedy sticks to the trunk and doesn’t just run off to ground. The soap is a surfactant, meaning in small amounts it reduces the surface tension of the Remedy/oil mixture so that the surface contact between the Remedy mixture and surface of the yaupon trunk is increased. As an aside, the word “surfactant” is “surface acting agent” run together. The mixture is applied immediately to the fresh cut surface and down the sides and all the way around the stump from cut to dirt. When yaupon attempts to grow, it sucks in the poison which kills the roots. Our non-scientific survey of this method is 99% effective to prevent re-growth of the yaupon. Care is needed to prevent getting the Remedy mixture on other trees as this stuff seems to kill everything it touches. You don’t need a chemical license to buy it. We purchase it at Tractor Supply in Brenham for about $100/gallon. It’s expensive but by mixing and using it properly, it goes a long way

Southern Blackland/Fayette Prairie

Yellow Indian Grass

Tall prairie grasses, grazing bison and antelope filled the landscape of what is now Dogwood Ranch. There were woods in the low areas and along creeks and streams. This was before heavy human settlement and cultivation of the land.

Biologists divide Texas into vegetation regions, or eco-regions, based on the characteristics of the area. Each ecoregion has sub-regions. Dogwood Ranch is located in the Blackland Prairie ecoregion. More specifically, its sub-region is the Southern Blackland/Fayette Prairie. On the Ecoregions of Texas map prepared for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2007, Dogwood Ranch is in region 32B, which encompasses southern Washington County.  ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/tx/tx_eco_pg.pdf

Historically, the distinctive element of the Blackland Prairie was the vast prairies of tall grass. Frequent fires and grazing bison were important factors in maintaining the tall grass prairies. Fires burned intensely hot and extensively over the area only stopped by a water break, topography, soil change or lack of dry fuel. Fire suppressed invading woody species and stimulated the growth of grass and forbs. Controlled fires, or prescribed burns, are brush and range management tools used today. Our experience with prescribed burns will be discussed in a later post.

Historically, bison ate the prairie grass, trampled organic matter on the prairie and spread seed in the disturbed soil. Prairie grasses included little bluestem, big bluestem, yellow Indiangrass, and switchgrass. This region now contains a higher percentage of cropland than adjacent regions; pasture and forage production for livestock is common.

Three soil types are found in the Blackland Prairie ecoregion: 1) Vertisols - clays that swell and shrink depending upon weather conditions and available moisture; 2) Mollisols - rich and fertile; and 3) Alfisols - clays that usually form under deciduous forests, which are found in this ecoregion along rivers and creeks. According to the National Geographic Society, Texas Blackland Prairie ecoregion is home to more than 500 species of animals. The high biodiversity is due to the region’s variety of soils.

Switchgrass

Large areas of the region are now used for urban and industrial purposes. Before Anglo settlement, animal species included bison, pronghorn antelope, mountain lion, bobcat, ocelot, black bear, collared peccary, deer, coyote, fox, badger, and river otter among others (Schmidley 2002, Diggs et al., 1999). Typical game species today include mourning dove and northern bobwhite and fox. According to the National Geographic Society, the tallgrass prairies are the most endangered ecosystems in the U.S.

Big Bluestem

We certainly have not seen bison, mountain lion or black bear roaming around Dogwood Ranch with the cattle. It is difficult to imagine the area with those animals and how it must have looked with fields of waiving tall prairie grasses. We still hear and see coyote and deer. Some local landowners report spotting bobcat and fox.

After cultivation of the area and decades of fire suppression, the prairie grass gave way to “improved pastures” and woody plants like yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), juniper, sometimes called “Texas cedar” (Juniperus virginiana) and, to a less extent, mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var. glandulosa). These woody trees invaded the area creating thick brush pushing out the native grasses and plants. Yaupon holly brush chokes much of the woods on Dogwood Ranch. In some places it is so thick you cannot walk through it.

One of our goals is to restore the pasture in which the cattle now graze back to a tallgrass prairie. In addition, we want to eliminate the yaupon chokehold underbrush in the woods. The pasture appears to consist of short grass of some kind shaded by tall weeds about hip high. Later this year, we will contact the Texas Parks & Wildlife biologist assigned to Washington County, and ask her to come out to Dogwood Ranch. We would like her opinion on how to start the tallgrass restoration project. There are grants and other financial assistance available for certain conservation or restoration activities so we would like any assistance or advice we can get about those programs. The subject of a later post will deal with the inequitable and wrong-minded attitude by the state and federal governments in doling out large grants and financial assistance to large landowners who don’t really need the assistance yet making very little of such funds available to those of us with small parcels of land of less than 100 acres. Dogwood Ranch is 50 acres. Although we understand we cannot restore a massive wild herd of wondering bison and antelope on a mere 50 acres, we could restore the tallgrass and encourage other wildlife with some assistance.

The Big Three Dangers – Imported Red Fire Ants, Africanized Honey Bees and Poison Ivy – Part 3

“Leaflets three, let it be! Leaflets three, quickly flee.” This children’s rhyme reminds us that poison ivy and poison oak have three leaves per leaf stalk. This does not mean all poisonous plants only have three leaves per leaf stalk; poison sumac, also found in Texas, has 7 to 10 leaves. But, beware of the leaflets three!

I discovered the hard way that am very allergic to poison ivy. To my knowledge, I was not exposed to it prior to Dogwood Ranch. For me, it is toxic stuff to be treated as if it were nuclear waste.

The type of plant at the ranch is climbing vine poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans). The poison is, Urushiol (pronounced oo-roo-shee-ohl), an oil contained in all parts of the plant - leaves, stems, flowers and roots.

Here are some interesting facts about urushiol oil circulated by the State of Texas to its employees:

• Only 1 nanogram (billionth of a gram) is needed to cause a rash.

• The average person is exposed to 100 nanograms per exposure.

• 1/4 ounce of urushiol is all that is needed to cause a rash in every person on earth.

• 500 people could itch from the amount covering the head of a pin.

• Specimens of urushiol several centuries old have been found to cause dermatitis in sensitive people.

• 1 to 5 years is normal for urushiol oil to stay active on any surface including dead plants.

• The name urushiol derived from urushi, Japanese name for lacquer.

Vines trail along the ground and then climb any object in their path. At Dogwood Ranch, it is usually a tree in the vine’s path. The ivy can climb fifty to seventy-five feet up a tree trunk. Kinky, brown rootlets cover the vines, attach themselves to crevices or small openings in the tree trunk, and climb. At Dogwood Ranch, we call these rootlets “hair” and know not to touch any hairy rope looking vine.

We maintain a high alert level (orange) for poison ivy. Although urushiol can sometimes wash off with regular soap and water (or rubbing alcohol) within 10 minutes of contact, if not, it is likely to cause a reaction within 8 to 48 hours. On me, it takes about 48 hours for a little straight line of tiny bumps to appear and the itch to start. As soon as we realize we may have touched poison ivy, we use rubbing alcohol to clean the infected area. Poison ivy contact is considered an urgent situation (not quite an emergency) where all else stops until the exposed area is cleaned. There are also specialized soaps we keep on hand to clean away the oil if used in time. A prophylactic lotion that claims to block the oil from contacting the skin can be used prior to exposure. If we know we will be working in a high-risk poison ivy area, we apply this product to exposed skin, and especially the face. I don’t know for sure that it works, but even if it helps a little, that’s good enough for me.

It is very difficult to describe the intense itching caused by poison ivy. Nothing else itches so constantly and so intensely to me. When I had bad rash on my leg, I would wake up in the middle of the night scratching the area madly. Such scratching can cause infections and slows the healing process-but I could not help doing it. When I suspected a poison ivy outbreak on my face, I immediately went to the doctor. He gave me a cortisone injection in my hip and some prescription anti-itch cream. The cortisone kept the rash small and it went away in a few days rather than the usual weeks of oozing sores and tortuous itching.