taking a deep breath

It didn't take long to realize we need to sloooow down! You know the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day" and neither will our place. We need to take a deep breath, familiarize ourselves with the lay of the land, dream, visualize, explore and enjoy.

Sunday we did just that, after a bit more work. While Brad finished planting the pasture, I dug out some of these:

They are everywhere people haven't been! They grow like weeds, and they hurt!! My current neighbor across the road has some prickly pear that has grown on his slope for over 30 years. They are beautiful when they bloom. Cacti were my first plant loves when I was a child. I'll save that story for another day. I knew some species survived WI winters, but who knew Prickly Pear were native?!! Not me, and not just about everybody else in WI - unless you live in the area.

I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, and having grown cactus - I am well aware of the evils. I made a pile to burn someday, and barely made a dent. It was easier to grab them by the roots & yank, until they got me ~ yeeeowww!! 

We called it a day early on, and headed out through the woods to try and figure out our property lines. Our son had joined us, the three of us went exploring...

The grassy scrub pine area above turns into hardwoods. There are some oaks, and some type of tree with thorns. My hubby loves those (not!) they got him more then once. We plan to figure out what we've got growing, and what shouldn't. Along with all the online resources, our local DNR offers help. We will be good stewards of this land, for not only us, but for future generations. 

Most trees are just starting to leaf out, who knows what they might be?

These have what looks like dried puff-balls hanging on them...

I am glad nobody could see us in the woods, it was pretty comical. It was like playing hide-n-go-seek. They might have been able to hear us tho?! There was a lot of calling out "can you see me now?" "ummmm, nope"  crunch, crunch, crunch "how about now" silence "move to your left, no the other left" crunch, crunch, crunch "ummmm, nope - wait - I think I see you" !!! We even stuck our hats on tall branches, sometimes it helped. We found our property markers, lines however proved to be difficult.

My favorite part of the woods, and the property, are the tall pines....sigh. I just love them!! Our wooded area is between 6-7 acres, not a lot - but enough to enjoy!! There are 15 more adjoining mixed wooded acres, with three nice owners (5 acres each). We've met them all, two previously owned parts of our land. I think we'll all end up sharing :)

the boys walking the pines
(archive photo)

As far as I can tell there is a mix of red pines and white pines...I had to look up which is which. Pathetic, I know. I need to get back to my Girl Scout ways, the ones that made me fall in love with nature as a child. I've forgotten so much, but not the feeling. It's where I feel grounded. Alive. Happiest. Me.

white pine
needles are in bundles of 5

Walking out of the woods, and gazing across the fields...is this really happening??

I have to pinch myself...which is better then getting pinched by the damn cactus!!