Friday, October 09, 2009

on an expedition

This afternoon after Julia Ellen went down for her nap the 4 big kids and I again set off into the woods with compass, flagging tape, and loppers. Autumn is one of the best times to wander in the woods (other than during deer season when if one is crazy enough to venture into the woods at all, one should wear blaze orange from stem to stern) because it is easier to see more than 15 feet in front of you. First I stood on the rock wall and got my bearing correct on the compass: 5 degrees off due south. Then Will scouted ahead and stood where I could barely see his red jacket in the line of where the property line should be. I would shout, "Stay right there!" and push through the scrub to tie a fresh day glo orange ribbon on the closest tree. We leapfrogged like this with the younger children following us across fallen tree trunks, through pine saplings, and around dead stumps.
Apparently our compass reading was well done as we found many trees with old spray paint marks from previous owners and an enormous pine tree marking the southwest corner that we can see from our windows. Now that we have a sense of the boundaries of our little farm among the hundreds of acres of woods, we can better plan out some trails to work on next year.

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