I used to keep my place nice and neatly mowed….all the fruit orchards and such…..then I figured out that the deer like it a lot better when it’s messy and grown up. That glorified weed patch is slam full of deer right now. I can’t even walk out of my garage without spooking deer. I jumped up three different groups just walking in to take those pics and spread the corn out. It's pretty easy not to lose your chit when its like that. You start realizing that what we think is important is a little different than what the deer do.
The summer cedar is offering structure and cover to what would otherwise be an open field. I believe its also serving as a soil anchor in some way in my sandy soil. The massive woody roots that its putting down are building new pathways and further stabilizing the soil. Its becoming more and more predominant in my field but I’m gonna hold off on the urge to try and control it just yet. I feel like as the soil conditions change then so will the species composition. Mother Nature doesn’t just remain static. If I walked away and left it alone I don’t think you would come back in ten years to find a field of dog fennel. Nature progresses from early successional species toward climax species of a mature forest and it does something similar with building soil. I may not know exactly how it will happen but I feel like the dog fennel is just playing a temporary role in the soil building process.
Last edited by CNC; 10/13/19 10:45 PM.
