TOPIC: opening day...

TN, I just reread your post regarding the creek turning from gravel to slick rock bottom...and this time it registered. The creek in the pictures I posted are at the same elevation of my house, roughly 1050', meandering with very little elevation change. At this level it is mostly gravel and loose rock. A bit higher some of the drainages are rock and form either small waterfalls or waterslides.

Chief, I'll let you know if I sign up for that race.

I've been meaning to ask but kept forgetting, does anyone have experience with ginseng growing along with Japanese stilt grass? This grass is an invasive and grows along my creek near the house. It also grows most everywhere else and is working its way up a couple slopes where seng is growing.

I don't know whether the two can exist together or not.

I've done no research yet, was hoping maybe someone has seen the two plants growing together and can shed some light. Thanks.

Woodsrunner... not sure about that stilt grass, no experience with that here.

But I have seen ginseng growing in some very thick stuff and as long as it can send a top up above that stuff it seems to continue to do well.
I have seen nice 3 and 4 prongs right in the midst of a thick yellow root patch and they were doing fine.

Some plants can do allelopathy..

al·le·lop·a·thy
the chemical inhibition of one plant (or other organism) by another, due to the release into the environment of substances acting as germination or growth inhibitors.

I just did a google search on Japanese stilt grass and allelopathy and found this...

It expands into dense stands of grass that prevent desirable vegetation from growing. Areas infested with Japanese stiltgrass have decreased biodiversity. ... A 2010 study by Pisula and Meiners indicates that Japanese stiltgrass has allelopathic potential to inhibit seed germination.

Sounds like a not so good plant to have where you hope to grow ginseng.

TNHunter

Just a FYI... you guys know how I love to grow my own food... catch it, kill it, clean it, cook it, eat it.

I have lots of fruit trees, berry bushes, garden beds, etc...

I have no Nut Trees... (other than wild hickory and oaks) and I got to looking at Hickory Trees, the different types and there is one that is supposed to have a very nice, great tasting nut... Shagbark Hickory...

There is actually a..

Shagbark
Southern Shagbark
Shellbark
Pignut

And a few other varieties... not so common to middle TN... those are the ones common to my area.

By the way Pecan and Hickory are in the same family... Love those Pecans.

So I was considering adding a few nut trees to the mass of things I have growing here... I love nuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds, I eat on a regular basis (daily)..

I am going to add a couple Pecan Trees, and Walnut Trees this late winter, early spring. Yes it takes a while for those to get going, producing, but I am good with that.
I have also considered adding a couple hazelnuts too but they look somewhat questionable for success in TN.

I did find that one of the Hickory Trees in the field just to the left of my front porch (about 60 yards out) is a Shagbark Hickory. the bark just hangs off in big sheets, some pealing off at the top, and some pealing off at the bottom. These are noted for having especially flavorful nuts.

Most of the Hickory trees on my place are the Pignut Variety... and those are not known for flavorful nuts (although the squirrels love em).

So this week we made the trip to Cookeville TN again... to see our Daughter, and Son (son is attending TN Tech there) and it was his Birthday.. so we got together and did some fun stuff, at out at a really nice place for his birthday.

And... remember a few weeks back I found that nice meat mallet at a local Antique shop there.. well we went back to that place again and this time look what I found.



A nice heavy duty nut cracker.. cast iron. On the back it has this stamped into the oak base.. P & L Company, 1303 western street, Oshkosh WI 54901.

I went down in the woods at my daughters house and found a big old pignut hickory tree and a few nuts and it cracked them with ease and little effort. Cracked but not crushed, just right.

Last spring our hard frost on April 15.. wiped out my peaches, apples... and my shagbark hickory produced no nuts last year (and it usually does).. so I imagine that frost got them too. Hopefully this year, I will get a crop of Shagbark hickory nuts to try out.

I like really old stuff that still works great...

TNHunter

Hey TN, I was taking a Master Gardening class while living in OR when I first learned of stilt grass. They showed photos of it and said it snuffs out some wildlife habitat plant species. I did not see this grass in OR but I'm almost sure it is what I have here and the topic has come up in a local gardening class I took in 2018. In this latest class, the instructor said you could plant bulbs within stilt grass and they would grow. IDK

I believe it moves in when trees are cut down and seems to be prevalent in sunny areas in our hollow. On my property, I see it mostly where tress were cleared years ago. Anyway, where I see it creeping up slopes toward honey holes, I harvest the berries and plant them in "better" locations. This grass seems prevalent adjacent to other invasive plants like autumn olive, japanese barberry and garlic mustard, all which I have on my property.

I am familiar with the term allelopathy and have read that walnut trees produce a chemical called juglone through their roots as well as when they drop their leaves. They adversely affect tomato plants and several other vegetables. I have several walnut trees in my yard and have/am removing those closest to my garden.

Copy and pasted: "The walnut tree and other plants produce allelopathic chemicals to discourage other plants competing for water and nutrients. As an example of "turnabout is fair play" in the plant world, some grasses that cannot compete with trees for light will produce chemicals to inhibit root growth in trees."

You know, between invasive plants and insects, it's a constant battle it seems.

Regarding Shagbark Hickories, I have hundreds of them on my property. I don't know if they're southern shagbark but I've read we have at least two varieties of hickories here. I've watched deer eat the nuts and my pups like to chew on them. I don't know how one harvests them (picks them off the ground?), but you are welcome to come here and help yourself to them when the time is right.

BTW, shagbarks are beautiful trees IMO.

Nice nut cracker, I like old stuff as well.

getting some freezing rain this morning,,yuck...

Chief we got a LOT of rain last night, and a storm, some wind... but it was not too cold here upper 40's... and today the sun came out early and has shined most of the day nicely, and warmed up some too.

I need a few warm dry sunny days... so I can get some holes prepped for the nut trees I plan to plant later this spring.

There have not been many strings of dry warmer days this winter... lots of rain.

Woodsrunner... on those shagbark hickories... I think my best bet to get some of those would be to put some tin, or something slick (that a squirrel can't climb) around the tree trunk (on that shagbark out in my field)... They can't jump to it from other trees... too far out in the field. If they can't climb it... then the nuts will just fall when ripe...

I will keep the grass mowed short around it when they start falling... and get out there early in the morning and harvest nuts (perhaps the ones that fell over night) while the squirrels were sleeping.

That is my plan of attack so far on beating the squirrels to my shagbark hickory nuts.

And of course, I have a 17 HMR and a 22 mag... and I like to eat squirrels... so that will be part of my plan too... eat some of them to keep them from eating all my shagbark hickory nuts.

They literally have thousands of hickory trees in the woods on my place and surrounding properties... so I plan to only fight them on that one Shagbark out in my field.

Resistance will be met with high speed projectiles and a frying pan (for young ones)... and a pressure cooker for older ones.

TNHunter

fried squirrels ,fried taters,gravey ,and some homemade biscuits ,now that's a meal...I know you aint into things fried TN,but damn its good lol.

Chief... I have to agree with you that would be a fine meal.

Fried young squirrel... is right in there with some good fried chicken... I think it has a little better flavor than chicken, especially the back, and the liver is very good too.

I do still fry stuff... for example yesterday I thawed out a pack of small mouth bass filets and we had them for supper last night. I took the pic below as I was frying them...



Oh man they were good... I still have 5-6 freezer bags full of those, got to get those eaten up before spring... so I can catch some more

But now health wise... here is what you need to know.

The things that are killing everyone slowly... are...

what they call vegetable oils to try and make them sound healthy (actually any kind of grain oils, corn oil, canola oil, even peanut oil, etc) if you look on the label and includes the word hydrogenated = keep in mind - that is the stuff that is slowly killing everyone. Very inflammatory... inflammation of the affected body parts... over time, turns into disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, etc...

If you do a search on hydrogenated oil on google you will find this...

==
Food companies began using hydrogenated oil to help increase shelf life and save costs. Hydrogenation is a process in which a liquid unsaturated fat is turned into a solid fat by adding hydrogen. During this manufactured partially hydrogenated processing, a type of fat called trans fat is made.
==

Notice that they do that hydrogenated stuff... to increase shelf life and save costs (it's all about the company making $$$) and it is VERY Unhealthy for you.

If you are going to fry, Sautee, etc... that is OK health wise, as long as you use oils that are not hydrogenated...

In my skillet above I had a combo of butter (real grass fed butter/ghee) and EV olive oil. These are not hydrogenated. I also cook a lot in bacon fat, beef fat, natural fats.
We also use some avacado oil at times (very high smoke point). None of those are hydrogenated.

Also notice my fish were not breaded (coated in meal/flour)... well because again... grains are very inflammatory. high in carbs... just very bad for you.
No matter how much Healthy they put on a loaf of bread... it is just a lie. They are making $$$ off it.

Instead my fish is blackened now... and I coated them pretty good in my 5 spice mix before frying them up in that butter/OO mixture.

Salt, Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Smoked Paprika (that is my 5 spice mix) and man it is good on Fish, Chicken, Port and Veggies.

Instead of potatoes (fries).. we had a Salad (high fat, low carb). including nuts, avacado mash, berries.

My wife did make some hushpuppies... but not the traditional way... Keto Hush Puppies... they were made with almond flour, onions, kefir, egg, (not sure what else she put in them)... but man they were very good.... but low carb and had no actual grains in them.

Some people are very sensitive to carbs and inflammatory foods like grains and grain oils, including me. I have had pat of my colon removed 2x... no fun at all.
Finally figured out what was causing it... inflammatory foods cooking oils, grains, high carb diet. I stopped all of that.

No problems anymore.. just had to quit eating all the stuff that was bothering me.

A whole lot of folks have figured out now days that a high carb diet, loaded with those unhealthy cooking oils... is what is causing their Diabetes, Arthritis, clogged arteries, heart problems, brain problems, joint damage, gut damage, etc...

Modern day commercial agriculture, and corporate food providers... changed our diet in a big way in the past 100 years... and not in a good way, not in a way that our bodies can handle.

If you can still eat all that stuff and you feel great.. good for you. Some people can.

A lot of people can't... well they can, but they are sick, fat, in pain, and nearly dead

TNHunter

finally got the first snow of the year that was measurable .....

..had 4 inches overnight..ready for it to melt and come on spring..good looking fish TN