Cleaning up the old pond.

[Homebody]

Started cleaning up the old pond at the farm. I can't wait until it's done (family time), but it's provided a good bit of wood. Mostly Silver Maple and Sycamore, with some catalpa, cherry, and mulberry mixed in. The trees were really tall but, very thin in diameter. They were packed tight and bolted up for the sun. So a bunch of 8"-4" logs that were 40' long. It was kinda nice not dealing with huge logs as I could use the little tractor and save on fuel. There are a few 16"-20" in diameter also. I haven't finished dragging the logs out, but have quite the pile so far. I hate to split all of that small stuff so might save the smallest of the small for campfires. I cut the tops and limbs off around 3"-4".

It's hard to tell in the pics. The pile in the rear is on a 16ft hay wagon. Most are around 15'- 20' or so and a bunch rolled off the back side. It's weird being so tall and skinny, I'm not used to it. It wasn't bad cutting other than the trees being tangled together. Not anything to write home about, but wood is wood. I'll cut and split in a couple weeks and put it in a solar kiln.

 

[Ashful]

Nice! I still split the small stuff, just in half.

 

[thewoodlands]

Started cleaning up the old pond at the farm. I can't wait until it's done (family time), but it's provided a good bit of wood. Mostly Silver Maple and Sycamore, with some catalpa, cherry, and mulberry mixed in. The trees were really tall but, very thin in diameter. They were packed tight and bolted up for the sun. So a bunch of 8"-4" logs that were 40' long. It was kinda nice not dealing with huge logs as I could use the little tractor and save on fuel. There are a few 16"-20" in diameter also. I haven't finished dragging the logs out, but have quite the pile so far. I hate to split all of that small stuff so might save the smallest of the small for campfires. I cut the tops and limbs off around 3"-4".

It's hard to tell in the pics. The pile in the rear is on a 16ft hay wagon. Most are around 15'- 20' or so and a bunch rolled off the back side. It's weird being so tall and skinny, I'm not used to it. It wasn't bad cutting other than the trees being tangled together. Not anything to write home about, but wood is wood. I'll cut and split in a couple weeks and put it in a solar kiln. View attachment 296656

Nice work @Homebody , you and your family will enjoy it. I've done a bunch of trail work around our house, usually it's cleaning up downed pine or damaged trees, we have a bunch of nice trails for walking, RTV or truck and it's always nice when you get done and can see the results, keep the pictures coming. 👍

 

[Sawset]

Started cleaning up the old pond at the farm. I can't wait until it's done (family time), but it's provided a good bit of wood. Mostly Silver Maple and Sycamore, with some catalpa, cherry, and mulberry mixed in. The trees were really tall but, very thin in diameter. They were packed tight and bolted up for the sun. So a bunch of 8"-4" logs that were 40' long. It was kinda nice not dealing with huge logs as I could use the little tractor and save on fuel. There are a few 16"-20" in diameter also. I haven't finished dragging the logs out, but have quite the pile so far. I hate to split all of that small stuff so might save the smallest of the small for campfires. I cut the tops and limbs off around 3"-4".

It's hard to tell in the pics. The pile in the rear is on a 16ft hay wagon. Most are around 15'- 20' or so and a bunch rolled off the back side. It's weird being so tall and skinny, I'm not used to it. It wasn't bad cutting other than the trees being tangled together. Not anything to write home about, but wood is wood. I'll cut and split in a couple weeks and put it in a solar kiln. View attachment 296656

Any history of the pond and it's original intent/ uses. Sometimes areas that were intended as simple wildlife areas or for drainage are very much gems in the rough. How old do you think the older trees were. Sometimes those dates can be attributed to family or ownership changes long ago.

 

[Homebody]

The farm has been in my Wife's family since the late 1800's. My wife and I are the 5th generation to farm it.

The pond was built in the 1950's as a retention/drainage pond. The US Army Corps of Engineers came and contoured the farm and many farms around the area. Old drain tile was installed in the fields to drain into the pond to catch sediment. Th epond was stocked and used for fishing and swimming for many years.

Grandma got old and the one uncle who lived there and farmed got old as well. They no longer had the time or energy to maintain a lot of the farm and the pond was one of the things let go 25 years or so ago.

I'm not sure if there may have been a pond there before the 50's. It's possible there was a small pond to water livestock before then. The only trees that were around the pond after it was built was a couple Weeping Willows, which are long gone at this point. So all of the trees would have grown since that time.

We have an areal photograph of the farm that was taken in the early 60's. The pond is there in it's full glory. So I 'm hoping to restore it back to what it was then and also use it for fishing and swimming.

 

[Ashful]

There should be a series of photographs around 1948, if I recall correctly. I can't remember what branch of the gub'ment had it done (US Geological Survey?), but at least all of Pennsylvania (and I believe at least all of the east coast) was captured in a large series of high-res aerial photographs in or around 1948. I have downloaded the copies of my own old farm (built ca.1734), to see how it was laid out at that time.

 

[Homebody]

Neat! I'll look into it and see what I can find. We are very interested in the history of the area and have a lot of stories and stuff saved from the area. I believe my Wife is interested in writing a book about the life in the area and the family's who lived and farmed. Maps would be helpful to see the progression.

 

[bigealta]

Good time for a small saw if you have one.

Looking forward to watching the pond restoration!

 

[Ashful]

If you want maps, there were a metric crap ton of them generated in the 1870's, and most of them contained the names of the farmers with dots depicting the locations of the primary buildings. There are definitely errors in them, but most are pretty good. Some even have a "directory" of names in one corner, containing the names of all property owners in the county. The site historicmapworks.com is always a good place to start.

 

[Homebody]

Good time for a small saw if you have one.

Looking forward to watching the pond restoration!

This was about the wood I was gathering, but I would post pond updates if it's ok to do so.

 

[Homebody]

If you want maps, there were a metric crap ton of them generated in the 1870's, and most of them contained the names of the farmers with dots depicting the locations of the primary buildings. There are definitely errors in them, but most are pretty good. Some even have a "directory" of names in one corner, containing the names of all property owners in the county. The site historicmapworks.com is always a good place to start.

We have some 1848 or 58 maps of the area. It was helpful in connecting dots to the family relations.