Tunneling Through

Triple this space. Double that amount for my assistant duties. Then add on a few more chunks just to be safe. That about covers the wild cultivated gardens.

So I ask myself, is the garden big enough?

Apparently not. I have been tunneling my way much deeper into the forest.

You see, all that land on the slope below the dung piles is mine. The larger property extends a bit beyond that first ridge line of trees on the right

I like wandering through the forest. It is a whole lot easier to do when there is a cleared pathway. I've been down below lopping my way through a thicket of rubbish, blackberry and tree saplings.

Making new paths through the forest would have been a lot easier if the hemlocks had not died, but they died. They were partially logged and the tops and all the branches were left with me. The rest are slowly crashing to the ground. The missing forest canopy caused an explosion of growth when the sunlight hit the ground. Decades of bird deposits sprang to life.

So I am making a path. The process of editing will begin. This time I will be editing trees.

A good number of Magnolia fraseri, Mountain Magnolia, have been coming up in the explosion of growth. I think a grove of them would be nice. Those are being saved.

The plan is to make a path, edit and tidy as I go. The more I walk it, the more will get done. There are already mature rhododendron and a number of other interesting plants down there. I don't have to make a garden. I just have to make a strong impact on the one nature will make. My input should also speed up the process by selecting the trees and giving them room to grow.

As shade returns with a forest canopy, the job will get easier. Give me five years. It will be lovely.