Just a first post on the 2020 growing season as it starts to come to an end. The most impressive tree growth have been two 6-12 inch bareroot Hackberry seedlings that I planted in April. As of August 29th they both have grown out of 5 foot TreePro tree tubes.

Just a note on Hackberry trees. They are some of my favorite trees in the woods. Right down by the Zumbro river are about a dozen very large Hackberries. The are related to American Elm, but don’t get Dutch Elm Disease. They do have the high graceful arching that Elms were so well known for. Plus their warty bark is very interesting.

Here is a picture of one of the Hackberries:

And below is the second Hackberry:

So another update is the growth of walnut stump sprouts from the big Black Walnuts which were harvested last winter. Of the 18 walnuts cut about half have stump sprouts. I have pictured one of the stumps below. I am starting to put wire around the sprouts to protect them from deer. I will be posting more about stump sprouts on a future post.

Last picture is of some ripe elderberries. It is amazing the bounty of our woods. We have raspberries, wild plums, Dogo crabapples, wild strawberries and more. I have some pictures of other forest food which I will post soon.

I hope that we can cut some of those elderberries before the birds eat them all. Today while taking this photo I saw dozens of Gold Finches. They must be on their way south for the winter. It was quite a sight which I really treasure.