8/6/2022 updated 8/14/2023

We have chopped down two invasive trees that were growing too close to an Elm Tree that we wanted to save. The two trees were a Honey Locust and a Red Cedar. As you may have seen from my videos Red Cedars are ok trees but they very invasive. We will be keeping a number of the Red Cedars and Honey Locusts, but these were too close to the American Elm. Red Cedars kill other trees by growing very close to them and crowding them out with many far reaching branches that block all the sunlight. Here is the photo of the saved Elm.

Updates on Land Restoration Project to help animals and the environment

Here is a early spring 2023 look at the branches that needed to be cleared away. The Elm Tree is out of leaf right now. The giant pipe was some of the trash on the land that we are still trying to get cleared away. New plans include planting new trees soon that will help animals, insects and the environment. We want a Walnut, Paw Paw, Hazelnut just to start with and more will be added after that. We found a Pecan tree and we helped it by removing vines and smaller plants.

Update: March 28, 2023

Unfortunately the ticks have become active already although it has been usually cold. We have both deer ticks and lone star ticks. We have been spraying pyrethrins on our pants legs. We have bought more native plants at the yearly Runge Native Plant Sale. We are nurturing these plants for future planting on the 6 acres. I plan to do a video soon on these new plants and to show our process with clearing the invasive plants out.

More information about clearing native land can be found if you request a Free catalog from Missouri Wildflower Nursery in Jefferson City. They have several pages of instructions that are not available on their website.

Updated: July 19. 2023 This year was disappointing because early in the year we had some drought. It would have been hard to get native plants established under drought conditions. I hope next year will be better. The sun flowers and the cup flowers look fantastic and are in full bloom right now. But even if I failed to get more natives established at least I have made some progress towards restoration. It one thing to plant natives and seed natives but to see them through to full establishment so they could exist without the help of humans is much harder. The invasives have to be constantly destroyed and removed. There is no way to banish them.

August 2023 We are now getting a lot of rain. Aster yellows is a plant disease. My plant came down with it, but the big mistake I made was buying a Blue English Aster in 2022. It grew fine the first year, but this year it came down with Aster yellows. I had to remove and destroy the Aster and a number of other plants such as cone flower types. I wish I had never purchased the Aster. It was a costly mistake.

• Environmentalism