Stewart Creek Somethings: Weed spraying finally started!

New spring in upper pasture.

The weather was perfect yesterday morning for spraying. I managed to get the entire driveway sprayed down with Roundup. In two weeks we should have a real gravel driveway again instead of a grass path. It seems minor but left alone the weeds and grass start forming dirt and then next thing you know the driveway is a mud path in the spring and a dust path in the summer. Roundup just takes a while, about the time I think it didn't do anything the plants just up and die. The wind did pick up during the early afternoon so I had to divert my attention to something else. Drifting Roundup is not good.

I took the tractor up to the upper field to check on the new springs. They are still there and the swamp was only a little bigger. I took the tractor and found the old drainage path and dug it out a little in hopes that the water would collect into the ditch and dry the field out a little instead of forming a swamp. The water was running through the field in several places. I also drug a path down to the other ditch on the back side of the field. I used the box blade to clear the vegetation and then lifted the rippers so I could just use the blade. It took about 12 passes with the blade to get a ditch started. I figure the running water will finish the ditch for me, it just needed a little direction. The field is dead because it was sprayed down last fall. The area above this was leased out for hay production and a large area was sprayed. We are not sure that hay will be able to go in this spring. He may just keep the field killed with spray and disc up the soil so it will be ready for a crop in the late fall. The producer will do what he wants. This new cut ditch is through the upper prime squared field I will fence in next year. We are secretly hoping it continues to run year round and I can then develop a series of small ponds up here to attract the waterfowl.

Water channel dug so pasture can drain to preexisting ditch.

Annmarie and I both concluded that the honey bees had died. It has gotten warmer and we did not see or hear them coming out of the barn. She groomed the horses on the front side of the barn and didn't notice them. It was decided that I should tear into the wall and see if there was any honey left. I did listen to the wall before I tore into it. There was no buzzing. There was also no honey! Just a bunch of dead bees and empty honey comb. I removed all the comb and cleaned out the area. Jason was working on the roof of the old granary and he took all the wax comb to use for metal finishes.