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The Shack, Gardening, Black Walnut
May. 2nd, 2008 09:13 amYesterday I spent three hours over at one of the old chicken coops, which has been used as a hangout for various young people for decades and was renamed The Shack at some point, going back over 30 years ago. It's a smallish building, being around 10x12 maybe? One full floor plus another floor was put in at some point, with just enough space for a putting a couple of mattresses above in the eaves space. On the main floor there are two tables, a couple of chairs, one set of bunk beds, a dresser, and a sofa and matching chair. At one point in its history there was a woodstove in there, and the sheet of metal for heat protection is on the floor still, as well as a cut out for where the chimney would go out one of the windows. A few panes have been lost over time and replaced with wood, which makes it a bit dark.
The most recent crowd of youths liked to party there, but cleaning wasn't their strong suit, shall we say... granted, a little bit of the mess was created by mice nesting and living there (all but perhaps one mattress will have to go, because of the mice). Still, 3 hours seems a bit much, and still not have a clean place. I'd like to have the place potentially ready for guests, so freshening will continue this summer. I'm inclined to not replace the mattresses up above. Maybe a low-pile rug would serve for padding for sleeping bags? And plastic-wrap the bunk mattresses while not in use.
The sofa and matching chair need to go as well, and the rolled up rug (no, I don't think it's usable for above).
Found an old rag rug in there too, which needs cleaning but is still quite serviceable.
Part of cleaning the place was removing not only trash but lots of cans and bottles (mostly stacked on the dresser but they ran out of space), which I'm taking as a cleaning fee. Also some memorabilia of adventures on the road... ah youth.
Windows need repair to bring in more light and keep out critters and the weather a bit better. And since it's unlikely to be used as a coop again, I want to paint the walls and cover up all the 'historical' graffiti and bring some more light into the space. The antlers will stay of course.
Might look into making the upper window/hatch accessible again -- could be nice for ventilation in summertime, and I think it would be good to have it as an emergency exit as well.
We'll have to poke around the farm and see about putting a woodstove back in as well.
And, get rid of a lot of barberry and such around the sides, maybe used some of the abandoned bits of furniture behind the shack for holding firewood (something that looks like a chunky coffee table and the u-shaped metal frames for some chair bases). And re-shingle the sides and put up some fencing to keep the cows from eating it.... the shack is in one of the pastures.
There's a goodly chunk of peppermint growing to the north of the shack... I'll let you guess how I found it ;)
***
Gardening! Or hobbyist farming, call it what you will. L turned the soil for the oats, as well as extending and widening a couple of the beds nearby per W's request (changing the dimensions in relation to the hay field, to make the haying easier, less fiddly). Lots and lots of clods of grass in the turned field, which will make planting the oats a slow process this year. We covered one small portion with black plastic, but no time to do the whole field as the planting is supposed to happen this month. Next year will be easier, at least in that regard.
***
Was reading up on Black Walnuts, as there's one in the sun/shade garden by the road that I'd sort of like removed in addition to the one that's too near a fruit tree. The roots are impressive -- botanists excavated a nine-year-old tree once, and the tap root had already gone 7 feet down and the side anchoring roots were 8 feet out! In the old days, mature trees were said to have been up to 150 feet tall and 6-8 feet in diameter. The largest known one today is in Vermont, and is 115 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter. They're related to Butternuts (another type of walnut tree) and also to Hickory.
The 'sort of' about keeping or not keeping the tree in the street side garden is because Black Walnuts aren't as common as they used to be in this country, and in particular in our area. Most of the commercially-available stuff is from the Midwest, IIRC. It's a great wood for human use, whether for firewood (upper branches), carving, or furniture. By all reports it's great to work with and it also is very attractive. The nuts are edible, if not as tasty as butternuts, and feed the squirrels, chipmunks and mice. The shells can be used for making a dark brown/blackish dye as well. Several types of moth larvae eat the leaves, including the Luna Moth.
But, it produces juglone, which inhibits growth of many other plants, including its own seedlings, interestingly enough -- sort of self-population-control. Horses are so sensitive to this chemical that even the sawdust, used for bedding, can make them ill. Some small plants will grow under them, but I have some concerns about whether any edibles or medicinals I grew under one of these would be safe to use. If this tree stays I will probably only put things over there that I will consider ornamental... I'll have to check my dyestuff seeds and see if any of them can grow in partial shade. If yes, maybe I can still get some use out of that area, and still sort of be a permaculture type of garden -- just not for consumables.
As for the tree that will be staying for sure, that's near the house so we'll have to pay more attention in the fall to moving the nuts faraway from the house, since they're food for rodents.
The most recent crowd of youths liked to party there, but cleaning wasn't their strong suit, shall we say... granted, a little bit of the mess was created by mice nesting and living there (all but perhaps one mattress will have to go, because of the mice). Still, 3 hours seems a bit much, and still not have a clean place. I'd like to have the place potentially ready for guests, so freshening will continue this summer. I'm inclined to not replace the mattresses up above. Maybe a low-pile rug would serve for padding for sleeping bags? And plastic-wrap the bunk mattresses while not in use.
The sofa and matching chair need to go as well, and the rolled up rug (no, I don't think it's usable for above).
Found an old rag rug in there too, which needs cleaning but is still quite serviceable.
Part of cleaning the place was removing not only trash but lots of cans and bottles (mostly stacked on the dresser but they ran out of space), which I'm taking as a cleaning fee. Also some memorabilia of adventures on the road... ah youth.
Windows need repair to bring in more light and keep out critters and the weather a bit better. And since it's unlikely to be used as a coop again, I want to paint the walls and cover up all the 'historical' graffiti and bring some more light into the space. The antlers will stay of course.
Might look into making the upper window/hatch accessible again -- could be nice for ventilation in summertime, and I think it would be good to have it as an emergency exit as well.
We'll have to poke around the farm and see about putting a woodstove back in as well.
And, get rid of a lot of barberry and such around the sides, maybe used some of the abandoned bits of furniture behind the shack for holding firewood (something that looks like a chunky coffee table and the u-shaped metal frames for some chair bases). And re-shingle the sides and put up some fencing to keep the cows from eating it.... the shack is in one of the pastures.
There's a goodly chunk of peppermint growing to the north of the shack... I'll let you guess how I found it ;)
***
Gardening! Or hobbyist farming, call it what you will. L turned the soil for the oats, as well as extending and widening a couple of the beds nearby per W's request (changing the dimensions in relation to the hay field, to make the haying easier, less fiddly). Lots and lots of clods of grass in the turned field, which will make planting the oats a slow process this year. We covered one small portion with black plastic, but no time to do the whole field as the planting is supposed to happen this month. Next year will be easier, at least in that regard.
***
Was reading up on Black Walnuts, as there's one in the sun/shade garden by the road that I'd sort of like removed in addition to the one that's too near a fruit tree. The roots are impressive -- botanists excavated a nine-year-old tree once, and the tap root had already gone 7 feet down and the side anchoring roots were 8 feet out! In the old days, mature trees were said to have been up to 150 feet tall and 6-8 feet in diameter. The largest known one today is in Vermont, and is 115 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter. They're related to Butternuts (another type of walnut tree) and also to Hickory.
The 'sort of' about keeping or not keeping the tree in the street side garden is because Black Walnuts aren't as common as they used to be in this country, and in particular in our area. Most of the commercially-available stuff is from the Midwest, IIRC. It's a great wood for human use, whether for firewood (upper branches), carving, or furniture. By all reports it's great to work with and it also is very attractive. The nuts are edible, if not as tasty as butternuts, and feed the squirrels, chipmunks and mice. The shells can be used for making a dark brown/blackish dye as well. Several types of moth larvae eat the leaves, including the Luna Moth.
But, it produces juglone, which inhibits growth of many other plants, including its own seedlings, interestingly enough -- sort of self-population-control. Horses are so sensitive to this chemical that even the sawdust, used for bedding, can make them ill. Some small plants will grow under them, but I have some concerns about whether any edibles or medicinals I grew under one of these would be safe to use. If this tree stays I will probably only put things over there that I will consider ornamental... I'll have to check my dyestuff seeds and see if any of them can grow in partial shade. If yes, maybe I can still get some use out of that area, and still sort of be a permaculture type of garden -- just not for consumables.
As for the tree that will be staying for sure, that's near the house so we'll have to pay more attention in the fall to moving the nuts faraway from the house, since they're food for rodents.
