Saturday, August 13, 2011

The Oak Trees

Looking into the piney woods I am now seeing many oak trees with brown leaves.  Dying as a result of the drought.  Oaks are my favorite trees so this is sad for me to watch knowing I am powerless.

I learned something new a few years back when I visited the Caddo Lake State Park.  Caddo Lake by the way is the only naturally formed lake in Texas even though it is now controlled by man.  The information center has a wonderful display with loads of information on the area.  I learned by going through the center that of course the cypress trees grow on the edge and in the water, next in line would be the hardwoods and further still would be the soft pines.  This surprised me however thinking about it now makes since as pine trees have a very shallow root system.  For that reason you do not want them close to your home or any other structure you don't want them to potentially fall on.

So, as a result of the lack of precipitation the oak trees are starting to fail.  The pines are still holding their own as of now.  I pray that we see some significant rain soon.

Now following the footsteps of MDR I will work on no longer taking about the drought.  It is a depressing subject that I don't wish to support.  Instead I will look to the future with hope and continue to plan my homestead.  Droughts are part of life and I will learn to adapt and thrive.

4 comments:

  1. Down on the old farm we had a hill full of giant Oak trees. they were amazing. As a matter of fact, when I built my house a long time ago it was considered to be up in the woods. Over the years the kept dieing off. Some years I could say it was the drought but then others I had no reason they died. It always made for plenty of heating and cooking wood but I did want my trees dieing. Now 18 years later when I drive down to the old home place I can see my old house from the road and to this day the trees are still dieing at a rate of about three a year.
    As far as planning for the future, I think I might have a plan for next summers gardens. All we can do is try.

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  2. We have a giant Oak about 150 yards from the house. I call it Grandma Oak. I am watching her carefully. For her I would water.

    I considered trying recessed gardening instead of raised. It is suppose to be better for arid regions. Who would have thought I would consider Northeast Texas arid.

    I look forward to hearing about your plans for next summer. Multiple heads are better than one.

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  3. Well, I hear a lot on the news about the drought out there but I find the comments of people like yourself and MDR who are living there to be much more interesting and informative. Glad to see a new post.

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  4. We've lost a dozen pines, one ash and one sycamore in the last year and a half. So far, the oaks are holding their own. But if the drought goes on much longer, I expect to see them dying off too. The drought alone is stressful the temperatures this year have been unbelievable. If we have a day or two in the mid-90's, it feels like a cooling trend. The combination of drought and heat wave is a double whammy to vegetation and livestock and the population. Pray for rain.

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