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We bought our place , a partially wooded lot, in 1990. It was a tired piece of farm land that went to an apple orchard , and pasture. By 1990 what was open fields , was now brush and small trees. The original forest had been cut off in the early 1800s to grow hops. A lone foundation stood on the property with a well and remnants of a horse drawn wagon occupied one corner. As we started clearing our home site, we found old tools from the previous residents. We never found and coins or gold. 
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Since day one, I began planting for wildlife with mostly trees and shrubs. Some of the first white oak I planted are 20 ft high and we expect to see their first acorns in the next couple of years. The red oaks are doing well from that time period and we have had to thin some already. Since I use red oak to grow mushrooms this was a win win. We burn firewood and have to cut selectively. I did learn red oak coppice very well and you can get your next batch of firewood or mushroom logs from them in 20 years. We revived some of the apple trees and used scion cut from these trees to graft onto root stock. Apparently many of our trees are old cider apple trees. The deer favor our plot over the neighboring plots because of the food sources. We also have a lot of cover too. In the past 30 years it's been interesting to see what works and what doesn't. My biggest success is planting trees mainly oaks. The Burr oaks and black oaks seem to prefer the upland area while the swamp oak likes the lower wetter elevations. The American plum has formed thickets that draw deer when the fruit is ready. The American Chestnuts we planted have the blight but are struggling. The hybrid chestnuts have been going strong since day #1. The paw paw began to fruit last year and our persimmons turned out to be two male trees. How they got here is anyone's guess. They appear to be 50 plus years old. We are grafting a female branch onto a shoot in in woods. Time will tell if it takes. The ash have been decimated by the emerald ash borer but reseed themselves before they die. Hoping for a good outcome here. No shortage of ash firewood here or woodpeckers either. Most field grown trees need to be caged. What is disheartening is to see a 15 year old trees get trashed by a buck looking for a date. Last winter we lost 15 apple trees to voles girdling the trunks. It's always a battle and even the tiniest creature can bring defeat. My big experiment last year was to till a swath of soil about 50 ft long and broadcast acorns we had collected. The tree rats worked hard planting all those nuts and actually got a better germination percentage than I did
. "Plant them like a squirrel" . My root pruning box loaded with Burr oaks ( picture) for future plantings. The wildlife seems to enjoy the diversity. Other pictures show my mushroom logs yard. It pays for itself in mushroom sales. The three logs in one picture are covered in turkey tail mushrooms. One of the easiest mushrooms to grow.
I could keep going but I hope you can see what I have been doing.
. Since day one, I began planting for wildlife with mostly trees and shrubs. Some of the first white oak I planted are 20 ft high and we expect to see their first acorns in the next couple of years. The red oaks are doing well from that time period and we have had to thin some already. Since I use red oak to grow mushrooms this was a win win. We burn firewood and have to cut selectively. I did learn red oak coppice very well and you can get your next batch of firewood or mushroom logs from them in 20 years. We revived some of the apple trees and used scion cut from these trees to graft onto root stock. Apparently many of our trees are old cider apple trees. The deer favor our plot over the neighboring plots because of the food sources. We also have a lot of cover too. In the past 30 years it's been interesting to see what works and what doesn't. My biggest success is planting trees mainly oaks. The Burr oaks and black oaks seem to prefer the upland area while the swamp oak likes the lower wetter elevations. The American plum has formed thickets that draw deer when the fruit is ready. The American Chestnuts we planted have the blight but are struggling. The hybrid chestnuts have been going strong since day #1. The paw paw began to fruit last year and our persimmons turned out to be two male trees. How they got here is anyone's guess. They appear to be 50 plus years old. We are grafting a female branch onto a shoot in in woods. Time will tell if it takes. The ash have been decimated by the emerald ash borer but reseed themselves before they die. Hoping for a good outcome here. No shortage of ash firewood here or woodpeckers either. Most field grown trees need to be caged. What is disheartening is to see a 15 year old trees get trashed by a buck looking for a date. Last winter we lost 15 apple trees to voles girdling the trunks. It's always a battle and even the tiniest creature can bring defeat. My big experiment last year was to till a swath of soil about 50 ft long and broadcast acorns we had collected. The tree rats worked hard planting all those nuts and actually got a better germination percentage than I did
. "Plant them like a squirrel" . My root pruning box loaded with Burr oaks ( picture) for future plantings. The wildlife seems to enjoy the diversity. Other pictures show my mushroom logs yard. It pays for itself in mushroom sales. The three logs in one picture are covered in turkey tail mushrooms. One of the easiest mushrooms to grow. I could keep going but I hope you can see what I have been doing.
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