Woods and Brook

Ball Brook has a sandy bottom

The most peaceful part of the woods is near the brook. Trees are larger and further apart, this area was probably a woodlot.

There is another stream on the southern end of the property, eventually it becomes part of Ball Brook

Road Views

Property is to the right

Property is to the left

Strawberries

In 1958 5 acres of strawberries were planted off of Barber Pond Road and behind the farm house. They were all planted by my grandfather Charles Bishop as a retirement project. A little stand for selling them stood on Barber Pond Road. It had a large sign with a strawberry painted on it at the top of the stand. I sometimes sat in the stand and sold berries, being a child at the time I relied on customers to figure out how much to pay. There was also Upic and my father delivered them to local stores.

The Door into Summer

Like canning summer fruits to enjoy in the winter, so also the heat of the summer can be preserved to enjoy in the winter. 

The gravel hills with exceptional drainage are a tremendous asset. They offer a chance to build homes that require less fuel to heat or cool.

A conventional home could be built and the ground covered with insulation and plastic, a concept called Passive Annual Heat Storage (PAHS). It keeps the summer heat in to warm the house in the winter.  Keeping the water table away from the warmed earth is not a problem, and gravel is easily dug.

An earth shelter home with great views could be built on the south slope of the gravel hill.

A greenhouse which saved the heat of the day would not require fossil fuel to heat.  

Kettle Holes

There are two kettle holes on the property, about 50 feet across or less.

Because they are both on the side of hills, they are steeper on one side than the other, suggesting a theater with seating on one side and a stage on the other.

Kettles have a unique history. As the front of the glacier retreats it sometimes leaves behind huge blocks of ice which becomes surrounded by sediments carried by glacial melt water streams. As the ice block melts, a depression forms called a kettle.

Power Lines

Electricity came to this area in 1946. Because the homes were far apart, and the road winding, power lines went straight across the farm, and not on the road. This was changed about 5 years ago with poles installed next to the road. The right of way has reverted to the owner. The poles have not yet been taken down, which is their obligation. CVPS contacted the phone company in November about removing their lines and the poles. Because those poles could potentially be used  by the new owner, so I have not requested for their removal.

Esker

An esker is a long narrow ridge or mound of sand, gravel, and boulders deposited by a stream flowing on, within, or beneath a stagnant glacier.

The state forester pointed this feature out as soon as he got out of his vehicle. because of the underlying land forms, this esker is in a U shape, broken up in the middle by erosion due to water runoff from across the road.
The height varies, probably between 20 and 80 feet, and a couple hundred to over a thousand feet wide.

Flowers found on the property

 Brown-eyed Susans have multiple natural variations.  There is also a pale yellow and a yellow with white tip, among others.

 Jack-in-the-Pulpit have pale and dark variants

 Milk weed form clumps from an original plant.  They range in color from off white to dark purple, from tight flowers to drooping.

Lavender violets are very common, yellow are rare.  In the woods they seem to be paler in color.  Some of them have a heavier pattern in the center.

From earliest spring until late fall wildflowers bloom everywhere.  

Regular and Alternative Crops

Goldenseal

Native plants on the property include Butternut, Blueberry high and low bush, Black Raspberry, Red Raspberry and Strawberry.

There are many potential alternative crops
Maple Syrup:  the pond is surrounded by a sugar bush.  The trees were tapped in the 30's.
Chestnut
Hazelnut
June Berry (early upic alternative to Blueberry)
Goldenseal
Paw Paw
Autumn Olive
Goji Berry
Ginsing
other ideas

Potential:
Strawberry yield 10,000 lb acre
Blueberry yield 12,000 lb acre
Raspberry yield 11,000 lb acre
Blackberry yield 9,500 lb acre

Tomato yield greater than 35,000 lb acre

Useful link
NOFA
Northern Nut Growers Association

Erratics

There are a few boulders sitting on top of the ground. They are called Erratics, defined as "a boulder carried by glacial ice and deposited some distance from its place of origin"

The largest one is on the southern property line. It it about 10 feet high. The rest are only a few feet high. The nicest one sits on the edge of the pond, a great place to sit.