Main photo:  
A little snow comes to the tree farm, finally.  

MFL outcome
Who gets the money if a landowner withdraws from the Managed Forest Law.  Read our report.

To contact
the website editor, John DeBaun, with comments or suggestions,
click here.
For more information about the website,
click here.

At the Farm

A January for the record books
    The first month of the year  went from strawberry sunsets and almost bare ground to a few inches of snow cover and gray skies.  Still, it has been a mild winter by normal standards, and one that made it possible for us to visit the tree farm four times in the first month. On one gray day we were there, the blue sky made a brief appearance (at right) behind the old birch below the driveway.
     We were able to get the new house in better shape and better furnished for visitors, although there is still a fair amount of work to be done - by us and by the builder.  We also had enough snow to try out some new snowshoes and make a survey trip through part of the woods.  There is lots to be done there in the months ahead, too, but it's better to be busy than bored.  For the January report, click here. 


 Escape Wisconsin

Mystery, beauty ... and warmth
Spain's famous Alhambra castle looms in the background as a neighborhood cat watches from a wall in the mountain city of Granada. Southern Spain offers many charms to lure the winter visitor, including the fabled city of Seville, from which Columbus sailed to the new world, and Cadiz, where the locals engage in one of the world's biggest celebrations of Carnaval.  Check out our report.  
                                           

Woodland News and Notes
Planning for the new year 
Winter is a good time to look at your woods and see what needs to be done - such as cutting down a worthless wolf tree like this one so other trees can prosper.  We will be attending the Southeast Wisconsin Woodland owners' conference on Feb. 4 to find out from the experts what needs to be done to get more enjoyment out of our woods and what we need to do to give your trees a brighter future.  
                          Watch for our report next week