Aging helps the appreciation of history whether that be over the longer time of humankind or the ephemeral experiences of a lifetime. Some early posts in this blog shared stories of Bluecircle land in the years before it was planted in trees. Later images have attempted to document its growth into the young woodland it has become. Today I found a two year-old post languishing in the “draft” box, fixed the formatting error that left it there, and posted it to continue this cycle. Its images and those here are a bit of the history of the farm. The years that separate these posts are the history’s dimensional fabric.

Most Bluecircle tree seedlings were planted 8 feet apart in regularly spaced rows. This enabled mowing to control weeds but a friend described the effect as “very orderly” – and a bit unnatural. Ten years later extended branches and storm and insect damage have softened the lines in poplar and pine plantings. In some places natural paths have opened, while mowing and trimming keep lanes open in other areas. On the northwestern corner of the farm a planting of 25 hybrid poplars has been reduced to firewood and replaced with a boundary trail and pine seedlings. Fallen poplars lean here and there, slowly adding wildlife cover to the landscape. In the pines lower branches are becoming needle-bare and sight lines have begun to open.

The Woodland Conservancy to the immediate west of Bluecircle has maintained internal walking trails for many years. New owners have decided to “naturalize” these paths, perhaps abandoning them to the adjacent thickets of wild blackberry and rose. For now the woods sleep under lake-effect snowdrifts and a night of subzero temperatures.