The Civil War Encampment - Part 2

I was attending a Civil War reenactment at the State Park in Massena. I left the Confederate encampment (see yesterday's post) and entered the Union side, beginning at the Doctor's camp:

Men in Union uniforms and women in costumes of the period sat and chatted:

One family had brought their baby, also in period costume, and she played happily on a blanket:

The battle was several hours away, so men prepared for that and women sat and read:

I walked down to see the St. Lawrence River and, on the way, passed this wonderful scene. A girl and a woman in dresses of the era walked their two tiny puppies:

And the St. Lawrence River was breathtaking. I noticed this Elm tree, and realized that I keep seeing them around here. This was perhaps the biggest healthy Elm I've seen yet and it raised my hopes that the species was becoming resistant to Dutch Elm Disease:

This man gave me a demonstration of a muzzle loader and was very friendly:

But the call went out to prepare for the upcoming battle reenactments and men began donning their uniforms:

As for me, I wouldn't be able to stay and began making my way back through the encampments toward my parked car:

This woman kindly posed for me with her baby but I could tell the photo wouldn't be very good. So, as she began to walk away, I quickly snapped one more shot, this one not posed. It became my favorite photo of the day:

I left the Union encampment and passed through the Confederate side on my way back to the car. Just about that time, the call went out to move the canons into position. But I couldn't stay and had to put my camera away and conclude my visit to the Civil War reenactment and encampment:

Two Days Of Brush Clearing

I had a professional install high tensile fence around my fields last autumn and he left a six foot swath around the outside to allow me to run a brush hog, keeping the swath free of tall weeds which would short out the electric fence. As you saw in a previous post, I had found the job far beyond my capabilities. So I called the installer back and he sent over two workers. They began where I'd left off:

They also found the job to be much more difficult and involved than they'd imagined, but they were seasoned veterans and had the right equipment:

They found big trees with lots of grapevines holding them up as well as Hawthorn trees full of flesh tearing spines. They also uncovered junk in the path which would have destroyed my brush hog if I'd attempted to run over it:

I mowed a swath inside the fence line, helped them with the tractor when needed and then began to mow around the outside where they'd cleared a path for me. But I certainly did stop to enjoy the bird songs, aromas and lovely wildflowers - in this case, Bedstraw and Wild Geranium:

The two of them used modern equipment and old fashioned manpower:

I worked hard too, though mostly on the tractor and not nearly as hard as they worked. The weather was hot but lovely and I was happy:

Another view of the wildflowers, this time Bedstraw and Cow Vetch:

And a little bit of horse play, just for fun:

They discovered and removed, often with the tractor's help, old barbed wire, wood, bed springs, barrels, cable, tar paper, lumber, tires, stones and huge slabs of concrete. And this was following three years of field clearing. But they kept at it:

We were approaching the end of the second day when I snapped this photo from atop the tractor. You can see that I'd already mowed a swath inside the fence and was awaiting their brush clearing to mow a swath outside the fence. That's my barn in the distance. We were almost finished:

We were all getting tired and I began to help them haul limbs and brush as they were cut:

When they'd finished, they went once more around the perimeter of the fields, making sure the wires were all stapled up and properly tightened. They promised to come back another time the next week to install an additional gate and to take down a dead Elm tree. But for the time being, we'd made enormous progress and we all needed a good rest: