The Beginning Hours Of A March Nor'easter

Another (our third in a row) nor'easter had just begun and it was frosting the woods and fields like white cotton candy. I'd recently taken the tractor driving tour around the north field but decided to hop into my car and start down the gravel road to again see what beauty the snow was creating. I began with this field, backed up by a brushy woodland:

A former gateway into a field which hasn't been used in many years:

A patch of Staghorn Sumac, the red clusters of berries seemingly covered with powdered sugar:

My neighbor's maple sap lines. It was certainly sugaring season, but I hadn't seen him out and about. I worried if something had happened to him:

But then I found him and his uncle stopped along the road, transferring the sap into a giant tank to be boiled down. They are friendly and some of my favorite people. I'm always glad to stop and chat:

I continued on my way and began looking for places where beech trees added a bit of color to what otherwise might make the photos look like they were in black and white:

A beech tree and pine tree among the aspens, with an old barbed wire fence paralleling the road:

An old stone wall where I once released a mouse I'd caught in a live trap:

The snow was sticky and causing an intricate, lacy beauty:

I'd been expecting the Red Pines to be exceptionally lovely, but they seemed to be holding less snow than the hardwood branches. They were still beautiful, though:

More piney woods:

Pines and beech. I stopped at my Amish neighbor's field where he appeared to be digging a well. I asked him if he'd come and trim my horses' feet on Saturday, which is the day he has assigned for such jobs. He said he'd be there in the morning. This was the end of my driving tour, so I headed home to get some work done:

Snowy North Field Perimeter - Part 2

I was driving around the outside perimeter of the north field to see and photograph the wintry beauty (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). I stopped when I saw this snowy pine. It looked like a Scotch Pine, though I've never taken the time for a closer look. I didn't do so this time either, but maybe I can remember it in the summer:

There are remnants of a stone wall along the perimeter, though they are so old that it is now difficult to discern:

And there are still piles of old farm refuge - tires, farm equipment, pipes, etc. I removed close to a hundred old tires, but more keep appearing:

I came to the two big Sugar Maples which provide such nice color every autumn:

I own the woodland off to the right in this spot, and it did my heart good to see an Eastern White Cedar growing there:

Some giant rocks were piled along the woods, apparently removed from the field before it could be used. I have heard a story of how the former owner had someone clear the rocks but never paid them. He also never paid for his new silo, so they came and dismantled it - which is why I now have a silo base but no silo behind the barn:

One lone Beech tree still held onto its golden leaves:

This was my path. The north field lay to the left and the woods to the right. I had a narrow path between them, a path which I have to bush hog each summer in order to keep the weeds down. But this photo shows the great beauty I experienced as I drove the perimeter:

In places, remnants of an old barbed wire fence still separated the field from the woods, and Birch trees began to show along the edges:

Another shot of an old, leaning barbed wire fence, with woods just beyond:

The brushy places had such an abundance of small branches that they appeared extra white:

I think these dark, withered berries were those of the Shadbush, sometimes called Serviceberry. They should be blooming again this spring:

I turned left, heading back to the house and barn, with the county road to my right. There is a row of cattails along this section of road:

The most beautiful sight of the trip was this Foxtail Grass. The seed heads were so white from a coating of snow that they looked like extra fancy, hybrid ornamental grasses in miniature. Alas, the photo doesn't do them justice. They were exquisite. They were also my final photo. I put my camera away and began using the tractor to remove the snow which the town had piled at the end of my driveway:

Winter Scenery Along A Gravel Road - Part 2

I was driving down the gravel road by my house to photograph the wintry woodlands (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

Stands of Red Pines had been planted on former potato fields in many places, and now stood tall:

My Amish neighbor had been sawing logs into lumber and stacking it in a large field he'd cleared. I don't know what he intends to use it all for, but he sure is ambitious:

Baby Beech trees clustered at the feet of taller Maples and Aspens:

Red and White Pines, with hardwoods mixed in:

Most of this land was once farm fields, but it is now growing up into woodlands. Only one large plot, which belongs to my Amish neighbor, has been changed back from woodlands to farm fields:

Another neighbor harvests Maple sap for syrup each spring and the lines were up all over the place, just waiting for the weather to break:

This stand of Staghorn Sumac was colorful against the blue sky and fronted by a barbed wire fence:

Another large stand of Red Pines:

The golden leafed Beech trees were especially beautiful, dusted with snow and contrasted with the white Birch trunks and Pine trees:

More of the mysterious, needle-less conifers. I'll try to remember to investigate and identify them when the weather warms up - if I can find them again, that is:

Winter Scenery Along A Gravel Road - Part 1

We hadn't had significant snow in more than a week, though we had more than our share of bone chilling cold. I decided to drive again down the gravel road beside my house to see the woodland sights:

It was beautiful and quiet, with no other cars or any signs of life other than the trees. White Birch and nearly white Aspen trunks stood out along the road:

But the most striking sights were the Beech trees, for they held their golden leaves right through the snow, cold and wind:

This gnarled old Maple trunk has stood for many decades, and I imagine it began as a seedling over a hundred years ago:

Snow was heaped up over a fence post and Beech tree leaves brightened this frigid woodland:

I couldn't identify these conifers, nor could I determine if they were alive or dead. I wasn't going to get out of the car and climb across those snowbanks to go see:

The remnants of old barbed wire fencing lined much of the way:

And Red Pines had been planted on former potato fields in other places. These trees had recently been thinned by a crew who wanted telephone poles:

A lovely scene, with a golden Beech tree in front, surrounded by Aspens and backed up by what I think was a White Pine. Notice the old barbed wire fence in the foreground:

More of the strange, needle-less branches of the mystery conifers. They weren't Tamaracks, but beyond that I don't know:

The woods were quiet and mysterious - inviting, but I had no intention of going in to see. It was private property anyway. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Wintry Beauty On Denton Road, Town Of Lawrence

It had snowed all morning but was beginning to slow down and might even turn sunny, so I decided to take a drive down the a gravel road and see the snowy scenery. This old gate led into field, unused for many years, perhaps decades:

Hardwoods and Red Pines mixed along the road, punctuated by the white trunks of Birch trees:

An old barbed wire fence still ran along the road:

Someone had planted Scotch Pines beside a potato field:

I tried to make a mental note of which pictures were of White Pines and which were of Red Pines, but when I got home, I couldn't remember. These, however, were obviously Red Pines:

Everything looked as if it had been dusted in powdered sugar:

Blue pipelines for maple sap ran all through the woodlands, indicating an abundance of Sugar Maples. This farmer produces a lot of maple syrup every year:

Hardwoods mixed with pines:

Only the Beech trees held on to their coppery leaves, adding color to the scenes as I passed:

All the woodland scenes looked inviting and friendly:

I passed by an active logging site, where many pines had been cut for pulp and for telephone poles. They were being loaded as I went by:

Across the road were shorter logs of bigger diameter, so I assumed they were saw logs, on their way to becoming lumber. It is a blessing to live in the midst of such beauty: