Two for one — a farm project and a geek project
This is a post to test a geek thing -- trying out the Wordbooker plugin to connect my blog to Facebook. This gizmo should be great for posting to Facebook from my blog, pulling Facebook comments into the blog and blog comments into Facebook.
Here are pictures of a farm project to test out the geek project. We've got one planted prairie where the dang aspen and birch have been invading like crazy. So, it's time to mow those rascals down and see if we can get things under control. We probably should have done this a couple years ago 'cause the stuff is getting pretty crazy-big.
Here are a couple of photos that show the comparison between before and after mowing...
And here's a photo of the ride back down the hill...
September 5th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
[sorry, just testing here] This is a comment from Facebook. I'm hoping it will show up on the blog...
September 5th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Hm... how come I've got two copies on my Facebook page?
September 5th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
This is a comment from the blog out to Facebook. The Facebook ones came through just fine. I'm thinking this Wordbooker is a darn nifty WordPress plugin...
September 5th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Ok, I'll bite! Posting from the blog site...
September 5th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Ever think about using fire?
September 5th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Just successfully posted a comment.
September 5th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Yup, we did a bit of that. But there are issues with fire that Marcie documented in this post on HER blog -- http://www.aprairiehaven.com/?page_id=5005 The two main problems are the impact on insects, and the not-so-great results. So we use mowing a LOT more than fire...
September 5th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Just testing again -- 'seems like *my* comments get posted to Facebook OK, but Bill and Patty's didn't... tweaked some stuff and this is a test...
September 5th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Now, I'm confused. If the natural tendency of the land is to go into succession to forest now, what forces formerly kept it as prairie?
September 5th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Well, I'm being a "guy" now (which means I'm making stuff up because Marcie's already asleep and I can't ask her)... But I think one big thing is that this is a newly-planted prairie that's only about 7 years old rather than being a long-established prairie where weed-trees wouldn't be able to get started as easily. But I'll check with Marcie tomorrow.
September 5th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Please do. It's an interesting situation. Of course, where I am, it was drought, fire, and buffalo herds that kept the trees controlled (I've never heard buffalo-stomping/grazing mentioned in this way, but can attest to the effect of cows at completely wrecking my first planting of trees out here, so I'll offer that up as a factor).
You probably have 1.5-2x the water we do. That's got to change the dynamic radically. The local oaks can withstand fire, if big enough. But, they'll only grow where there's enough water & where they can get started successfully, which ends up being mainly in low places.
September 6th, 2010 at 5:59 am
[just testing -- Patty posted a comment on the blog that didn't get pushed up to Facebook. Bill's comment about fire didn't get posted to Facebook, although a comment saying "Bill posted a comment" did. So I've turned on diagnostics so's to see if I can figure out what's going on]
September 6th, 2010 at 6:02 am
[more testing -- my last comment worked, but i'm thinking that's because i was logged into the blog as an admin. so this time i've logged out of the blog and am posting as an outsider]
September 6th, 2010 at 6:20 am
[more testing. toggled the account option in Wordbooker to "current logged in user']
September 6th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Bill... Marcie's awake now. She says that fire *is* probably what kept it prairie back in the day. So, before you ask "why not now?" I'll refer you back to her post where she says that fire is a lot more destructive now that our prairies are little islands in a non-prairie landscape. Plus all the other logistical reasons (mowing is a *lot* easier than managing fire -- I can do it any day I want, don't have to build firebreaks, I can do it by myself, etc. etc.).
September 6th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Well, mowing is "artificial grazing," so that's certainly one of our control factors.
I like this blog-link thing.
September 6th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Hah! Your comment on the blog posted itself to Facebook too! That's a first. I sure wish I knew why it worked. Hm...
September 6th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Ah. But on Facebook your comment was posted with my name, and then under it it just lists your name. Your *first* comment (the one about fire) posted to Facebook with a link to your Facebook account, but didn't have your comment -- it just says that you "successfully posted a comment." What I want is to have your actual comment posted from the blog to Facebook, under your name rather than mine.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Regarding mowing. I view myself as a really fast, really thorough cow chomping my way through acres of prairie at one go.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:26 am
[more testing -- second post from a previously-approved outsider]
September 6th, 2010 at 9:52 am
"a realy fast cow"--and that's no bull!
September 6th, 2010 at 10:52 am
Yep! The record for that cow was 20 acres in one day. The poor thing didn't need to eat for weeks.
September 6th, 2010 at 11:51 am
Ah ha! I get it. Bill faked me out with that "successfully posted a comment" comment. I thought that was coming from the blog, but it was just a regular Facebook comment. That, combined with figuring out a setting on the blog side of things, seems to have all the pipes and tubes working just fine. Patty, your comment got blocked by my misconfiguration. Thanks for posting it!
September 8th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Could you add smell to this??...I'd give anything for a sniff of that scene.