Thistleblooms Rambles

[thistlebloom]

Idaho is a terrible place to live. Please spread the word.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Idaho is a terrible place to live. Please spread the word.

That sounds to me like someone who is trying to keep the state from getting overcrowded...

 

[Bruce]

Sadly we are almost 2 acres shy of what we would need to get reduced taxes. Must have a minimum of 25 acres PLUS 2 acres for the "homestead".

 

[thistlebloom]

That sounds to me like someone who is trying to keep the state from getting overcrowded...

Much, much too late for that I'm afraid.

 

[thistlebloom]

Sadly we are almost 2 acres shy of what we would need to get reduced taxes. Must have a minimum of 25 acres PLUS 2 acres for the "homestead".

The Forestry Stewardship program is to encourage people to keep their woodland, not clearcut it. I don't know if there is a minimum acreage. We have 10 acres. They expect you to work on thinning and improving the health and diversity of your forest and they come check up and review what you have accomplished. We don't get a huge tax break, but every little bit helps.

 

[Bruce]

Here it is a "farming" program, also intended to help keep larger parcels intact. "Farming" can include what most would consider traditional farming but also managed timberland like your program and "sugarbushes" ie, maple trees in a forest setting for the purpose of "farming" maple sap to make and sell syrup. Vermont very nearly makes more syrup per year than all other states combined. And then there is the Province of Quebec which makes Vermont's production look like a pittance, they produce about 9 times what Vermont does.

 

[thistlebloom]

Starting to snow. They said it would start at 10 and they were only 20 minutes off. I still haven't cut down the perennials, but there will be other days. I'm pretty confident this won't be our stay-until-spring snow. At least I hope not because I can think of a dozen outdoor chores I'd like t finish up first. All that riding I was doing really cut into the chores! That's okay, it was worth it.

Maybe I can get a ride in tomorrow. Or at least we'll take a walk around the neighborhood "loop" today. She needs to do something, she's getting a little squirrely with this cold weather, and sitting for a week.

 

[Ridgetop]

All that riding I was doing really cut into the chores! That's okay, it was worth it.

Tsk! Tsk! I would scold you for not doing your chores first, but riding comes first! You will need those memories during the long cold winter as your horses look at you reproachfully!

 

[thistlebloom]

As long as the footing is good I'll be riding still!

 

[thistlebloom]

They weren't bluffing when they said it was going to snow today.
I said phhhffftt, when I heard it, imagining 4 flakes drifting out of the sky.

Larka's happy about it. (She's lying down).

!0 F tonight, then some sun tomorrow and up to freezing. I think this will be gone next week and I can race around getting all the loose summer ends tied up, before we hunker down. Yay for a hay barn full of hay and a stuffed wood shed!