Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Property In Mississippi

Byron and I have been looking to purchase property for a while now...finally we found it....the piece we had been looking for...a wild overgrown 21 acre place in Mississippi...that had been basically  clear cut about eight years ago.

It was really an eye opener when we started looking for land.  The majority of the land we looked at had been clear cut or abused in some way.  It seemed as if most owners didn't appreciate the land for what it was...or could be...it appeared to be about how much money they could get from the land through cutting the trees down...or selling its mineral resources...most of the land was ugly...abused...or raped seems like a fitting word.  Even when selling the land they all wanted to hang on to the mineral rights in case there was some big find (like they hadn't already tried)....I wanted the mineral rights so I could prevent huge industrial tracks on our land once I began laying out the permaculture food forest.

I wanted to buy an ugly clear cut piece of property and "heal" it.  Byron wanted to find a cultivated cared for piece of land and add our own plans to it....This is our compromise!  I'm glad he partially got his way....Guess I'm too optimistic at times...Anyway...

I really love the piece we bought and I can't wait to cut through the brambles and discover all of it's surprises...good....or bad!  We plan to leave part of it wild with gentle changes for improvement.  A few acres will be planted with a food forest.  Eventually we would like to have a small cabin.  

There is a sixteen foot flood wall going up north of my current home which totally excludes myself and many neighborhoods from the Federal flood protection projects that are going on.  The government assures us that they will take care of us and we shouldn't care so much about their insane plans...snort...(that's me laughing in a cynical way). 

I really hope their plans work...but nature doesn't work very well with those who try to thwart it and not work with it.  Instead of stopping the practices that are destroying the wet lands they are going to try to contain the Gulf with a sixteen foot concrete wall.  So this piece of property will also be an above sea level stopping off point if Katrina happens again....and beyond all that....I was born in Mississippi and always wanted a piece of property there....So....look for future posts on our Mississippi Permaculture food forest progress!!!

There is an old logging road that runs through the length of the property....and the trees are really getting quite tall....some areas need thinning...
...there are some tall pines on the property and a few oaks...
...the logging road is like a animal super highway....I guess they like to walk without being scratched by brush as well...this is a deer track...
...Byron explained to me that this is a buck track, you can tell by the two "toenail" type marks in the front...
...there are many cat tracks...every time we go there are fresh cat tracks....and this is a big cat.  These marks are at least 3 1/2 to 4 inches wide.  I am going to measure them next time I go.  Bobcat?  Panther?  They say Panthers are extinct in Mississippi, but the locals say, "Not So".  Maybe a game camera along the trail will tell the tale.
We must have startled this deer when we pulled up.  See how sharp the crumbs are around the track, and it's still wet in the track even though the sun was hot that day.
...OK help....what kind of track is this?
...Another view along the logging road...
...this is a grassy clearing at the top of the hill on the property...it makes me wonder if maybe someone lived here before...or was there once an oil rig here?
...we stumbled across this stream of water.  The brush was too thick to follow it far.  I'm anxious to find out what it's source is...is it a seasonal stream...is it always there?  The ditch it flows through is pretty deep and it meanders over an old road and continues flowing on the neighbor's property...
I can't wait to find out what types of trees, foliage and flowers are growing on the property and identify them.  Here are a few of them.  Let me know if you know what these are...
...I think this is a dogwood....
....I think this is Carolina Jasmine, there is quite a bit of it scattered around.  I also saw some rose canes with a few tiny pink roses on them.
...this is pink buds about to bloom on a tree...what kinda tree?  Don't know.
While walking a trail along the fence line we encountered some young cows. They looked at us, seemed to confer, then deemed us dangerous, and hurriedly trotted off while looking over their shoulders...we laughed...it reminded us of our girls when some strange person comes down the drive...they all run straight home...smart girls.
...these horses however trotted right over and wanted their heads scratched and their necks rubbed...I think they thought we might have good candy...

5 comments:

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

I think your right about the Dogwood, that's what it looks like to me and the other with the thick leaves looks like my Magnolia.. The Pink blossoms almost look like it's peach ,but I'm not sure about that one..
Good luck with the new property...it's georgous.

Texan said...

Congratulations, finding land is a daunting task, for so many reasons. We looked at several properties weekly for over a year to find the 27 acres we have now. I was about ready to give then poof we found where we are now.

Anonymous said...

Emu track? Our cousin did catch one. Remember?
Ginger

Mary said...

I wonder if you are in Pearl River County? Would love to have you for a neighbor. There are a few emus that live in the woods near Stennis Space Center. My husband was driving out there a couple of years ago and looked over and one was running next to his car! He said it seemed to be racing him!

Queenie Regner said...

Have you already purchased the property? Well, I think it’s a really good place to build your small cabin. And it would be good to also buy the mineral rights of the place. If you don’t want industrial tracks on your land, you can lease your mineral rights through a contract that would clear the privilege and limitations of both parties. You just have to be clear on what you want to give to the leasing company and how they should behave in your property.