Tree farming at Mule Pond Place
31 March 2019 | Cameron NC
Honoree Cooper
Perhaps I have discovered a new business as a byproduct of our long leaf pine tree farm. Did you know that a cup of pine needle tea has three to five times as much vitamin C as an orange? Plus a multitude of health benefits. Still in the research mode, but as soon as I figure it all out the name will change to Mule Pond Tea Plantation. Reminds me of when we started looking for a sailboat, the name Will of the Wisp came first and the boat followed soon thereafter.
So a bit of history about our tree farm. Within our thirty acres lies one of the oldest ponds in the east which was mule dug at the turn of the century for providing water for the steam train that passed directly behind our property. The mules carted the dirt that was hand dug. Two older local gents told us the story of frog gigging at our pond when they were youngsters.
About five years ago we cleared the overgrown forest of loblolly pines and various hardwoods, did a burn and herbicide spray to keep the competition at bay. Then a small contingency of workers planted 10,000 long leaf pines in a morning. The seedlings were very small, 12" at best. There was still a lot of competitive growth, briars, scrub oak, loblolly seedlings, etc. So five years later, our work was really cut out for us. We needed to bush hog between all the long leaf pines that had grown between two feet and twenty. Plus we had to chain saw all the oak and loblolly that had grown equally as fast as the long leaf pines. Then came Hurricanes Florence and Matthew knocking a good many of the trees over. Standing them back up is a regular chore, for some I have propped back up ten times. The deer run into the string, a strong wind will blow them over again, the string chafts, the post comes up or gets eaten by termites, a multitude of reasons. However as spring is upon us and the ground is finally drying out, the trees are becoming more stable as the tap roots grow deeper.
We are enjoying the hard work as we can now appreciate the benefits of watching the trees grow and flourish and drinking the tasty tea.
Pictures include the five different stages of the tree cycle, the seedling, the grass, the bottlebrush, the sapling, and the adult. In a few years we can begin to harvest the needles that are used for mulch. In fifteen years the cones can be harvested for seeds. All a wonderful process!