Ha Ha... This is where im at...

[Captain]

This about sums it up for me. 6735

[BarryBobPosthole]

Me too. Pinestraw likely is the smartest of the whole bunch.

BKB

[BarryBobPosthole]

On another note, is pinestraw the same thing as pine needles? I have about a metric ton of them. What are they good for?

BKB

[quercus alba]

Exercise and not much else. Kinda like live oak leaves

[Captain]

On another note, is pinestraw the same thing as pine needles? I have about a metric ton of them. What are they good for? BKB

In these parts pine "straw" (or needles) is all used for landscaping. They are big business in these parts. In fact it is a FELONY to rake pine needles off land you do not own..... I noticed the phone number on the sign had a South Carolina area code, so "straw" is the term they use down there.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Prolly make a good mulch because they don't compost worth a poop.

I always wondered if there was a use for them. I end up cleaning out a ton of them from my pool every year.

I still like my pines though. I planted them just so I could hear the wind through them.

BKB

[LJ3]

Duh... Hunting naps.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Funny you mention that. For a lot of years my cousin and I had a deer camp at a place in SE Oklahoma called Walker Mountain. Our camp was actually right off the spine of the mountain at the end of an old logging road.
we hunted the tops of the ridges and any oak flat we found always was full of deer.
Anyway, there was a particular finger ridge that was covered in probably thirty year old pines and it was a quiet as a church and the floor of the lace was probably four or five inches of pine needles. It was my favorite place to eat a sandwich and take a nap.

Its since been clear cut.

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

Mr. Peabody's coal train done hauled it away...

[BarryBobPosthole]

Yup. They clear cut the whole damn place. Then it grew up in pulpwood. I guess they forgot to replant that one.

BKB

[Captain]

Yup. They clear cut the whole damn place. Then it grew up in pulpwood. I guess they forgot to replant that one. BKB
Sounds like a private landowner. A timber company would never cut without replanting unless they are going to sell the land/dirt. I have seen them do that before. Cut and sell the land without replanting. But if they are going to keep the tract they will replant ASAP. Them trees are their corn/soybeans and they don't let it lay out. My money would be on it belonged to an individual and they cut it, took the money and ran. I've seen MANY times when a old timer dies his kids will cut the tract off and not replant it and allow it to grow up like you describe.

[Chicken Dinner]

Now, if I could just get the John Prine ear worm out of my head.

[Captain]

This should help... :D
http://youtu.be/XyPTIOJuWws

[BarryBobPosthole]

It was private land. 3400 acres of prime pasture in the river bottoms and timber on the mountainside. The farm was in an estate held by the kids and they leased the land to a friend that ran a cow/calf operation on it, hence our access to it. It also had wild horses on it. It was stock that some folks that ran rodeo stock at one time up on the federal land on top and I guess those had gotten loose and were second or third generation. Our friend that ran cows there hated them and routinely shot them. He also encouraged us to do the same. I guess they ran fences down pretty bad. I know when you run into one while hunting will make your heart beat faster. Not that they're scary. But they'd startle you cause they'd runnoft like a buck deer only a bit bigger.

I didn't particularly resent then cutting it. Its their property and those trees had obviously been planted, they were all so uniform in size. There's not much timber left in that part of the country that isn't. I just hated to see a really pretty spot go to hell for a few decades. this was in the 80s. I'll bet if I went back now it'd be almost purty again.

BKB

[Captain]

Damn I'm smart! I'd make a good detective! Oh wait....

[Thumper]

Yep, there are truckloads of pine straw heading down the road here. They bale it up just like the old square hay bales and even the round bales. Same deal ... used for landscaping.

http://www.floridapinestraw.com/Picture%20146.jpg http://www.custompinestraw.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2014-round-pinestraw-bales.jpg http://www.goldenservicesco.com/SiteResource/Site_114046/Customize/Image/Crop_153908_Pinestraw%20page_153908.png