The Maple Mansion

The list of things to do around The Maple Mansion is never ending. Every year there are lots of things I want to get done and not enough time to do them all. This makes it important for me to come up with a game plan each year. To do so I have to prioritize long term goals and figure out what projects I will try to get done this year, and which will have to wait until next year. Unfortunately, getting around to planting fruit trees is and example of a project that is just going to have to wait.

Major Projects For This Year	Timing
Transplant Chestnut Trees (DONE)	Before Spring Leaf Out
Add Support to Firewood Shed	ASAP
Split Firewood	ASAP/Every Chance I Get
Build New Outhouse	ASAP
Spray Old Food Plot	When Rye Seeds Enter Dough Stage
Clear Out New Food Plot	By End of July
Plant Food Plots	Mid-Late August
Mill/Install Siding on Mansion	By End September
Mill Maple Paneling	By End of September
Creating Cover/Bedding Areas	By End of June (might have to be later)

Once I figure out what I think I can get done throughout the year, the planning continues. Many of the things that need to get done, such as spraying and planting food plots, or transplanting trees, have a specific time frame they have to get done in. Then there is the biggest X factor of them all, when and for how long I can actually get up there to work. I said above, “What I think I can get done,” because I just never really know how much time I will be able to get away during the summer, and who will be able to help me out. Of course there’s also the fact that things always seem to take twice as long to finish as I think they will.

Transplanting Chestnut Trees

This project is already done. CHECK! You can read about that here: Making Way For More Chestnuts.

A New Outhouse

I’m not sure why my wife insists that we need a new outhouse. Sure the roof leaks, but the only place water drips is on the seat. It makes it so much easier to clean.

There may be a few cracks in the walls where people could see in, but those small cracks help with ventilation. Plus, I just installed a couple upgrades last year. I stapled an old tarp to the door so people couldn’t see through the window and I screwed a stick to the inside for a handle. With the stick handle you can now close the door from the inside, and because the stick has one screw in the center, it spins and doubles as a lock. A self cleaning, well ventilated outhouse with a door that locks, what else could you ask for?

Yeah, ok. I guess we could use a new outhouse.

Siding The Maple Mansion

Getting siding on The Maple Mansion is a project I have been putting off, but now has to get done. The exterior is just OSB, which is basically a sponge made of wood. Some of the OSB still has paint on it, but a painted sponge is still a sponge. If we don’t get something on the exterior soon, I’m going to have a lot of walls to replace.

For the siding we are going to use the sawmill, Yeah We’ve Got a Sawmill, to mill our own live edge siding from the trees on the property. The siding will look kind of like the siding on the garage (see below). Siding The Maple Mansion is going to be a big project that I expect will take up a lot of my summer.

Mill Maple Paneling

While my dad and I are milling up siding for the exterior, we will also be milling up lumber for the interior. Other than the room with the wood burning stove, the interior walls of The Maple Mansion are just bare studs. Eventually, their will be interior walls made of maple.

The plan is to cut down our own maple trees and mill them up on the property. They will then air dry for a year. When they are dry, I will take them home to my wood shop and turn them into paneling. After that, I’ll bring them back up and install. It’s a process that will take 1.5-2 years, so I really want to get started this summer if I can.

Food Plots

There’s lots to do with the food plots. Spraying weeds and returning winter rye, planting seeds, and applying fertilizer. The biggest task will be trying to finish clearing out the first half of the new plots.

Creating Cover/Bedding Areas

From a habitat management perspective, one of the major issues with the property is a lack of cover. 30 of the 40 acres is open hardwoods with almost nothing growing at ground level. Below is a picture of my current habitat plan. There’s a lot going on, and I’ll probably dedicate a few posts in the future to break it down. The light blue and light orange oddly shaped areas designate cover/bedding that needs to be cut. The light blue areas will be cover with an emphasis on naturally growing food, and the light orange areas will be cover with an emphasis on deer bedding.

It is not my goal to cut all of these areas this summer, and I wouldn’t even if I could. I will cut some this year, some next year, and some the following year. That way there is a variety of succession, if you will, that will help bring diversify to the property.

Can I Get It All Done This Summer?

There’s no denying I’ve got a lot to get done. As the year rolls on I may have to be flexible and change course if I start to run out of time. Can I get it all done this summer? I don’t know, but I’m going to try!

Let me know in the comment section below what project(s) you think I should save for next year if I run out of time. If you want to stay up to date on what projects do get done, and see how they turn out, be sure to like this post and subscribe at the bottom of this page!