We lost some trees to heat and drought in 2011. However what we went through is nothing like what Texas and other states faced. Still it’s sad to see the big trees die. They were pretty nice size trees when we built here 38 yrs. ago.
Still, they were oak trees and we have plenty of those left. Hubby used the chain saw and brought them down. Then he cut them into logs that could be split for the fire place.
I rolled several of them to various spots in the yard to use for a seat next to gardens etc. So far the only fruit in significant volumes has been the wild blackberries and wild persimmons. Ditto the nut trees. The walnut trees and butter nut trees are the only ones with yield.
We have 2 sugar maples. If we had more, I’d tap them to make maple syrup, but I don’t want to risk these.
When my ancestors moved to this county, there were no trees. Only trees were along the Brazos River breaks. This is naturally dry country. Normal rainfall is about 25 inches per year. One of the last 3 years was 2-3/4” for the year. Has been over 100 years since anything approaching to that bad.
We have a spring fed stock pond. So we did not have to haul stock water. But we sold the cattle 3 years ago because of the cost of wintering them. Will rebuy, but with the price of Pairs running $3500, I am reluctant to do so yet. No upside. We have plenty of grazing now, but will gradually replace our herd.
We produce certified wheat seed. The drought has really crippled the production. And the price is way high. It has affected our sales. We are below the market price, but it is hard for producers to make the numbers work. The seed laws are a dangerous mine field. We comply completely with the law and that costs. We harvested no wheat in 2014, only seed we have for sale is carryover from 2013. That is about gone. I was short on our Registered seed and was unable to buy any. Have my Foundation seed planted, will plant what registered we have this week. Will be about 1/2 our normal acreage. So, we will have to grow ourselves out of this.