Bears are Back

Bears have come out of their dens and are grazing in the fields at the Rocks Estate. This large bear has been roaming the property for the last week.

Planting in 2009

The staff at The Rocks Estate planted 7,200 young Christmas trees this spring. Using a mechanical auger, the trees were planted between larger trees which will be harvested in the next three years. This system provides shade protection for the smaller trees, which are about 4 years old.

Christmas trees are harvested when they are 10 to 15 years old, depending on the species.

Support Trees for Troops

The Forest Society is once again supporting the nation wide Trees for Troops (T4T) program at it's Christmas Tree Farm in Bethlehem NH. This year you can purchase a locally hand made birch deer from the Rocks Estate, the proceeds from which will help support conservation and the T4T program. Two businesses have offered to carry the deer at their stores Littleton Bike and Fitness as well as Trackside Farm and Garden both in Littleton NH.

Eco-Race at the Rocks Estate

Seventy five people entered the Eco-race facilitated by Untamed Adventure. The adventure race had an eco-twist to it. Here at the Rocks we heat with wood from our sustainable woodlands. Our forester selects trees that are to be cut from the 1300 acres of woodland and staff as well as volunteers help process the fire wood ready for winter. This year the 75 contestants in the eco-race moved and stacked 3,500 pieces of firewood for the us. What a great help, 3,500 pieces of wood moved in 1 hour and 45 minutes using no powered equipment. This save the conservation organization a substantial amount of labor and fuel.

Planting Christmas Trees at the Rocks Estate

Last week we planted the crop that will be in your homes 6 - 9 years from now. This year we are planting 3 types of trees Balsam Fir, Fraser Fir and Canaan Fir. All grow well up here in Northern NH and form great Christmas trees for our guests to enjoy. In this picture we are planting Canaan Fir trees with our tractor pulled planter.

It total we planted 8,000 trees which have to be carefully packed into the ground individually as you can see in the next image. It is now raining which is ideal for our new crop.

Pruning Apple Trees for Wildlife

We are busy pruning wild apple trees for wildlife, so far 121 have been done this season. Apples and the trees themselves are an important food food source for many species in New Hampshire. We release (cut the over shadowing non-apple trees) to allow light into the apple trees and then prune them to help with fruit production.

Some of the species that have been observed taking advantage of this food source are deer, bear, fisher, coyote, squirrels, moose, bobcats, wild turkeys, roughed grouse and porcupine to name but a few.

News from The Rocks

Here's our first blog about the exciting Rocks Estate. Visit our site: www.therocks.org