The beginnings of fall in south Arkansas


Why am I showing a picture of a dusty hole in the ground?  To make the point that just a few weeks before, it was a pine stump--the ground looks scorched because it has been burned in a recent wildfire just south of Monticello.  When the flames get to these resin-soaked pine stumps, the pitch (which is highly flammable) burns well, and the whole stump, roots and all, can burn out completely over the course of days or even weeks.  This particular area burned a couple weeks before we got about 5 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Isaac, and parts of it (not this stump hole) were still smoldering weeks later--even AFTER the tropical storm!!  That's your forestry lesson for the day!! 

We have entered the beginnings of fall here in southern Arkansas...not that we're really seeing any change in leaf colors, but the kids of started school, football season is upon us (horrible NFL ref calls and all!), and harvest-related events are springing up.  The other weekend we went to Plantation Agriculture Museum State Park near Little Rock (http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/plantationagriculturemuseum/) to take in part of an antique tractor show.  This state park features numerous aspects of the historic cotton plantations found in that area, including these large steam-powered tractors on permanent display:


Stephen was more interested in some of the smaller tractors, including these "toy" tractors made from old sewing machines (look closely at the main chassis of each tractor):


We got there early, and most of the exhibitors hadn't showed up yet, but there were a number of pretty cool looking examples:


Here is a John Deere tractor (circa 1937, I believe) with steel wheels:


I also went to an archeology dig for a day, near a historic river crossing called "Dooley's Ferry".  This is a historic site that dates to before the Civil War along the Red River in southwestern Arkansas about three hours drive from our house.  This site is being investigated by a grad student from the College of William and Mary, Carl Carlson-Drexler (guy in the green shirt pointing):


I've dug at this site before, and we've found quite a bit of historic material (broken glass, ceramics, nails, etc.).  Below, Beth is amused by the reaction I'm having to a ceramic sherd found by a fellow volunteer:


Below, Kenny talks to Dr. Jamie Brandon of the Arkansas Archeological Survey about some find (that's Jamie's wife, Lydia, helping to screen):


This last weekend we attended the Arkansas Archeological Society's annual meeting in Little Rock.  Lots of neat talks on Arkansas archeology, plenty of good friends, and a generally good time was had by all.  Sunday morning I joined a number of fellow archeologists (professional and amateur) to a trip to a mound site not far from Little Rock (the small hill with the clump of trees growing on it is the mound in the picture below):


This mound site originally had a number of mounds, which have been leveled via plowing.  Except, of course, for the main mound, which was protected by the landowners over the years.  As you can see in the picture above, it now is found in a cotton field.  If you've never seen a cotton plant, it is very interesting...  Cotton produces a very pretty, showy flower early in the summer, which matures into a bulbous green-colored bud that bursts into a "blossom" at the end of the summer/beginning of the fall:

 

The white cotton is the fiber you are used to seeing with cotton, except you may not realize it is filled with large seeds with many burrs on them that are tangled in the cotton.  These oil-rich seeds are separated after the cotton is harvested, and can be a valuable side product of the cotton crop.  Arkansas is a major producer of cotton, although with the decline in the US textile industry, fewer farmers are planting it in favor of corn, soybeans, rice, and other crops.

There--both a forestry and an agriculture lesson in the same blog post!!

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