You are off to a very good start! How lovely they will look in years to come. I have to admit I have a soft spot in my heart for pine trees (i'm from Maine after all). Your pup is a cutie too!

Nice dogwood in the foreground of the last picture. :-)

I wish more people thought like you!

If you have that much space, I throw in a couple big deciduous trees. American Beech (Fagus grandifolia), White oak (Quercus alba), Tupelo, (Nyssa sylvatica) or Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)...

Actually the tree you admired is a crabapple ("American Spirit," if memory serves). Your suggestions for larger trees is well taken. On the other side of the meadow I do have a couple unmowed areas that are home to sugar maples and birch. Basically I've planted "starter trees" in all the re-foresting areas, but if other trees choose to grow amongst them, I'll let nature take its course.

On the hill behind the meadow we have a small wooded area of white pines. Unfortunately these trees are all dying from blister rust, but amongst them are many maple, some oak, apples, hickory or walnut, and other saplings. I'm uncertain of the specific types, but they will be the heirs to the land, at least for as long as we live. We've planted a few spruce up there just to have some evergreens to take over for the pines.

Closer to the house I try to plant smaller trees, although we have do a sizable quaking aspen on the other side of the fenced dog yard from the flowering crab in the picture, between the house and the barn.

Thanks for the kind comments and suggestions, Ed.

Very nice! It is encouraging to see the forest's smaller kin growing in size. I know you feel much gratification.

I should have a delivery of small trees from Cold Stream Farm this week. I actually have no guarantees we'll be in this house long enough to see them get a decent size, but I hope so.