A few weeks ago, we had a big storm hit our neck of the woods. My husband and I woke up in the middle of the night to the sirens going off. We could hear the wind hollering and tried to figure out what was going on around us. As we looked out the window, […]
My Dad. The Original Tom Brady.
It’s Father’s Day, so it only seems natural that I’d talk a little bit about my dad. Last year, I shared bits and pieces about my mom for Mother’s Day. I didn’t want to get super mushy on my golfers with two posts about my parents in one year, so I didn’t gush over my […]
Presto! We Have Trees!
We have been very busy this fall tying up a bunch of loose ends. Our main focus has been to get our ceremony site completed. Our first ceremony for next year is in May and we want to have the space fully functional by then. As I mentioned here, we are pleased to announce that […]
Smokey the Bear
There are two ideal times of the year to deal with trees: the spring and the fall. This is because of how the tree protects itself. In the height of summer, the tree has all of its branches filled with sap and nutrients. As it prepares for the winter, it begins to concentrate its nutrients […]
Sawtooth Oak – Quercus Acutissima
If you recall, my dad, Tom, is our resident tree guy here at Toad Valley. Over the years, he has planted nearly every tree you will find on our golf course. He writes an article for the Iowa Woodland Owners Association. In it, he shares information about trees that we have on the golf course […]
Building the New Ceremony Site
Last year, our ponds were dry. As it turns out, you need rain to fill creek beds that keep ponds filled with water. Go figure. Rather than sit around and fill the ponds with our tears, we decided to take advantage of the dried out ponds. Last summer, we began work on building a new […]
Propping Trees
Last year, we had a severe drought. Our golf course actually ran out of water. It was the first time in our 40 years of business that all of the creek beds that feed our course’s ponds dried up. By the end of the season, we looked pretty rough. In order to keep the greens […]
A Little Tree Trimming
The trouble with having hundreds, probably thousands, of trees on your golf course is that they need care. They are forever getting hit with a disease, lightening or wind. When I was a kid, I would ride around the golf course with my dad and he would point out something that I believed to be […]
Tom the Trouble Maker
As mentioned here, my dad has planted basically every tree on the golf course. He has had some help from the birds and squirrels who forget where they bury their winter meal. Overall, however, they have all been planted by Tom and his tree spade. We ran into dad while we were filming our zombie […]
Fixing Cart Paths
This post is about one of our great nemesis: our cart paths. It seems like we just can’t ever save enough money to put in continuous cart paths. There are many factors that come into play, but typically there is always a project or piece of equipment that ends up being more important in the […]