Our owls are barred owls as well.
The thing I think I miss the most about Upstate NY, is the agriculture. The soil we had in our Finger Lakes town was like garden show soil with some rocks, but not a lot.
Here we have either sand and rock or clay and rocks. We’re not The Granite State for nothing.
Yes, our best crop here in MA is also stone and rock. Thus NE used to have a lot of stone walls. I have screened a lot of soil, and "harvested" a lot of rock, but the same area still has many the next year. But in reality, thank God for the use of such and the soil that still produces much, versus clay, and the exercise it gives us in working with it.
Homemade frame with 1/2'' screen. Soil that is screened feels like silk, with a few small stones.
Meanwhile, the garden plot that looked as this pics shows from -5-1-25,
saw 2 days of planting seedlings 5-3,4 and looks as this shows today:
glory to God.