Birches rule the winter

About 8 inches of snow has fallen since the New Year's thaw. As usual, the forest becomes even more beautiful when the horizontal white mixes with the vertical variety.

Major thaw

Morning temps almost reached 50 degrees today! The two pictures below show the same scene 20 hours apart. Much snow has melted from early yesterday afternoon to this morning.

A trio of species in winter

On the first day of winter, the sun never rises very high. In this early afternoon picture today, the sun almost appears close to setting! We will at least be gaining light every day for six months, until there is nearly 18 hours worth!

Three young trees growing up together made the most of the winter in this picture: Red oak, paper birch, and black cherry.

 

Six degrees

The coldest morning of the new season arrived today. Once again, a clear sky and bright sun contrast with the low of six degrees. As always, the stove does the job, with two pieces of yellow birch going up.

In the woods, yellow birch thrives and always catches the eye. The wonderful species only becomes stove fodder when it spring poles or if dieback is occurring. Sometimes even a red oak has to struggle with more shade than desirable if a great yellow birch dominates a neighborhood of trees.

Snow Catchers

We had a foot of snow in late November, most of which fell on Thanksgiving Day. Some favorite species become snow catchers this time of year.

Red Oak

Yellow Birch

Paper Birch

Great morning for wood work

Temps below freezing led to some cutting and splitting this morning. What a beautiful day!

Another before/after

More great work from both saws this morning! Here's another before/after of some cutting time!