Red maple work

Our long-time readers will recall the big double trunk red maple that blew down in July 2013.  We cut much of it a while back.  Today, we took out about 24 more feet of the two trunks (that had stood back up during our original cutting operation).  This is another half cord of wood!  The pieces are standing in preparation for splitting.

This wood is within easy sight of the house; unlike the big ash project, this will be easy to get home.  Note the baby oak in the middle of the third picture.  We took out a bunch of weeds around it today so the little one can grow to heights similar to some other oaks on this part of Hardwood Hermitage.

Ash gets closer

Our white ash continues to make progress toward final cutting and stacking.  Each piece was moved within sight of the house on a very foggy Friday morning.  The second picture shows the array of smaller pieces also waiting the haul up to Hardwood Hermitage.

The power of the cultivator

By loosening two screws that hold the brush cutter head and blade into position, you can turn the tool into a cultivator by attaching a different head.  The tines tear into earth with reckless abandon!

Some work this morning eliminated several bumps along part of our main eastern trail.  Walking over that area was really hard because of the dips and rises that were oddly spaced.

These two pics show the spot prior to today's work

This after pic demonstrates what a bit of cultivating can do:  no more bumps!  The loose earth was moved around with a stiff rake, then compacted by walking over the spot.

Priceless sunset

We had a very pretty sunset last night, one of the best ever in our more than three years at the house.  This is one of those to remember.  Priceless.

"A king shall warm his slippers by"

All the ash we cut on Saturday is now 200 feet closer to home. Here's the pile after two hours of moving this morning.

Why so much work for a relatively small amount of firewood? Because white ash performs magic in the stove, as the last verse of a classic firewood poem notes, "Poplar gives a bitter smoke, Fills your eyes and makes you choke, Apple wood will scent your room Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom Oaken logs, if dry and old keep away the winter's cold But ash wet or ash dry a king shall warm his slippers by."

White ash, blue skies

A broken white ash was cut and split in the woods yesterday. We'll haul this up the hill for what should be about a half a cord of firewood. The tree had been down for a few years, but the wood is fine because the tree was not on the ground. Also, ash doesn't rot as quickly as birch or red maple.

Although rain has moved in to start May, April was a very clear month. We've had 19 days of 40 kw/hrs since we installed the solar panels. 13 of those were just last month. It was the most productive month of solar production (just over 850 total kw/hrs) in our nearly three years watching the meter go backwards!