Happy New Year!

Goodbye, 2018! Here are a few images from today's forest.  Happy New Year!

Different kind of White Christmas

With so much snow gone, the best way to get a White Christmas this year is to stare at mature paper birch groves.

Thaw to start winter

We won't lose all our snow, but low temp was in the upper 40s overnight.  Lots of rain, as well, so a bunch of the white stuff has withered away.  Here's a before/after taken 24 hours apart looking at the same area just west of the house.  Freezing temps return this afternoon, so we need to remember winter just started!

Yellow birch spring pole down

The bowsaw went to work this a.m. to take down two spring poles, a small sugar maple and a slightly larger yellow birch.  The bark and wood are always so pretty, even if the tree decides to make a big bend.  The pieces cut with the saw will eventually become firewood or perhaps a big walking stick.

 

Here's a pic of the tree's bend, where two big branches grew straight up prior to dropping the whole thing.

The curved tree could've learned some lessons on the right way to grow from other birches in the vicinity.

Bowsaw defeats another spring pole

A snowy forest floor signals a long break for power tools, but that doesn't mean elbow grease gets time off.  Today, the most popular forest management work of the (not yet) winter season commenced:  cutting spring poles with the bow saw.  This red maple wasn't the worst looking spring pole ever, but it sure did act like it.  Here's the curving tree before cutting.  Note how the undesirable bending biomass placed itself in a spot to shade some birches.

Here's a picture of the first bit of cutting, a look which should be a familiar sight to those who have seen pics of Hardwood Hermitage spring pole work before.  The left cut is on the inside of the bend, which will tear fibers allowing the felling cut, coming from the right side in, to drop the spring pole.

A good deal of lopping took place after the pole finally dropped.  Critters will like to munch on the red maple buds, which start to emerge this time of year.  Instead of breaking birches in the area, deer or moose can more easily chomp on the tasty ends of maple twigs.

Snowy November trend continues

Five more inches of snow since yesterday morning! This November is the most snowy in the history of Hardwood Hermitage! After clearing the driveway and around the house, here are a few pics of the REALLY white scene on the hill, due to the wet snow sticking to trees.  The first pic shows our ash storage cans.  You can tell which one houses the ashes just removed from the stove!

Homemade Pie

A cranberry pear pie made yesterday.

More than a foot

Mid-November isn't usually this snowy.  We had a foot fall last week, so that makes 15" for the season so far.

A deer wandered near the house the other day.

Here are some recent white pics from the woods.  The third one below shows a big hophornbeam, which a fave red oak walking stick is resting against.

A trip to Conway and Tamworth yesterday provided some images of Crawford Notch, 25 to 30 miles southeast of here.

Wood-fired stew

Green chili chicken stew on the "Norwegian Cooker," the first wood-fired meal of the season.

Snow disappearing

Two inches of snow in the morning started to disappear fast this p.m.  With wood staged in several spots, a walk on Hardwood Hermitage reminds one of work left undone.

 

Cloudy yet colorful afternoon

 

Joy from yellow birch

Color show starting

White ash usually get the color season kicked off.  Several have already been showing spectacular purple.

By late September many young birches can't decide between green or yellow in the canopy and white or brown on the trunk.

Ash marching up hill

The split white ash is about 250 feet closer to home.  The march up the hill has gone well so far.  The rest of the way will be assisted by a wheelbarrow after facing more of the slope closer to the house.  Here's an updated pic from today after all split pieces were added to the staging spot.

Another wind storm

Just a few minutes of wicked wind brought down more future firewood.  The biggest loss to the forest was a magnificent white ash.  The tree has been pictured on the blog before.  After losing a major branch a few years ago, a large scar developed, an area where the tree lost lots of support against west winds that dominate the hill during storms.  Here's a picture of the tree showing the upside down V broken trees become.

Many young trees, mainly paper birch, are part of the understory in this area of large ash.  Even though several babies were crushed by the ash, others will benefit greatly from the expansion of sun on their crowns.  The ash's crown blocked out lots of light.

Cutting the ash was a major project, but 22 pieces are now at 22 inches near the cutting site.  Note the spectacular diamond-shaped ridges in the mature tree's bark, one of several features making white ash a divine species.  The broken tree was about 15 inches in diameter at the ground.

Birds of prey

From the early morning calls of barred owls, to silent visits by the pictured beauty below, birds of prey love Hardwood Hermitage.

Solar expansion

Solar power is doing more since June 30, the first full day when 15 additional panels started producing.  With two full months in since then, the new panels, the bottom row in the pic below, are performing well.

July provided much more sunlight than August.  Even with both months having the same number of days, July's production was 278 kilowatt/hours more than August.  Combined, the panels produced nearly 2,900 kw/hrs in those great 62 days.

There was still some nice sun in August.  The garden shared with a neighbor responded well to the warmth.  Some amazing colors were created in August, even though the relatively cloudier days meant blackberry season wasn't the best.  Here's a pic of a recent harvest.  Yes, you can grow sweet potatoes in a cooler climate!

Monster spring pole down

The big saw humbled a large black cherry spring pole on Friday.  The tree was then cut to the length of 22 inches for carrying up the hill.  Here's a pile of the main trunk after the cutting.  Lots of young birches are getting more sun as a result of the spring pole's demise.

A bit farther to the north, on the other side of the big raspberry patch between Friday's work areas, some cutting was done to help two young red oaks and a sugar maple get more sun.  The taller of the two oaks is on the left part of this pic, with the sugar maple on the right.  Both got virtually no sun prior to the cutting.

Former ash spring poles were taken down in this area about 18 months ago.  The few feet of standing trunks from those two trees were also cut down.  The smaller chainsaw did that work.

On the way back up the hill this p.m., the wonders of walking trails and trees were soaked up, as was a lot of humidity.  Temps and dew points are high through tomorrow, then relief slated for a nice Labor Day weekend.  Here are pics from the walk back to the house.