50 Megawatt/hours

As of 11:40 a.m. today, the solar panels have produced 50,000 kilowatt/hours (50 Megawatt/hours).  That's a tremendous milestone! May has been very sunny, with 10 days in a row where we produced 60 kilowatt/hours between sunrise and sunset.  We have about 17 hours of total daylight this time of year, and we'll gain almost an hour more in the next three weeks before the official start of summer.

The sun does many wonderful things besides offset all of our electricity use.  The asparagus crop greatly benefited from May's many sunny days.  And evidence abounds in the woods that berry plants are growing well.  Raspberry picking should be starting in about 6 weeks.

Wood and bird

The picture below includes red maple cut and split this a.m.  The old tree, showing signs of dieback for a few years, was dropped onto snow over the winter.  The current location for the wood is about 150 feet closer to the house from the drop site.  The wood will make its way up about 600 more feet for one last cut for each piece before joining the Pool Cover Wood.  The pallets are filling up!

Temps have been very pleasant.  Low humidity makes mornings of work extremely satisfying.

For a bonus picture, how about a hummingbird?!!

Wood moving

With the snow gone for 6 months or so, wood moving begins in earnest!  Thanks to two hours on the tractor, the area known as the "Pool Cover Wood" has been moved from pallets into the shed.  The wonderful pool cover keeps about 3 1/2 cords dry over the winter.  Here are some pics of one tractor bucket full of wood (we needed about 30 to fill the shed), the shed (with a bit more room in it), and the now empty pallets.  Some of the next round of Pool Cover Wood is seen in the back of the third picture.

Helping oaks in the snow

After three inches of snow this a.m. (yes, three inches of snow on May 9), some work was done with loppers and the bowsaw in the afternoon.  In three locations about 500 feet apart, elbow grease gave some young oaks a better chance to get what every tree likes best:  sunlight.

Here's a before/after example of the thinning taking place at one of the work sites.  More thinning also occurred bit to the right of the pic.  With the removal of several conifers, the oaks will enjoy more sunlight all year, especially in the colder months.

Here's a picture of some future firewood taken this p.m.  Happy "Spring" to all!