Surgical tornado

With Mother Nature spreading tree seeds everywhere, small areas in the woods can become very crowded.  In the first picture, one red oak was spotted in a packed bit of earth, a location that gets little sun.  Thinning can be a vital way to improve the forest by removing excess, less desirable species.  After the precision of a surgical tornado (thanks in this case to loppers and the bowsaw), the second picture was shot about 35 minutes later.  The oak, about eight feet tall, can barely be seen in either photo.  It started as a heck of an acorn to grow in a shaded, overgrown spot.  The tree leans a bit north for now.  Hopefully, light and warmth will make the tree stand straighter through the years.  Some additional thinning could be done in this area down the road.  Birches to the north and east of the photo (behind the photographer) will also benefit from today's thinning work. 

Wacky April

April's weirdness persists for another year.  We had three inches of snow over the last few days.  Melting proceeded rapidly enough for a nice 45 minute roundtrip to walk northeast, near the Jut.  Two bags of birch bark were quickly harvested.  We burned about this much of the wonderful fire starter over the last three weeks.  Twenty bags full like these two are in the shed.  That should be enough to get through all of next burning season.  This one hasn't wrapped up yet, but consistently warm temps arrive next week, after what will be a cold and rainy Sunday.

Winter again

 Another round of April snow this morning!

Work for little saw

Some red maple processing occurred this a.m.  The two taken down by the bowsaw last week were part of the work, as was a broken tree of about the same size.  A battered pin cherry further down the hill is also destined for the wood stove.  Additional splitting will be done on much of today's work.

April snow

 This coating of white won't last long, but the start of April often looks like this here.