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!

 

Winter for a day

 A bit of snow stuck overnight, but we'll be 70 degrees in a few days. Winter for a day can be really pretty.

90 great minutes

Both saws sprang to life this morning as we processed the two red maple logs and some smaller trees in the fall zone. The morning low was about 53 degrees. Splitting starts in earnest tomorrow!!!

First frost, hard work

Our first frost arrived this morning, weeks later than average, but three of the last four have been in October. We are taking advantage of superlative weather to prep some firewood for what will be the '26-'27 season. The main task this morning: Dropping two big red maple trunks.

Fall color remains vibrant in several places. Here is a view from northeast of the house.

Delightful day

October continues September's big trend: Lots of sunshine. Much green remains on the trees, but some color has poked through. The two red crowns are clumps of mountain maple, while the yellow birch west of the house shows some autumn color as the sun shines through.

Apple Butter Day!!!!

 

Red, White, and Purple

Potatoes of three different colors came out of the ground yesterday morning: Red, White, and Purple.

In other harvesting news, a fine berry season wrapped up recently. Nearly 90 cups, with most being blackberries. The 20 cups of raspberries were the most fabulous ever here!

This morning, we thinned some white ash to help out red oak and yellow birch youngsters. One red oak leans heavily west, but next year will start to grow an eastern crown, which was 100% shaded prior to the morning work.

Before/After

Both saws did some nice work yesterday morning. We cut, stacked -- and even did a small amount of splitting-- of a collection of generally smaller wood which had been adding up since last autumn. Much of the paper birch fell to help sugar maples and oaks enjoy more sun. This kindling and some larger wood will sit for well over a year before burning. Here are before/after pictures of the glorious effort.

Harvest goodies prior to processing

Six cups of blackberries about to begin transformation to blackberry jam.

These cut cucumbers will become either pickles or a nice salad with onions.

Harvest day

In addition to 3 1/2 cups of berries from the woods, some lovely vegetables were harvested at the neighborhood garden today. Here are a cabbage, some onions and three cucumbers.

For the berries, 1 1/2 cups of raspberries were picked, along with a cup each of blueberries and blackberries. They've looked really good this year, even with all the rain.

Picture for the season

Mid-July means raspberries! These beauties, one cup of fruit, were picked this morning, the second small harvest so far. More berries are coming in throughout the forest. It's a berry nice time of year, except for the humidity, quite high for about two weeks! Relief arrives soon, thankfully.

Kale and radishes

The raised garden bed has produced many great radishes this summah, as well as huge leaves of kale. This picture shows this morning's harvest.

Recent forest work

Thanks to a variety of tools and carrying of downed biomass, some future firewood and kindling has been stacked near the house. Axe work this morning, a very beautiful day after lots of weekend rain, added to this nice pile.

Thinning constitutes important work in the forest as an effort to improve chances for survival of other trees. Yet, so many places will remain untouched, like this fine birch grove.

Natural color

Late spring means daisies and lupine!! Cloudy and rainy lately, but our seasonal flowers have been really pretty this year!

The Light of June

The month with the most daylight started with plenty of it! A completely blue sky has dominated the day, although the low temp at the house belies the brightness. We were 42 degrees, with the temp down the hill perhaps 36. Daylights started a bit after 4 a.m. There will be a hint left at 9:30 p.m. What a fine day to be a solar panel!

Gardening update

Old boards were removed from the east garden bed recently. Today a new raised garden bed was installed on the spot! Some old biomass was tossed in. Compost and soil will then fill in the 8' x 4' space. 

 The old asparagus bed has produced quite nicely this spring. Here is today's harvest.

Light and shadow

Trees grant a great opportunity to stand in awe of nature. This huge sugar maple, near the northern lot line, somehow found the strength to start growing on a cold slope many, many years ago. This morning, with the temp way downhill at about 25 degrees, the buds in the crown undoubtedly relished some of the day's first solar rays. Light gives life. Soon the tree with be bursting with new leaves, which will give energy to this majestic being, a glorious ambassador for trees, the most amazing living things on the hill. 

 

Birchy walk

 

Total eclipse of the Hermitage

Hardwood Hermitage had about 30 seconds of totality in today's eclipse. It was a very memorable event shared with many people living on the hill. Appropriate snacks were ready, such as raisins, Sun Chips, Moon Pies, and Eclipse gum.

For more than two hours, the moon covered part of the sun. Totality took place at 3:29 pm. Birds were chirping wildly with the onset of what they thought was early sunset. We did not get totally dark, but the shadowy look created an eerie feeling for a few minutes. Here is the house and telescope very close to the moment of totality, although a bit blurry.

Proof of the short blockage of the sun can be seen in the chart of the day's solar production. We had almost a totally cloudless sky for the whole day, but the nosedive in solar energy took place as totality arrived.

Winter has sprung???!!!

Sixteen inches -- 30 percent of our snow for the season -- has fallen since the new season began. Yesterday's storm dropped more than a foot. HAPPY SPRING!!!

March rollercoaster

We had bare ground for a few days, then three inches of snow arrived early this week. This white stuff will be gone soon, because tomorrow will include sun and a high of 50+ degrees. Sun came out today, too, but the winter feel remains due to a cold wind. March always brings a rollercoaster of weather.

While walking today, some great birch scenes became evident thanks to the clear skies.