Moose print

The potato fork marked the spot of what is undoubtedly a moose print.

A birch grove will benefit in the spring from some clearing.

Our spring, which is on the far side of the jut (about 1/3 of mile to walk to from the house) usually keeps pumping out water during the whole winter.

Walking with zero

Zero degrees at first light today. Time for a hike! This big paper birch, although made for cold weather, seemed to be pleading for the sun to make it over the hill.

Way below freezing, but we still have patches of running water flowing down the north slope.

Critter tracks visible everywhere, including on both sides of this yellow birch.

Looking toward the Vermont hills.

Happy 2016

We didn't think all our future kindling cut in the fall would make it up to the house before snow. Here's one of our many piles that will likely be in place until April.

Big oaks and hophornbeams, which have seen many bad winters up here, are preparing for the coldest air of the season so far. We'll be below zero Monday and Tuesday mornings.

Birch groves are also taking the season in style.

Some doomed snow falls

We received two inches of snow yesterday, the first time this season we've had more than a dusting. We'll have very mild temps later in the week, with some rain, so this won't last. But it's pretty for a short time, especially on outside seasonal decorations. The second photo shows a wreath made by a neighbor using some barbed wire!

More red maple casualties

Continued thinning of red maple stump sprouts took place today. Note the young paper birches in the background of the first two pictures and the downed red maple that will provide the birch, which are to the north, more shade. Again, we'll lop the red maple for future kindling. Also, a broken larger red maple was taken down as well. Some of those bigger pieces can be seen in the third picture.

Thinning of red maple

Throughout Hardwood Hermitage, red maple (acer rubrum) grows profusely. As a second-tier species, the tree often becomes kindling for us. We did a lot of thinning today in one area in order for young birches, sugar maple, and red oak to find more sunlight. The little chainsaw had red maple falling furiously, especially because the pesky species has a tendency to grow in clumps (stump sprouts), with maybe a dozen trunks crowded together. Here are some pictures from today's carnage: This is a before/after shot of the area we worked in. Notice the significant reduction of standing red maple in the second picture. Also, the piles of cut and lopped future kindling are visible in the second picture.

Much work is involved in making the cut stuff today ready to burn. But we have a nice addition to our 2017 kindling, while also helping the forest by reducing the large amount of competition in the woods.

Always thankful for wood

Happy Thanksgiving! A before/after series of pics once again demonstrates that our wood preparation for the next season is continually on our mind.

We take our stacking of wood very seriously. Here's the two previous pics after cutting, splitting, and stacking. Most of this won't be burned until after next Thanksgiving!

A bit of forest thinning of broken and dead birch and red maple was brought over this morning to create our next cutting pile. With warmth and little precip, we have yet to put the snow blower on the tractor, so three loads in the big bucket moved this from west of the house.