A roaring weekend

Lots and lots of chainsaw time this weekend as wood near the house was processed.  This post includes six pictures, four before pics, and two taken after this weekend's work.  Much progress, especially today with low humidity and very pleasant temps.

The first three pics show three separate piles of wood prior to any cutting.

 

 

Here's the after picture of the three piles in one photo.  Notice all the sawdust! A great deal of cutting took place on each of the piles, with a fair amount of stacking done (the beginnings of the new stack of cut firewood is in the middle background).

 

The next two pictures are of the same stack of wood cut from a neighbor's property.  We helped him clear trees along a rock wall that will be removed to expand a hay field.  We get to keep most of the wood, but some will go back to the neighbor after we process it for him.  The after picture still shows a lot of wood in the pile, but we cut many pieces into burnable lengths.

 

Garden harvesting

The forest is our biggest garden, but more traditional summer crop harvesting takes place on the hill, as well.  This picture shows some peas from our neighbor's very large and productive garden, with some tomatoes and green beans that were grown in containers by the house here on Hardwood Hermitage.

Another great solar July

July is the month that makes the solar panels most happy.  Since sunrise on Friday, we've produced 140 kilowatt/hours.  The five Julys with panels have accounted for 16 percent of the system's total production, more than 4,000 kilowatt/hours.  We've had six months that have topped 800 kilowatt/hours of production, with three of those months being July.

When not shooting excess solar back to the grid, the sun's energy is burned in the house for a variety of activities.  Here's a pic of yesterday's solar-fired bread:  Parmesan Pine Nut.

Berry picking has begun

The raspberry season started a bit later than last year, most likely because we haven't had nearly the amount of full sunshine enjoyed in 2016.  But two quick walks this morning retrieved our first berries of 2017. 

More red maple ready

Pictured below is one of the three buckets of the red maple tree bowsawed down earlier this month.  The wood was split yesterday.

The three buckets were dumped onto an ever growing pile of bigger wood getting ready for the saw buck.  After cutting the longer lengths in half, the wood will be stacked, then it has to wait.  None of this will need to burn for more than a year.

Recent wood work

The current state of the two red maples downed last week on the south hill.  We split all of this on July 4. 

A pile of future firewood near the woodsheds.

The mighty bowsaw

Sane people only use a bowsaw for relatively minor cutting of small branches.  On Hardwood Hermitage, the bowsaw, powered strictly by elbow grease, continues its heroic work of cutting down bigger trees.  Four red maples were recently dropped with this excellent tool, pictured below.

Two red maples were dropped on the hill south of the house. In addition to about 3/4ths of a cord of firewood from two trunks, the downed crowns will increase winter solar production; the low sun that time of year gets blocked a bit by several trees.

One red maple became a dreaded "barber chair" during the felling operation.  During a horizontal cut, a tree sometimes starts to crack vertically.  This adds to the fall's level of unpredictability.  Evidence of the barber chair is shown by the thin wood above the cut in this photo.  The top of the remaining trunk is 9 inches in diameter.

The two trees gave in without much trouble, even with the barber chair.  They now crisscross each other on the hill.  The top of the second tree's remaining standing trunk is seen in the picture, as well. 

Two other red maples were downed west of the house, so we'll have about a cord of wood without moving much up hill.  When we cut on the south hill, we actually move the wood down to the stacking pile or wood shed.  That will be a pleasant change of pace.