Superb raspberry season

Right on schedule, raspberries have been ripening in the woods.  The crop this year is the best ever seen on Hardwood Hermitage.  A gallon of the red beauties have been picked so far, with another round of picking likely on Saturday.  On top of cereal, in a smoothie, or on ice cream, raspberries are another welcoming part of summer here.  This is a shot of some of the berries picked on an afternoon walk today.

Escaping the Heat Wave!

We spent Monday and Tuesday in Augusta, Maine as a way to escape the heat wave that had settled over us.  It was notably cooler (at least until mid-day Tuesday when it seems that the heat wave had moved east).  In addition to spending time in the Maine State Archives doing some Civil War research, we toured the Maine State House.

where we saw their collection of Civil War flags and a portrait of Joshua Chamberlain, who had served in the Civil War then went on to be Governor of Maine (1867-1871).  He was the President of Bowdoin College (1871-1883), and also received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1893.

Before the heat set in, a quick walk was taken through part of a local arboretum -- lovely hosta garden along the path.  

A festive outdoor seating area in nearby Halowell gave visitors a close-up of the Kennebec river.

Diagonal red maple dropped

 Before the heat and humidity kicked in this week, the big saw enjoyed some work on the south hill.  This red maple leaned at about a 45 degree angle.  It was processed as future firewood over the course of the morning.

Because of the lean, it was easy to know where the tree was going to fall. 

After cutting the tree into 22" lengths, pieces remained lined up, ready for splitting.

This cut was made at a spot that shortly before was about 40' off the ground.  The tree was eight inches in diameter at that point.

Splitting was completed later in the morning.  The big pile will be transported to some pallets for outdoor storage over the cold months.  Next spring, the pieces will get cut again prior to final stacking.  The wood won't burn until 2020.

Summer forest management case study

An area just west of "Pine Cut Curve" received some forest management attention the last three days.  Brush cutting, lopping and bow sawing contributed to the improved situation in this neighborhood of some delightful young trees.

Pine Cut Curve won its name about four years ago after multiple pines fell across the eastern side of the Loop Trail.  With some big saw work, the walking trail was cleared once again, with the namesake trail curve up and to the left of the walking area pictured.  The current forest management case study focused on the area to the left of this picture.

By whacking weeds and some saplings, lopping branches, and bow sawing stump sprouts, a significant increase in sunlight is hitting the remaining trees in the area.  This little sugar maple basks in today's sun after the full shade was banished by the management work.

Red maple stump sprouts are a primary culprit putting shade on preferred species.  Our fans will recall previous work to cut out these pesky parts of the forest.  The small chainsaw will go to work later this summer to cut down the numerous sprouted trunks below.  Note the lovely yellow birch on the right that will gain sun after the trunks are cut down. 

Other trees will also gain sun when this stump sprout goes away.  Looking toward the south, here's a pic of the same stump sprout above from farther away.  More birches are waiting for their time in the sun.

Whatever their age, a group of paper birches looks marvelous.  At this spot on the northern end of the recent work area, you can note the small amount of transition in the bark.  There are a few places where shiny white has begun to emerge.

Morning warmth

The inside temp was only 63 today, so a bit of kindling and smaller wood was called into service.  The temp will rise to about 75 soon enough.

Creatures great and small

The pic came out a bit blurry because of the low light, but there was another bear sighting recently.  This one walked down the trail west of the house yesterday morning.

A moose was seen while visiting a neighbor last week, who has two new cows, pictured below.

Small creatures are also wonderful.  Three hummingbirds have been providing entertainment since showing up about three weeks ago.

Some morning splitting

A nice collection of red maple pieces was collected from an area west of the house in recent days.  Here's part of the pile prior to some splitting work today.

And this is how the big pile looks after the splitting.  Each piece will get cut in half in the sawbuck, then it's to a new stacking spot.

Four medium-sized red maples were dropped recently to create this latest firewood.  Some of the larger pieces, split once for now, are still near the original drop zone.  Several oaks will benefit from the extra sun they're getting after the maples were taken down.