Snow disappearing

Two inches of snow in the morning started to disappear fast this p.m.  With wood staged in several spots, a walk on Hardwood Hermitage reminds one of work left undone.

 

Cloudy yet colorful afternoon

 

Joy from yellow birch

Color show starting

White ash usually get the color season kicked off.  Several have already been showing spectacular purple.

By late September many young birches can't decide between green or yellow in the canopy and white or brown on the trunk.

Ash marching up hill

The split white ash is about 250 feet closer to home.  The march up the hill has gone well so far.  The rest of the way will be assisted by a wheelbarrow after facing more of the slope closer to the house.  Here's an updated pic from today after all split pieces were added to the staging spot.

Another wind storm

Just a few minutes of wicked wind brought down more future firewood.  The biggest loss to the forest was a magnificent white ash.  The tree has been pictured on the blog before.  After losing a major branch a few years ago, a large scar developed, an area where the tree lost lots of support against west winds that dominate the hill during storms.  Here's a picture of the tree showing the upside down V broken trees become.

Many young trees, mainly paper birch, are part of the understory in this area of large ash.  Even though several babies were crushed by the ash, others will benefit greatly from the expansion of sun on their crowns.  The ash's crown blocked out lots of light.

Cutting the ash was a major project, but 22 pieces are now at 22 inches near the cutting site.  Note the spectacular diamond-shaped ridges in the mature tree's bark, one of several features making white ash a divine species.  The broken tree was about 15 inches in diameter at the ground.

Birds of prey

From the early morning calls of barred owls, to silent visits by the pictured beauty below, birds of prey love Hardwood Hermitage.