Time for cutting

After another wet weekend, but today started gloomy yet dry, meaning time to cut arrived again! Here are before and after pics of the wood pile. Each saw used three quarters of a tank.

Wildflower month

June is always wildflower month on Hardwood Hermitage.

Working on more wood

A large, spring-poled red maple blocking light from several small oaks seemed like a great candidate for a big firewood project. The downed tree, slightly bigger than the red maple processed last week, will take more time to finish up due to some much-needed rain.

Processing a big red maple

The first big tree job of the season began yesterday with the dropping of a large red maple on the hill above the house. This morning, we split 14 large pieces bucked yesterday after the felling. The coolness bringing frost today (the latest we've ever had), sunshine, and fog coming from the river (the third picture), made for a memorable work session. There's still much work to do, including the cutting of some of the trunk.

Hill-grown supper

A meatloaf from a hill-grown cow and parsnips also from the neighborhood made for a fine meal today!

Moving to shed

An annual ritual has moved along in earnest in recent days. With the snow blower long ago put away, the tractor bucket goes into service to move wood from the big pile the pool cover protects during winter. The first photo shows the diminishing pile, followed by a look at the shed. We think it's all going to fit!

Note the wonderful boxes of kindling on the shelf of the shed. Filled with the necessary fire-starting material, all of which was cut last year, none of it will burn until next season, and perhaps the one after that for some of the boxes!

Snow fading fast

With far less snow visible, work began in the woods and garages. It's never too early to prepare for the next burning season! Here are three bags of birch bark brought up from the woods this afternoon. Nature's greatest fire starter always does wonders in the stove.

Today we also worked to fill the garage space with bark bags, wood, and kindling. The east side of the garage looks similar to this pic of the west side.

We fuel our work with some great food, like an apple cake. The parsnips, which stay in the ground over winter, were also exceptional after cooking -- with some NH maple sugar.