Lots of work ahead

Cavanaugh and Son Tree Service, based in Franconia, NH, did a great job at Hardwood Hermitage on Wednesday. They cut 18 trunks down as a means for us to protect power lines, add firewood by removal of some large trees with dieback, and expand solar production by removing some western and southern shade. Felling twisted trees and other difficult work can best be done by professionals! We've been going to work, with cutting and splitting over the last few days, with much work planned this autumn. 

Helping more hardwoods

One of the felling axes went to work this a.m. The main goal: Help a few oaks and birches by clearing away the highly inferior balsam fir. Below is a before/after of the work session. The surviving hardwoods will get more sun now, increasing their chance of survival.

Felling axes

A new implement has been added to the Hardwood Hermitage toolkit. Felling axes borrowed from a neighbor have thinned several trees over the last few days. Most of the dropped trees were balsam fir, with their demise helping oaks, sugar maple, and birches get more sun. The axes make for a great workout! Soft balsam fir can be taken down quite rapidly with a very sharp axe head.

The trial with a neighbor's axes tested different handle lengths and weights. The work sessions have been a lot of fun, with great benefits for the forest.

A soggy three months

A marvelous day closed out August today. June 1 and August 31 this year were both beautiful, with much sunshine. In between, we had many humid, cloudy, and rainy days. Compared to the 92-day period last year, June through August 2023 produced 459 fewer kilowatt/hours of solar energy compared to the three months in 2022. But we still love the sun!!! This picture shows the western sky in the early evening today. The low on the first morning of September will barely top 40 degrees.

Harvesting success

A rainy and cloudy summer can't keep crops from doing great. Here is a picture from this morning, with half of a potato and carrot harvest after the drive up the hill from the neighborhood garden.

Blackberries have looked really good in the last week. These five were quickly nabbed. In total, we've harvested 51 cups of raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries in a month.

Bi-berry dessert

Add some spray whip cream to a nice bowl of raspberries and blueberries for a perfect dessert. The season for both berries is wrapping up, but these beauties started today on the vine. Blackberries, scattered so far, are really starting to come in. Expect pictures of those little wonders soon.

Spicy, sweet, crunchy

The big harvest of garlic (half of which is pictured -- a quarter bushel) adds some spice to life on the hill. Our wonderful three blueberry bushes have yielded nearly 12 cups this year, while raspberries have been tasty, even in lower amounts than usual due to the wet summah. And, with much joy on our part, some great carrots were pulled out of the east garden bed by the house this morning, with the short and stocky example pictured destined for a salad today.