Today I left work to head up to the Garden around 4. A visiting arborist from Arkansas, Peter, was able to come help me drag laps (branches), run a second chainsaw, and give a sound second opinion on the felling.
Felling trees is something I enjoy as I've only done it for the safety of someone's home or with the intent of using as much as possible for lumber, firewood, mulch, etc. As I generally like to do before cranking up the saw to begin the felling I took a moment to honor the tree. Pressing my chest to it's trunk, thinking and thanking for the life it is and the life it has supported until that moment and the life it will continue to support in a much different form.
The first one to come down was quite large(20"+ DBH, diameter at breast height), and a little scary, only because I hadn't felled a tree that large in over a year.
It's that closest one there!
Fortunately the target area was at least 50 degrees of open field. The potato bed was all that was really at stake and they were getting fairly mature by then. THUUUUUDDDD!!! Wow! It's so amazing to hear that sound: Life, Death, Life, Power, Earth. Buzzing soon ensued and limbs were brought in close to the trunk to make way for the next 5.
A couple small ones(less than 8" DBH) and a medium one (about 14" DBH)...
....then it was time to don the harness and ropes and get high....in the tree that is! Another first in a while giving my heart reason to thump and my brain and body a nice tingle of excitement. Watching the power line carefully as I ascended and took off the branches on that side of the tree. I brought my camera and got some incredible photos of the garden.
The flash really reflected off the evening humidity.
Wow! Thank you all!
It's so incredible to be 80 feet up in a tree. I try to focus on trusting the tree to support me despite the fact that I am ending it's current Life, enjoying the slight sway when the wind blows, and accepting my human vulnerability. It's a good time to practice.
Leaving the rope in a good crotch to pull a rigging rope through to pull the tree away from the power line and woodshed I started to descend. Ahhh, this may be the best part, maybe second best. Back on the ground the Sun had finished it's walk along the skyroad in this hemisphere. I put my gear away and went home to catch some sleep for the long weekend ahead.
Early Saturday morning
I headed to the local rental yard to pickup a 12" chipper. Shane met me at the garden at 9 and it was already getting quite warm. Summer will be here sooooon! We chipped the brush of the 5 trees on the ground, tossing the no-split firewood into a pile for later. Only got the chipper jammed once, but had it disassembled, fixed, and running in about a half hour. Don't try to push the 12" limit on the chipper, it'll probably slow down and something will get lodged! Five hours later, a couple hours of help from Drew, and one BIG pile of mulch later we were almost done. Shane headed home and Drew and I got all the firewood and branches for firewood moved to a pile. Done for the day, save some for tomorrow!
Mid-morning Sunday
quite sore and tired I started rigging up to fell the last standing poplar. It went just where I wanted without hesitation and I got it chipped up pretty quick. Then I started working on cutting the trees into the log length I needed for the sawmill as well as cutting the slits to peel the bark. I got about one-third of the bark peeled, licked some sweet spring sap and called it a day.
Monday evening
after work I got back up to the garden and finished peeling the bark. I made the poor decision to leave some of it weighted, though unstickered in the bed of my truck where it resided for about a week and quickly started growing green and white fuzzies. I attempted to resolve this by taking it to the local car wash for some pressure washing, which seemed to work pretty well. We will see when I start squaring up bark if there is much difference.
A few days later
I dragged all the logs to a central pile with the tractor, took inventory to start estimating board footage and working on the cut sheet, and painted the ends of the logs with Anchor Seal 2 to try to help reduce end checking during drying. I should have painted the logs immediately as they recommend. The fresh cut logs took very little AS2, but the ones that had been exposed to the air for just a few days soaked it up like a sponge.
Up next...Milling the logs!
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