The return to colder temperatures has allowed us to get much of our tree work accomplished. We’ve had to prioritize it, with limbing and felling live trees most urgent, in an effort to finish before the sap begins to rise too much.
We try very hard to avoid cutting live trees. We’ll trim them for view, to avoid interference with lines and buildings, and to prevent them from growing into baffles that disrupt the airflow around the wind generator. Cutting them completely down comes more rarely. It’s taken us more than five years to remove one of the two trees that have created a sort of gateway to the cabin.
These trees are rather nice, as they do, as I say, create a gateway. Also, one of our main clothes lines has been anchored to one of the trees. However, the passage they create is too narrow for some loads to move through, and we’ve had trouble over the years. Finally, we decided to move the line to the other tree, and cut down the smaller one, opening the gap.
More importantly, we’ve trimmed trees in the windbreak. I’ve been reluctant to do that, because they have grown high enough to hide the roof line of the cabin from the water. I like that, but I realize that if we allow them to grow, they’ll continue to cut off light to the yard, where our cherry trees, rhubarb patch, and a grow box are located. We climbed into the break trees and found the crotches where the previous owner lopped them originally, and cut close to that point on the taller ones. The sunlight in the yard increased immediately. The solar array also gets more light for longer, which helps considerably. That was an added bonus that I hadn’t expected.
Along with these jobs comes the sorting, trimming and piling of the slash. We’ve tried to arrange them in such a way that they receive maximum sunlight and airflow, so they’ll dry quickly into fuel for the fire, but also so they don’t get in the way or detract from the view. It’d be faster and easier to just throw them on the beach and burn them in a bonfire, but that seems too wasteful. With a little extra work and patience, we’ll get a lot mmore use out of it.
Spring will advance quickly, and we won’t get all of our tasks done this year, I’m sure. The rest will need to wait until next winter.
Did you set your clocks ahead for Daylight Saving Time last night? Time again for my rant against the practice!