Saturday, May 30, 2009

Before the Carnage

My neighbors and I will begin logging the back three acres on Monday. I have taken vacation from work to assist them. Yesterday, I loaded up on a new chainsaw, 2 gallons of bar oil, tons of two stroke oil, 15 gallons of diesel fuel (for the tractors/excavators) and 5 gallons of mixed fuel for the power saws.

Here it is today, before we start.

The property is going to look at a lot worse before it looks better. We will log the trees, then hire a professional to destump and grade, then rake and clean up, then seed. By next summer, the horses will have a pasture of green grass. This summer and fall, until the snow falls, the horses will likely live in their sacrifice paddocks. It is a sacrifice, alright, but one for the greater good.

2 comments:

Sarah Henderson, BCCDC said...

Hooray for the Husqy, but be careful out there right? How much will you have in pasture by the time you are done? Are you having the excavators destump? We found that it cost aboutl half of what tree-folk destumpers cost here.

Daun said...

DP,
We will have about three acres in pasture when it is all done. But this week's goal is to completely clear out their current 1 acre pasture and clear out the trees around the garden. We will be logging the other two pastures, probably this fall/winter.

The excavator will hold the logs for limbing. My neighbors are not destumping, we are hiring a local guy to do that, but it won't be for some time (no $$$). So we will at least clear the trees to allow more sun in and do some heavy raking cleanup ourselves. When we get money we will destump and I hope to see and lime this fall. Once the snow falls, the horses can be back on it without damaging the ground.