Holding

The rain showers have put a hold on every task in the woods. Sunday had a good shower that we really needed, Monday brought several showers and a downpour around 3pm that gave us a full inch of rain in one hour, Tuesday ended up with a few hard showers between absolutely stunning bright sunlight.

We cannot get into the forest at this time. The road up and into the woods is impassable because the skid roads are slick mud on top of packed earth. Not even a bulldozer could make the climb.

The pole truck that had been on the schedule to pick up logs in the back landing for Monday was canceled. The truck most likely would have been able to make it onto the property and through the pasture to the landing, but with the area around the logs nothing but mud, would not have been able to get the truck situated correctly on the slight incline.

We are at a standstill through the rest of the week until the weather takes a turn. Not to worry, there are still PLENTY of things to do on the farm during this break from logging.

First task was attacking the pile of wild cherry trees that were brought down to the landing at the bottom of the hill a couple of weeks ago. I had cut them into the required 16inch lengths in fits and starts. Sometimes I would head out in the early morning as soon as there was enough light to work, other times I would fit in a small session after getting out of the woods for the day.

I had nearly two cord cut when we moved the Super Split out near the log deck. Marilyn manned the splitter, I moved wood chunks close so she could grab them quickly, and Mike moved the split wood out of the way so she could keep splitting. We had all the cherry split up into bundle-able sized pieces in a matter of hours (between showers) instead of several days of maul and wedge work. The wood was then loaded up into six Gator and trailer loads and stacked for drying in one of the barns. One crib was filled and the rest of the wood was stacked on pallets in my show barn so it is out of the way during the long seasoning process.

The garden is also needing attention during the logging hold. The dehydrator has been running constantly, but that is another story.