Cleaning up after "What the wind did"

Back in mid-December we had some pretty high winds which caused damage to some of our trees. What the wind did was to drop the top of an aspen tree right alongside our driveway. It was easy enough to drive around, but it needed to be removed eventually.


Aspen tree top lining the upper leg of the driveway
While we hadn't yet decided what purpose this wood would serve (it's crap for firewood, so it won't get burned in the wood stove), I convinced Dave that this would be a good opportunity for me to practice using the chainsaw. You see, I have a little bit of tomboy in me, and also a desire to know how things work, so it was no surprise to Dave that I asked him to show me how to operate the chainsaw not long after he got it a number of years ago. So, once we reviewed how to check the chainsaw's oil and fuel levels, and I donned the necessary safety apparel, it was time to put my Lumber Jill skills to the test. (Thanks for taking these photos, Dave!)


Safety first! Ear and eye protection, chainsaw chaps, steel-toe boots... all keep the operator safe!


Making some of the first cuts


Now we're getting somewhere!


Setting up the Timber Jack. This is an incredibly simple but handy tool that gets the wood off the ground, making it a tad bit easier to cut and keeping your chain from digging into the ground.


I was amazed at how easy it was to move this log with the jack. It was a pretty heavy piece of wood if I would have just tried to pick it up, but the jack made this maneuver a piece of cake!



Are we done yet? No, still got a ways to go...


Emmett blends in with the wood chips while I bring out the tractor.


After the wood was all diced up the next thing to do was to haul the it to an out-of-the-way location. The best tool for this is the tractor. That bucket can hold quite a bit of wood.




Driving in reverse is a little nerve-wracking for me, but I managed to get where I needed to go just fine. The wood now sits in a pile near the garage (but not up against it, in case anyone is wondering). No need to drive around a big piece of tree in the driveway anymore!


This post is the first in a small series that I am planning that centers loosely around the theme of "homesteading," for lack of a better term. I will be posting about some of the little bits of "rural housekeeping" that need to be done around here to keep things humming.

Not sure what "homesteading" really means? The definition has changed a lot since the 1800s, but there's a great article about the term (and what it means today) over at Mother Earth News.