It's been a while since I've posted. Actually spring has come and is just gone.
Maple syrup season was a sucess. We made 5 gallons of syrup, our best year ever. We could have made more but it was just getting to be just too much!!!
Lots of wood cut this year. I estimate 15 cords cut and stacked (actually I have about a cord left to stack at the cabin). This years cutting was mostly the lower Weasel Pass trail. There is about 8 cords stacked at Owls Nest and about 6 cords on the road near the old garden (mostly moved to the house this year). I also cut and dragged about 2 cords of logs across the lake to the cabin. This way it will be stacked and dry at the cabin and I won't have to bring wood across by rowboat. Well that's the theory at least.
Since we are living at the house this summer we decided to move the garden there. I had planned on building raised gardens but Lucy build rock walls in front of the hill outside the front door and we backfilled with mulch, leaves, compost, sand and old manure. We also planted two old canoes and have a row boat that could get used as well. I used the tractor bucket to scrape off a lot of the topsoil we built up at the old garden and brought back loads of old manure to top dress. Lots of soil to move but the new gardens are very productive. Lucy built a hot house this spring and all our seeds got a good headstart before moving to the gardens where they are thriving.
I continued clear cutting above the house, clearing above the chicken coop. A lot of the branches went in as fill behind the house. I plan on bringing in sand and fill and adding about another 10 feet of valuable flat land. Perhaps this is where the bikes will now park as their initial shelter was first taken over as firewood storage and now is slated to become an extension of the turkey run.
Speaking of turkeys, Bonnie hatched 8 chicks this spring. Clyde had is own dog run while Mom takes care of the kids.
I have also bee clear cutting the hill between the parking lot and the half moon trail. We put two new plum trees in down at the lake and the deer have gotten to them too. The new plan is to move the trees to this new orchard. This is the third and hopefully last time they will be moved, either this fall or next spring. One of our pear trees didn't make the winter but the ither one is griwing crazy. Maybe we'll get some pears this year?
I bought a backhoe for the tractor. It's a Wallenstien GX900. It came with a subframe mount but the mount didn't match my tractor so Dave and I cut off the forks and mounted smaller ones that fit in Zac's subframe (was I ever glad he had one). The first task is to dig back the side of the parking lot about 8-10 feet. I'll put the fill over the brush at the back getting double the flat land. Next will be around the corner at the chicken coop where I cut out all the trees. I figure I have several weeks of work to keep me happy. Not sure how I'll transport all the fill. Best idea is to get a dumping trailer for behind the truck. Alternately I can use the ATV to pull a small trailer. Unloading by hand will be a pain though. I haven't tried it yet, one of these nights.
Oh my big tent finished it's slow winter collapse. I thought getting through the winter was all I had to do but because the cover was nolonger taunt any rain collected in the top, sagging the cover further and making room for more rain. Well we had quite a bit if rain this spring. Lucy and I were away for a week and when we came back, the tent was basically back on the ground. My friend Mic hauled in a 40 foot container (he is selling his house) to store a bunch of his stuff in. I'm thinking of build a temproary pole barn, like the other ones I built, off the back of the container. This will give me plenty of storage. I just don't want it to become permanent (I'd love a timberframe barn), but I'm certain it will become permanent so I better put some thought into it. The container is 9 feet high so if I make it 16 feet at the front I can make it 20 feet deep. I just can't see that being temporary though. Oh well,
Maple syrup season was a sucess. We made 5 gallons of syrup, our best year ever. We could have made more but it was just getting to be just too much!!!
Lots of wood cut this year. I estimate 15 cords cut and stacked (actually I have about a cord left to stack at the cabin). This years cutting was mostly the lower Weasel Pass trail. There is about 8 cords stacked at Owls Nest and about 6 cords on the road near the old garden (mostly moved to the house this year). I also cut and dragged about 2 cords of logs across the lake to the cabin. This way it will be stacked and dry at the cabin and I won't have to bring wood across by rowboat. Well that's the theory at least.
Since we are living at the house this summer we decided to move the garden there. I had planned on building raised gardens but Lucy build rock walls in front of the hill outside the front door and we backfilled with mulch, leaves, compost, sand and old manure. We also planted two old canoes and have a row boat that could get used as well. I used the tractor bucket to scrape off a lot of the topsoil we built up at the old garden and brought back loads of old manure to top dress. Lots of soil to move but the new gardens are very productive. Lucy built a hot house this spring and all our seeds got a good headstart before moving to the gardens where they are thriving.
I continued clear cutting above the house, clearing above the chicken coop. A lot of the branches went in as fill behind the house. I plan on bringing in sand and fill and adding about another 10 feet of valuable flat land. Perhaps this is where the bikes will now park as their initial shelter was first taken over as firewood storage and now is slated to become an extension of the turkey run.
Speaking of turkeys, Bonnie hatched 8 chicks this spring. Clyde had is own dog run while Mom takes care of the kids.
I have also bee clear cutting the hill between the parking lot and the half moon trail. We put two new plum trees in down at the lake and the deer have gotten to them too. The new plan is to move the trees to this new orchard. This is the third and hopefully last time they will be moved, either this fall or next spring. One of our pear trees didn't make the winter but the ither one is griwing crazy. Maybe we'll get some pears this year?
I bought a backhoe for the tractor. It's a Wallenstien GX900. It came with a subframe mount but the mount didn't match my tractor so Dave and I cut off the forks and mounted smaller ones that fit in Zac's subframe (was I ever glad he had one). The first task is to dig back the side of the parking lot about 8-10 feet. I'll put the fill over the brush at the back getting double the flat land. Next will be around the corner at the chicken coop where I cut out all the trees. I figure I have several weeks of work to keep me happy. Not sure how I'll transport all the fill. Best idea is to get a dumping trailer for behind the truck. Alternately I can use the ATV to pull a small trailer. Unloading by hand will be a pain though. I haven't tried it yet, one of these nights.
Oh my big tent finished it's slow winter collapse. I thought getting through the winter was all I had to do but because the cover was nolonger taunt any rain collected in the top, sagging the cover further and making room for more rain. Well we had quite a bit if rain this spring. Lucy and I were away for a week and when we came back, the tent was basically back on the ground. My friend Mic hauled in a 40 foot container (he is selling his house) to store a bunch of his stuff in. I'm thinking of build a temproary pole barn, like the other ones I built, off the back of the container. This will give me plenty of storage. I just don't want it to become permanent (I'd love a timberframe barn), but I'm certain it will become permanent so I better put some thought into it. The container is 9 feet high so if I make it 16 feet at the front I can make it 20 feet deep. I just can't see that being temporary though. Oh well,
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