Cleaning Up

This week I have spent several hours cleaning up dead trees and branches around the margins of the property.  Deadfalls make up some of this debris, while the rest resulted from construction.  It's unsightly, so I'm improving the look of my landscape.  But in the event of a wildfire, dead wood is also fuel.  Presque Isle has lots of fuel on the forest floor, since this area hasn't burned in a century.  Removing fuel from close proximity to the house makes good sense.

All summer I've been contemplating a cedar tree which broke off near the ground and got hung up in the oaks which sit atop the drop-off to the lake.  On Tuesday, while I was mulling how to deal with this problem, my neighbor Floyd took matters into his own hands and dragged the tree out of the oaks and down the drop-off.  Now I'm cutting it up and hauling the remains to the debris pile at the front of the property.  This winter, when we have good snow cover, I'll burn this accumulated junk wood — if I can decide on a proper fire location.

Speaking of dead trees, I have two elms which must be dealt with.  Dutch elm disease has wiped out almost all the elms in this area, including several on my property.  One large dead tree sits hard beside the power line at the front of the property; if it falls to the east, it will take out power all the way down Kauffman Blvd.  Another large elm, just beyond my property line with Camp Chickagami, would hit my house or garage (or both) if it was felled by a strong north wind.  Yet another dead elm stands on the lakeshore.  I may have to contract with a tree service.  Ka-ching!

The tall elm (center) sits just 25 feet from
my house and garage.

An even taller dead elm (center) sits just west of the power line.

I've also spent several hours splitting more firewood.  All the natural and constructed wood bins are full, giving me over four cords — about what I had at the start of last winter.  I have one additional bin kit, which I will put together in a few days.  When full, it will give me five cords total.  Hopefully that will be enough to get me through the winter, even if it's colder than our last.  It is hard to tell from photos, but the main woodpile is much smaller now than a year ago.

All my bins, both kit-built and formed naturally by the
cedar trees, are now full.

A third kit will give me enough firewood to last the winter.
Then the task will be hauling it to the front porch!

Is this wood-splitting really necessary?  Yes!  I estimate the wood stove saved me close to $1,000 in propane last winter.  But before I start using it again, I must have a chimney sweep check to see that the system is all in good order. •••