tree removal

Clean up: finally moved the tree top

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Before we moved out here, a tree in the spruce grove had fallen onto the fence. I have no idea when it happened, but it had to have been very recent. My older brother, spotting it, grabbed a bucksaw and cut the tree at the fence, then propped the fence wire up with a stick, then neatly tucked the top of the tree, now on the outside, against the fence.

When I was cleaning along that fence line last year, I moved the tree top away from the fence line to give me space. I just dragged it over into the space between fence and ditch and left it there until I could get back to it.

That section of tree has been sitting there ever since.

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Tree work done!

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Photo heavy post ahead. :-D

It’s about 6 months later than we meant to have it done, but done it is! The trees are now clear from the power lines and the roof.

I was really, really excited to see the chipper they brought in.

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I see you!

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The girls and I made a trip into the city today, and when we got back, I made sure to visit the mamas and kittens in the sun room.

Two of the kittens have their eyes open! The orange and white tabby does not, and I couldn’t see the face of the tuxedo to tell one way or the other.

They are so adorable!!!

In other news, we are finally ready to get the trees done. All of them, not just a half-job. I made the call this morning, and they will come out within the next two weeks.

So two live trees that are putting the house as risk and one dead tree that is a risk of falling onto the power lines will come down completely. Then the power lines will be cleared of branches the whole way. They will be bringing a chipper to do the small stuff, and we will be keeping the wood (there was the option of them taking the wood away, if we wanted).

We’re thinking about what the next big job (money wise, at least) should be a priority. It will mostly likely be to rent a heavy duty chipper for a week, and clear out the piles of branches all over the place. Getting a quote to get the driveway done with fresh gravel is also on the list, but as much as it could use it now, this will likely be a next year thing.

Little by little, we’re getting the job done!

The Re-Farmer

Clean up: spruce grove, fence line, reaching the gate!

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Though we had a trip into town for another medical appointment and some errands (since we were there, anyhow!) in the late morning, I decided I needed to finish clearing the fence line in the spruce grove today.  My siblings and I are working things out in regards to checking on our mother over the next few days, and tomorrow is my turn.  The long range forecasts say it’s going to get colder again, so today was the day, ready or not!

I am happy to say, it is now DONE!  I have cleared the fence line along the spruce grove, up to the driveway gate.  Anything else I am able to do before winter is bonus.  Woohoo!

I took a whole bunch of before and after photos, so I’ll just set up a slide show and let them speak for themselves!

The following photos were taken from the gate side of the fence, facing north.  I started inside the grove, where I left off, but realized I needed to start a new pile for cuttings.  The place to do that was on the south side.  Which required clearing a section of fence so I could toss things over, then working my way north to where I left off last time.

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Here is what it looks like from inside the spruce grove, where I left off last time.

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I managed to save one tiny little spruce tree. :-D  It was in the way, to be honest, but after cutting away so many spruces that were in the fence line itself, I wanted to keep at least this one!  It’s small enough that I could potentially transplant it, in the future.

As you can see in the after photos, I did break out the weed trimmer.  I did the edges of the driveway, first, and even cut away some of the smaller trees on the south side of the driveway, for a bit of visibility.  Next, I followed along the fence line where I worked, as this area had actual tall grass, rather than just undergrowth.

To be honest, though, one of the main reasons I did that was because I got tired of tripping over stumps I’d just cut, but couldn’t see due to the grass!  I will have to see if we have some really bright spray paint, and mark some of them, for safety.

I also tidied up the two strings of Christmas lights, as well as re-attaching the top wire of the fence onto one of the fence posts, where the original U nail was simply, gone.  I used the third string of lights I’d removed previously to replace burnt out and broken bulbs, and switch them all to clear bulbs.  I still intend to replace them with LEDs, but just in case I can’t get to it this year, it is all fixed up for now.

I also discovered that the light strings had plastic clips on them.  While on one of them, the clips were mostly broken off, I don’t know why they weren’t used to clip them to the wire, rather than wrapping them around tree branches.  I also brought out the zip ties for those areas where the clips were broken, and to secure the main power cable, including all along the fence to the garage.

I discovered that more of the fence posts on the south side need replacing than I originally thought.  I leaned on one while reaching to clear a tree at its base, and it broke at ground level!

There were some interesting finds.

Earlier in the year, I discovered there was asparagus growing at the fence line!  I highly doubt this was planted deliberately, and yet, how else did it get there?

There isn’t a lot, but they have their berries now!

20180919.cleanup.sprucegrove.fenceline.at.gate.asparagus

I didn’t know they got berries.  Turns out the female plants do.  Interesting!

Also, do you see that rock?

Once I started clearing around it, I realized it’s two rocks.

20180919.cleanup.sprucegrove.fenceline.at.gate.rocks

I’m.  At a loss.  It seems to random, and strange, to find two rocks cemented together like this.

There has got to be a story behind this! :-D

When all was done, I had a large new pile we’ll need to haul away.

At least this time, the pile is in an area that’s easier to get to!

After cleaning up and putting everything away, I came back to address a concern.

20180919.cleanup.sprucegrove.fenceline.waterjug1

It’s a temporary fix.  I cut out a section of one of my husband’s empty distilled water jugs (he uses distilled water for his CPAP humidifier, so we have lots!) and popped it on the post.

Why, you may ask?

This is why.

20180919.cleanup.sprucegrove.fenceline.waterjug2

Once the trees were cleared, what little shelter there was for the outlet was gone.  I don’t know how many years it’s been outside, facing down to make sure no moisture got in. It seemed so very exposed!

So this should keep the precipitation off, until I can come up with something better.  Which will likely not happen until I can work on repairing the fences, so it might be a while!

While I was working on all of this, the girls were working in the West yard.

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They had already done part of the yard and put the leaves on the little garden by the Old Kitchen.  This is just some of the piles they rakes up today – there’s more by the fire pit!

I had commandeered the wheel barrows, so they will move the piles onto the garden tomorrow, while I am out.

They also made supper.  The smell of which is making me very hungry right now!

It’s been a very productive day today!  I’m so glad to finally get that fence line done.

Another thing off the list! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Clean up: spruce grove fence line, more progress, part two

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After working my way through the first section, I realized the stuff I’d cleared away had hidden quite a bit.  So here are some before photos of the next section. (click on them to see them better)

The little spruces were far enough from the fence that I found myself wondering, should I take them out, or should I just prune them clear of the fence?  When I’m in that situation, I try to think ahead 10, 20 or more years.  What will they be like if I leave them?

This was made easy today, by looking at the large spruce that’s already there, even closer to the fence.

What tree, you might be asking?

This one.  In the during and after photos.

Yup, those little spruces were completely hiding a huge spruce, right at the fence.

Also, another little spruce that grew under the fence line and even wound its way back and forth around them.

Reaching that big spruce was my goal for the day.  If all goes well, the next time I work here, I should reach the gate.

In that after photo, note the red Christmas light bulb.  Look for it in these next photos.

The first of these three photos was taken from outside the fence line, where I went to clear some of the trees growing there.  There are many more, closer to the ditch, that need to be cleared, but those will wait for now.

If you look closely, you can see that red Christmas light bulb in the first and third photos.

Did you notice something else in the after photos?  Take another look at the top fence wire.  What you can see of it, anyhow.

I found a temporary fix for the broken wire.

20180914.cleanup.sprucegrove.fenceline.temporary.fix

Once I cleared this area of the fence line, I found that when I pulled on the end with the loop in it (on the left of the above photo), it could almost touch the broken end (on the right in the photo, now with its own loop).  I don’t know when I’ll be able to fix it properly, but I didn’t want to leave it broken and hanging, either.  So I went to the garage and grabbed some zip ties, created a new loop on the broken wire end, and joined them by linking 4 zip ties loosely together.  Once they were all linked, I tightened all the zip ties as much as I could, then trimmed the ends with the pruning shears.  Now, the top line that was broken is tighter than the middle line, which got stretched when the tree fell on it, but didn’t break.  :-)

While making my way to the garage, I found this.

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Another bench, made out of logs with a board across the top.  I’ve gone through here a few times, but had to practically step on it before I saw it!  I tried to pick it up, to see if it was usable, but it is so rotten, it started to fall apart, so I left it for now.  It will be cleared out when we get to taking out all the deadwood and continuing to clean up the spruce grove, next year.  Though on this end, it’s not really a spruce grove any more.  Closer to the garage, and the south fence line, it’s more poplar, elms and oak.  The elms and oak are in rows, so those were planted deliberately.  The poplar looks to have sown itself.  There are even what might be some apple trees in here.

Once I’ve cleared the East fence line to the gate, I will work my way down the south fence line, along the driveway, just enough to clear it.  There are poplars growing right at the wires, and while the south fence line has good posts, just like the East line does, many of them are falling over.   Especially right next to the garage.  It is along this fence line that the power cord from the garage runs.  We might not get to straightening them out this year, but if there’s going to be electrical cord supported by this fence, I want it to be able to stay upright!

We shall see how far along there we will be able to get, before the weather turns.

Looking ahead to the future, I hope to have a number of seating areas scattered about – with seats made of materials that won’t rot or degrade as quickly as the wooden benches I’ve been finding.  The goal is to clear this area enough to give it a park-like feel, plus I want to be able to see through the trees from the house to the driveway.  At the same time, I do want to leave some of the undergrowth, too.  Dogwood.  Wild roses.  False spirea. Junipers.  I look forward to planting shade loving plants and flowers in areas where they can naturalize, and ground cover that can be walked on.  Over time, I want this yard, including the spruce and maple groves, to be a sanctuary, not only for us humans, but to shelter some of the native wildlife, and to provide food and shelter for native pollinators as well.

The Re-Farmer

Clean up: spruce grove fence line, more progress, part one

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The chilly weather we’ve had for the past few days has really got me wanting to finish this fence line along the spruce grove!  As long as I can clear to the driveway gate before winter, anything else is gravy! :-)

I took a whole bunch of photos, so I’m splitting them into two posts again.  Here is the first section I worked on.  With how I was finding things, I decided to go with before, during and after photos.

This is where I left off, last time.  I was able to leave the oaks, just pruning them a bit, for transplanting next year.  They are really leaning towards the fence, where they would have been getting the most light, but once they are planted somewhere more open, they should start growing straight again.

Over the years, I could see that someone had trimmed branches back from the fence line.  A lot of those have died, but are high enough and short enough that I will leave them for now.  I pruned the undergrowth only as much as I needed to, to clear the fence and access things.

That meant cutting away some of the things growing in the juniper, as well as some of the dead juniper branches.

The ground cover (I am not 100% certain that they are juniper, but that’s what I’m calling them for now) stayed as well.  I had to walk all over them, but they can handle it.  They did make working in the area more treacherous, though!

I know these have been growing here for a long time, but seeing this stem really shows just how long.

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It takes a lot of years for these to get such thick stems!

Clearing this first section revealed enough that I took before and after photos of the next section, too.  Which will be in my next post. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Clean up: Spruce grove perimeter, reaching the fence!

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It’s been a while, but today I was able to continue working on the perimeter of the spruce grove.  I started off at the little maple I had stopped at, last time, and made it to the fence line. :-D

The last time I went through the area, looking ahead to what needed to be done, it was still green.  The leaves are completely yellow, now!

Here are the before and after pictures. (click on the images to see them better)

The cluster of trees is made of up 3 poplars and 2 spruces.  One of the poplars has lost its top, and I’m pretty sure that’s what’s lying on the ground near the little dead spruces I took out.  There is some dogwood at the bottom of this group of trees that I cleaned up a bit, but otherwise left to grow.  It’s one of those things that will spread quite handily, given the opportunity.

The next section is an open, mossy area.  I’ve been using it to turn around with the riding mower.

Most of the clean up here involved pruning shears instead of saws.

Once that was done, I was at the fence line and had to make some decisions.  How far to the north did I want to go?

In the end, I decided I needed to at least clear out a dead tree that had fallen on the fence, so I could access it for repair.

Though the dead tree was a big poplar, the remains of two other trees had also fallen on it.

The poplar itself was growing on the outside of the fence line.  There are a few larger trees on the outside that I will have to leave, but I will be taking out any smaller trees on that side, as soon as I am able.  I’m not sure about the bylaws in regards to municipal land along the roads, as far as who is responsible for keeping it clear, but I don’t want it to become overgrown with trees like it has on the other side of our gate.

I didn’t do much more in this area, as I want to focus in the other direction, so this section is unfinished.  There are a couple of trees that will be taken out, because they are too close to the fence line.  Otherwise, it’s mostly undergrowth that will need clearing and cleaning.  There seems to be some juniper in there that I intend to leave.

Moving southward, now.

There are some pretty massive spruces here!  There isn’t really a lot that needs doing with the trees themselves; a few low hanging branches and dead branches to clear out.  I could see that, at some point – long ago – someone had gone through and cleared the lower branches, so they were already pretty good.  Again, I spent more time with the pruning shears!  There are quite a few poplar on the outside of the fence that I will have to go back to, later.

If you look in the before picture, at the big spruce to the left of centre, you can almost see a potential problem.  The top of this tree is broken off, and its top is still there, hanging upside down.  I have no idea how long it’s been like this, but at some point, it’s going to fall.  Ideally, we’d get it down before it falls on its own and potentially damages something, but for now, it will have to wait.

It’s starting to open up quite nicely.

Though my priority is clearing the fence line, so it can be accessed and repaired as needed, I might have to clear out some of the dead wood further into the grove.  There is a large spruce that has come down in the area that I am leaving for next year, but I might have to cut away at least some of the branches, just so I can drag out some of the stuff I know I will be dealing with, further down.

And that is my progress for today!  It might be another few days before I can work on it again, so I’m glad I was able to at least get this little corner done.

The Re-Farmer

Clean up: spruce grove perimeter, down the line

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I got another hour or two or work along the north side of the spruce grove.  I almost forgot to take a before picture, so the first one below was taken after I’d already removed one of the larger, low hanging branches in the first tree I worked on.

This northern row of spruce trees – at least the larger ones, that were deliberately planted – were planted by my oldest brother, probably before I was born.

There are smaller ones that are likely self sown.  I am focusing on just that northernmost row of trees, though sometimes I’ve had to work farther in, just so I can access them.

The trees just inside this row my brother planted, have me perplexed.  From their ages and sizes, I would guess they were self sown, and yet some of them are forming another straight line – or is it two straight lines? – parallel to the row I’m working on.  So it may be that some were planted, and some were self sown?

Either way, most of them are either dead, or almost dead.  I’ve taken some out, as needed, but the rest will wait until I start working farther into the spruce grove, next year.

While working, I saw evidence that, at some point, someone else had been clearing this area, too.  In some places, I uncovered hidden cut stumps, and at one point, I even found a fairly large pile of cut branches, hidden by the overhanging branches of the spruces.

When looking through here in the winter, I saw a small harrow under the branches, so I knew I would reach it eventually.  It turns out to be right after the pile of cut branches I had just cleaned out.

Also, a Bud Light can.

After finding it, I figured I would cut away some of the dead branches, so I could reach it better to pull it out.  After cutting them, however, I found I wasn’t able to pull them out.

Whoever dumped the harrow there, dropped it on top of the branches.

So I had to pull the harrow out, to pull the branches out.

Which is when I discovered that it was dumped there, upside down.

That’s right.  Those spikes were facing UP.

The cable would likely have been used as a handle; I am thinking it was pulled manually, when it was used.  It’s so small, anything bigger than a lawn tractor to pull it would be overkill.  But I am just guessing.  I have no idea how long it’s been there, who put it there, or why it was left where it was.

Now I have to figure out what to do with it!

I continued on until I got close to one of the first self-sown poplars along the way.

Most of what is now uncovered will be trimmed and cleared until I can go over it with the weed trimmer and, eventually, the mower.  I found some wild roses that I will likely take out; I want to keep the ones that are growing inside the spruce grove, but I don’t think I will keep the ones in this area.

I am waffling about keeping the poplars.  They are growing at the very edge of the low hanging branches.  Once the branches are clear, there will be quite a gap between the poplars and the spruces.  Do I really want to leave them, that far into the garden area?  Ultimately, that gap is just the right distance for both the spruces and the poplars to do well, so if I do want to keep them, they are in the best places for a new row of trees.

But do I want a new row of trees?

For now, I will leave them.

Next to the last tree I worked on before stopping for the day, there is a pair of trunks that make up one self-sown tree.  One side – the larger one – is dead.  I noticed something odd about the leaves on the smaller side.

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This appears to be some sort of fuzzy infestation.  Insect?  Fungus?  I don’t know.  They are all over this one tree.

Whatever it is, the remains of this tree will be taken down.

Tomorrow. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Clean up: spruce grove perimeter, start

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I got a few hours work on the spruce grove this morning/afternoon, and plan to head out again, but here’s progress so far!

I’ve started at the north west corner, where the stone cross is.

This is more or less what we see out of our living room window.  I went farther into the underbrush than I intend to, elsewhere.  This is part of the reason why.

That’s the top of the dead tree we watched come down in a storm this past winter.  The top alone is bigger than some of the dead trees I’ve taken down!

Here’s another view of the corner.

The topsoil here is decades of decayed spruce needles, so it’s quite loose.  This meant a lot of the spirea I cleared out could be pulled right out of the ground.  Every  now and then, I’d find myself yanking out anywhere from 2 – 8 feet of rhizome!

After this, I started working my way down the north side of the trees.

After clearing the lower hanging branches from the first couple of trees, I found a whole crop of little dead spruces that I cleared out.

Of course, there is always going to be some unusual finds!

The first was what I think is the top of an oil drum that was half buried in the needles at the base of a dead spruce.  I pulled it out, then took the photo of it right where I found it.

Then, as I was finishing up for the afternoon and bringing the wheel barrow over, I found the glass jar.

I expected it to be broken, but when I pulled it out, it was fine.

I have to say how much I appreciate my girls.  While I was working in this, I left what I cut or pulled out, off to the side.  My older daughter came out and started hauling it away for me – a much bigger job than the clean up!  My younger daughter didn’t have a shift today, and between the two of them, they took care of the household stuff, like cooking, washing dishes, laundry, etc., freeing me up to do the yard work.

We’ve started a new wood pile outside the yard for this.  It’s kinda in the middle of the outer yard, between house and barn.  This pile shouldn’t need to be moved, when we are ready to burn it.

20180820.cleanup.sprucegrove.newpile

We do plan to rent a chipper, but there’s only so much we can chip!  Plus, even the biggest ones only do up to 4 inches in diameter.

It’s going to be much bigger, before I’m done!

Now, back to see how much I can get done, before it gets too dark. :-)

The Re-Farmer

All Piled Up

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Before I move on to progress on the spruce grove, I thought I’d share these.

This is the pile with most of what I cleaned up out of the west yard trees.

There are also two more piles inside the maple grove itself, on the east side, near the garden shed, plus there is a pile next to the log shed near the fire pit, plus the pile near the garage.  All of what was cleared out of the west yard; all the maple grove and west yard trees, plus the trees behind the storage house.

When I was clearing the last of the west yard trees, the cleared out wood was hauled through the gate by the garden.

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You can tell where I walked through the most, with the wheel barrow or dragging trees and large branches.

Today, I happily started on the spruce grove perimeter and have photos to process and share.  But first, I need to make a trip into town to pick up some prescription refills, before it’s too late!

The Re-Farmer