Cutting starts today

[sprucebunny]

The walker/planner for the logging company and I were expecting them to drop the feller not drive all the way into the landing. I don't know why we thought that because there is no place to turn a truck around but the landing which is at the top of a steep-ish hill.
Dragged that low boy over the hump and here we go !!!!

I had a friend who was going to do a drone inventory but we can't cause the prison was built 4-5 miles away and the drone GPS won't let it fly... do they think we are going to launch something from that far away ???

Not much that is very good, here. Moose chewed maple and balsam past it's prime ( some Way past). Some spruce and poplar. I feel lucky to have a logger come at all. They came this time of year last year and we sold about 15 acres of spruce/fir. No road bans between my land and the state highway.

I'll try to update when it gets more interesting.


 



 

[maple flats]

They can cut a lot of medium size trees in a day with that, and do less damage too.

[Skeans1]

It's always impressive watching the guys with the hot saws work especially when they start cutting oversize double and triple cutting out here there's not much ground left they can't cut.

[sprucebunny]

They came with the buncher. a dozer and an excavator last fall and widened the road I had, widened the trail and cut a new section to straighten it out before the gas line crossing. They did a really nice job smoothing it all out.
I guess they buried a bunch of top soil but I got them to stop burying rocks.I have uses for rocks and some people will buy them for retaining walls. It's only intended to be a winter road. Next summer I'll take my excavator out there and fix up a few little things. I expect we will be extending the road further next fall.
The snowmobile club and state did the same sort of work on the snowmobile trail a few years ago and it has set up pretty nice.



 

[thecfarm]

That's some nice ground you have there.

[Mbunten]

Sprucebunny,

You must be in Berlin? I know we have the State and Fed prisons there.

Matt

[upnut]

Looks like the perfect spot for two of my favorite hobbies....hunting grouse and cutting firewood. Hope the harvest goes well, congrats!

Scott B.

[sprucebunny]

Thanks, Ray. Lots of wet spots, swamps, all that stuff. A few rocks, too  :D

Matt: in Milan.

Scott, yes good grouse hunting. If you want to burn red maple or balsam, there's lots of those but no 'real' hardwood. I gave up cutting anything but w.birch for firewood there. I have r. oak and beech nearer to the woodstove 

I went up and checked on progress today but I doubt if any of the pictures of the buncher came out well because there was lots of snow in the trees.

[loggah]

Joan, Is that up by the rabbitdog training area? I used to go up that way when the gunshop at the farm was open. I dont get up that way much any more ,used to sell a lot of hemlck to White mtn.lumber. Don

[thecfarm]

How's the wood coming out? Have logs,going to chip,pulp? All three?  ;D

[bushmechanic]

thecfarm  did you hear what sprucebunny said, she sells her rocks! Ray you may be richer than you think! :D

[thecfarm]

I know I saw that. Them Flat Landers are a numb bunch. I can't give any away to people in Maine.  :D  If I could get any amount,I would tell them to start hauling.
I have bunches of stone walls,or I should say miles. Run out in the fields,I could send them in the woods to find more. Really amazes me when I see a stone wall in the woods. But they cut by hand than,or had a 3 foot cutter bar on a horse drawn mower.
Winter weather stopped me from hauling one wall up into the bog. I will attack it again come summer!!!!

[mike_belben]

Funny thing about stone walls out in the woods.  Once upon a time they were actually on the edge of a field. 

[thecfarm]

This is family land that I own. My Grandparents owned both sides of Gordon Hill Road in Chesterville and than both sides of the Ridge Road in Fayette. I know where the old houses was. Or the general area. So much has changed in 50 years,with cutting wood and building houses,it's hard to find the exact spot.
My Grand Parents was storing hay in one of those old houses. Someone came to them and wanted to rent it. My GrandFather said,I will have to move the hay out first, And he did. I had someone come to The Farm that grew up in that house. I offered to take them to it,but kinda on the old side,hard for them to walk.
I am claiming back the old pasture. Sure is a hard row to hoe.

[mike_belben]

Other than accents and forests Maine is a lot like tennessee.  My uncle owns the starter and alternator shop on 1A in ellsworth.  Been there couple few times.

[Southside]

And the coast, and potatoes... ;D

[sprucebunny]

Don, I don't know of a rabbit dog training area. I'm sure plenty have been trained on my land in one way or another. Bear dogs and thier people have learned some things, too ! I had one guy in shorts that I intersepted on the powerlines chasing some bear/dogs to keep them out of corn near the river. Hope he brought band-aids cause they were all headed for a large, wet and prickly with young spruce area  :D

They will be bringing the chipper in today or tomorrow. Pretty much the only sawlogs will be balsam and the larger ones mostly have butt-rot. I was hoping some of the r.maple would be good/big enough for mat logs but not many of them straight enough. Like I said; I feel lucky to have a good logger who does not insist on clear cutting it.

[SwampDonkey]

And the coast, and potatoes... ;D

Can't forget the taters. ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzRvDaJaSMo

[SwampDonkey]

Nice road in, nice equipment to. Hope the harvest goes well. 

The moose around here tear up any red maple as well. They scrape up the bark and break down the tops of the small ones. Did I say we have too many moose? :D

[mike_belben]

Need a bigger freezer

[sprucebunny]

Much nicer weather today. Things are going good.
They are waiting for the ground to freeze in a corner of the landing to set up the delimber unit but the other grapple was sorting stuff to go into the chipper.


 

Pretty cool how they planned to turn the bunches in towards the crane with the skidders.


 

Skidder action shot 


 

Pulp piles. The wood isn't very good here, I think it's been too wet and too crowded. We'll fix that  :D


 

[loggah]

Lot of popple and white maple, that popple dont get very big before it gets heart rot.  I been hoping to see enough of a truck  ,or slasher to see who is doing the job ! ;D I know a bunch of hose north country guys !!

[lopet]

I hope the day will come when I just will be the camera man and watch the action. ;D
Nice pics.

[thecfarm]

I like the pictures.

[sprucebunny]

I'm impressed with how fast the process is. The delimber/slasher thing has a broken swing motor ( a seal) so that's slowing down spruce/fir production. I got to see the insides of it but forgot to take a picture.

Here's a before and after comparison.


 

 
In 20 years we may be accused of 'high-grading' but it's because there is nothing very good to start with. Especially no good hardwood. We want to see softwood regen and leaving some shade will help that as well as keep down bindweed and other nasties.
With it thinned out majorly, I'll be able to get around better and thin the younger softwood stands.

Loading poplar.


 

Delimber


 

Some spruce


 

We are all hoping the weather stays kind of cold but we are currently having March temps.