Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living

[j44ke]

There's a formation in the woods called pit and mound, characteristic of old-growth forests in particular. A tree falls, the root balls tips up and rots, leaving a pit and a mound.

Yep. These are around the house. We leave the most of the ones in the woods, particularly the big ones, when we're leaving the whole tree. Foxes had a den underneath one we tipped back into the hole a couple years ago, so that was nice. These are from the aspens that fell this fall. They are about 8' tall I guess. The trees grew next to a spring so the pit is full of spring water. Bottom of the pit is solid limestone clay. Probably could make pottery out of it. The trees lasted a long time for as shallow a root system as that clay layer caused. But then the roots when out 50' at least. Pulled up a section of stone wall between us and the neighbor's property. At least a 100 year old wall.

[ides1056]

Lightning struck trees:

[j44ke]

Tough being a tree.

[Tom]

It's cool you flipped that back down because when I saw it ny first thought was "critter shelter".

[Todd Amunrud]

Tough being a tree.

Will this be part of a nice outdoor post and beam structure in the future?

[j44ke]

Will this be part of a nice outdoor post and beam structure in the future?

Actually we've been thinking about selecting 8 for posts. We don't yet have a through-road from the front to the back of the property, so we'd have to go around the block to get the logs to where we would build a tractor barn. There are other stands of pine, but this one could really benefit from some thinning. Right now the ground is like saturated sponge cake though. Need it frozen again like it was a few weeks ago. So we'll see.

[Mabouya]

Yep. These are around the house. We leave the most of the ones in the woods, particularly the big ones, when we're leaving the whole tree.

Little ecosystems, like the steel sculpture mini-pond thingy you have next to the house.

[j44ke]

Little ecosystems, like the steel sculpture mini-pond thingy you have next to the house.

Yeah man - uncanny how the artists who did that sculpture managed to create a miniature Central Park. Olmstead tried to recreate NY and they definitely did a good job recreating our acreage. Unfortunately it includes the voles, and this winter it has taken a battering from them, even though I've probably caught a dozen if not more. Probably will have to replant.

[Too Tall]

Yeah man - uncanny how the artists who did that sculpture managed to create a miniature Central Park. Olmstead tried to recreate NY and they definitely did a good job recreating our acreage. Unfortunately it includes the voles, and this winter it has taken a battering from them, even though I've probably caught a dozen if not more. Probably will have to replant.

Deal with the grubs and the voles go away'ish.

Ask me how I know.

[bigbill]

Yep. These are around the house. We leave the most of the ones in the woods, particularly the big ones, when we're leaving the whole tree. Foxes had a den underneath one we tipped back into the hole a couple years ago, so that was nice. These are from the aspens that fell this fall. They are about 8' tall I guess. The trees grew next to a spring so the pit is full of spring water. Bottom of the pit is solid limestone clay. Probably could make pottery out of it. The trees lasted a long time for as shallow a root system as that clay layer caused. But then the roots when out 50' at least. Pulled up a section of stone wall between us and the neighbor's property. At least a 100 year old wall.

My house in the PNW had a very large red cedar that had blown over about a decade before I bought the place. The trunk was about 3 feet in diameter and the tree was still living and growing. The lot was two acres with a large meadow behind the house that had overgrown with alder and blackberry vines. My neighbors across the road were getting their lot cleaned up by some guys with a bulldozer and a bobcat. I asked them for a quote to clean up the meadow. They came over late in the day, looked around, and quoted $2400. Then the older guy looked closer and said, "$1000 and that red cedar." I guess red cedar is popular for woodworking, but I could not remove it, so I agreed. They cleared the meadow, dragged the tree into the open, and cut it up for a flatbed. After they were done, I planted native grasses and flowers in the meadow, which quickly turned into a deer nursery. I miss that house. My son and I used to play catch in the meadow and toss the baseball over the grazing deer.

[j44ke]

What was supposed to be 10" of snow day is now no-snow but bone-cold wet day, so a good day for inside work and a long lunch watching the latest from Kris Harbour on YouTube. He is a unique personality. He is building a timber frame barn as part of his group of handmade buildings on his land in rural UK. Very smart capable guy. He's relatively unafraid but not incautious. I've learned quite a bit about timber framing watch this whole process over time.



Rest of the barn raising videos are here-ish - not sorted but numbered:

https://www.youtube.com/@KrisHarbour/search?query=barn

[ides1056]

I like the cordwood house.

[ides1056]

The barn I built with a Dutch-style timber frame:

[j44ke]

The barn I built with a Dutch-style timber frame:

Wow! I need a tractor barn!

[j44ke]

This went remarkably well for what it looked like at the start. Marty has a touch - starts small and simple to get big things sorted.

[TonyP]

This went remarkably well for what it looked like at the start. Marty has a touch - starts small and simple to get big things sorted.

My back aches just watching those guys.

[Too Tall]

Gotta love their passion and the grading was icing on the cake.

[j44ke]

Sigh. Same area that got whacked earlier, skipped two high wind storms and then got whacked again by this last one on 04/04-05. The landscapers went to the house to check on things as soon as the wind died down and sent me the post mortem photos. I think we lost the ancient serviceberry. Almost feels like someone is trying to scare me off the land. Thursday is chainsaw and tractor day, depending on the weather.

[bigbill]

We head up to Wyoming in about five weeks. We'll rent a skid steer to mow and check the roads before bringing the travel trailer over. Our new neighbor that my wife knows has expressed interest in buying our 9 acres, so it's somewhat of a dilemma. We decided to permanently move to Wyoming as early as next summer and take off with the travel trailer for most of December through March. We could move up the date by getting $90K or so on the land. Three houses on the market fit our needs (horses, soap shop, bike shop) and each needs work.

[Mabouya]

Almost feels like someone is trying to scare me off the land.

You need Scooby-Doo and friends to help you out.