This was another great fall weekend in the Ozarks. The oaks were in full blaze so I took lots of pictures. It was warm Friday getting up to 80, but only reached 70 Saturday. Unfortunately it was another dry week. I had to hook up the hose so Sally could water what was left in the garden.
Lop Cedars
After filling the bird feeders, I decided my Friday afternoon project would be to lop some cedars and check out the upper pasture after it was brush hogged. I looped around the top of the bluff back of the house, and then worked my way up to the top of the hill. I had lopped almost 200 cedars by the time I got up top. The pasture itself was clean, I did not find any cedars there. I then skirted through the area we are letting grow up, cutting any cedars I found and some of the pines. (I think I actually should thin the oaks and hickories coming up here to give others more of a chance.) I then started working along the line between the pasture and wooded hillside, heading back east. There were lots of cedars along here, some tiny and some larger than I could lop. This is where I stumbled upon this stash of fence posts, hearing something clink under foot. There are 30 to 40 here, and I bet there are others along this line. I did later find a big role of field fence, also mostly buried. I'm surprised I'd never run across these before, but they were under a lot of debris. By the time I got back to the house I had lopped 800 trees and felt like I had accomplished something.
Garden
With Sally along, she pretty much took care of the garden (nice). There was not much to harvest, but she did pick more jalapenos (because they were there!), chard, and just a little kale. Then she started pulling up plants, which I got to haul off. I did do a little weeding. We're still hopeful that the kale will grow, but we need rain! She planted a few garlic cloves now that it is November.
Walnuts
Saturday morning I drove into the back pasture with hopes of finding some large walnuts. I looked under at least a dozen trees and only found 4 nuts total. I guess this north facing hillside was too dry? The trees were gorgeous though, and I enjoyed walking below the bluff and coming back along the track I use to drive back there. The trees in this area are the tallest on the place, mostly white oaks and hickories. I then drove back to the big tree below the pond and filled my bucket there, hardly needing to move (but small nuts).
Field Pine
I sharpened the Stihl, and in the afternoon I drove down to the field pine. I got 4 cuts on the base of it and could tell the chain was dulled by that point. (It was workout for me as well.) I then took the 4th slice, the smallest, and rolled it to the truck. Using my knee I was just able to hoist it up into the bed. I took it back to the barn and split it in two. (Visible in the next pic.) It was very wet and bit difficult to split. I made these cuts 18 inches and hope to be able to use my froe to slice off shakes. We'll see. (I tried this with the previous large pine I had cut years back and saved, but they would not split straight. I'm hoping the green wood will do better.)
Firewood
Since I had the truck and was in the barn, I loaded it with firewood to haul back to town. I'd taken another load the weekend before. Two loads is just right to store on one side at the back of the carport. We're ready for winter now. (I cleaned the stove pipe and flu the previous Sunday.)
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