Monday, October 1, 2007

Finally working outside again

It has been difficult getting things done at work since I was off so much because of my dad. I still haven't been able to work much in the garden, but I finally did get to work outside this weekend. Instead of working in the garden though, my family and I worked in the woods behind our yard. We had to do this because during the week when I was going back and forth to the hospice unit, the electric company decided that they needed to upgrade the power lines that go through there. They had some of our trees cut down and many more trees trimmed. Unfortunately they left ALL of the debris for us to deal with. We finally started cleaning it up.

I used the chainsaw to cut the big pieces to be split later and cut up the limbs to carry out. My wife and daughters also carried out limbs and smaller logs. What made this difficult is that the whole wooded area is a pretty steep hill and the downed trees are at the bottom, next to the creek. We planned to use our chipper/shredder to mulch up all of the branches, but we discovered that we have a lot of branches that are too big for it.

Plan B is that we need to burn much of it. We used to have a small fire ring behind the garden, but that disappeared with the garden expansion this year. We were tired of dragging out wood anyway, so we decided to carry up rocks from the creek instead - much easier, right?

After a great deal of effort, we had enough rocks to make a bigger new fire ring. We dug out a hole and built the ring. I concreted the rocks together, so this ring is a bit more permanent than our last one.

You can see the garden in the background of the above picture.

Now we just need to wait for the drought and the burn ban to end so we can have our first official camp fire in it. I can just taste the marshmallows! We still have a lot of work to do with the woods, as well as many other outdoor projects. I need to finish building the deck railings and the pergola.

As for the garden, I want to build new compost bins and cold frames and fence the garden in. Before all of that, I need to plant garlic and Kenny's Potato Onions.

Good thing we built that fire ring. To get everything done this fall, I will be needing it to stay warm because by the time I finish everything, there will be snow on the ground!

6 comments:

Anonymous

Hi, good to see you getting back it into it. I tried to write on the 'recommend' section of your other blog, to see if my site would be suitable to post. I have the same problem as you, running around trying to find interesting veg blogs without too many flowers! The link didn't bring anything up so i posted here instead. www.vegmonkey.co.uk based in the south of england, quite unusual i feel due to the diversity of veg in a small space that is nothing more than a terraced garden...it can be done! I'll leave it up to you. Cheers.

Marc

Thanks Vegmonky! I do like your site. It will be a great addition to Veggie Garden Info. I'm sorry that the suggestions page didn't work on the site. I think I fixed it now. Unfortunately I know more about gardening than I do about website-building!

Carol Michel

One project just leads to another, doesn't it? I think your fire pit looks great. I can't believe how much you did over the weekend, and still plan to do!

Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Whyite

The electric company should of picked the debris up for you. But at least now you have some firewood. Good looking firering!

Anonymous

It's great to see you back up and running. That is a great project you have completed. Keep up the great work.

lisa

That fire ring turned out really nice! Awfully considerate of the utility company to charge high prices for power AND leave you a mess! I see some of those logs are nearly hollow...I saw some at a craft show which were cut to about 5" high, then filled with wax/wicks for big candles-very pretty! Enjoy your nice fires!

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