Category Archives: Forest management

2015 Tree census

Posted in Forest management by Third Stone on May 27, 2015 | No comments

I did a tree census to see how many were left after the 2014 Christmas season. I just thought it was interesting to compare a an image from October to one more recently. I should dig out a 2013 image, too, too for comparison. Anyway, this is just from the...

Big Tree walk

Posted in Forest management by Third Stone on November 3, 2014 | One comment

We were fortunate to join Rick & Karlene for a big tree walk on their property on Province Road one recent sunny Sunday afternoon. Maybe 10 years ago, Rich & Karlene purchased 100 acres of forest near their home so they could continue their forest stewardardship once they sold the Christmas...

more firewood

Posted in Forest management by Third Stone on October 29, 2014 | No comments

I’m lucky to have friends help out when I need it. Lou came to the farm today to help cut down another tree and it is great to have someone there to lift those heavy rounds onto the splitter. This giant red oak, probably the max size that I...

Firewood and favorite trees

Posted in Forest management by Third Stone on October 16, 2014 | One comment

Firewood cutting day. Turns out, I made Willow’s most favorite tree on the farm into this: It was a traumatic discovery for me find Willow aghast at my cutting down a nice red oak for firewood. Perhaps witnessing the tree getting cut down sealed it’s place as her “most favorite...

Sugar maple

Posted in Forest management by Third Stone on December 5, 2013 | No comments

Rich & I spent an afternoon last week cutting up a huge sugar maple in his yard. It was quite an adventure! It started with some lessons in technique for chainsawing such large trees and then a struggle to get it into the truck. I’m taking these two 8′ logs...

Another day in the woods

Posted in Forest management by Third Stone on November 12, 2013 | No comments

After spending some time with Rich to explore the forest, I ventured out on my now this past weekend. It had seemed that there were so many obvious trees to take for firewood when I was with Rich, but on my own, I lost all my confidence. It seemed all...

Getting to know the forest

Posted in Forest management by Third Stone on November 7, 2013 | No comments

I’ve had the chance to spend quite a few hours walking the forest with Rich to get to know our trees. It’s been amazing to see the great care he’s taken manage the woodlot over the years for the varying purposes from biodiversity to lumber and fire wood. On these...

Checking out the splitter

Posted in Farm tools, Forest management, General news, Maple sugaring by Third Stone on November 3, 2013 | No comments

This week, I got to show off the wood splitter to my stepdad, Bill, as we worked on getting enough firewood for boiling maple sap in the spring. It’s a super cool, hydraulic splitter that works off the tractor. The best part is that it splits both ways, speeding up...