Fun with wood
Many of you know I heat with wood, so cutting, splitting, and stacking wood is a big part of my life. A huge cyprus tree near my house was dead and it was a little too large for me to deal with. It is 24 feet in circumference, measured at shoulder height, which is the proper level. So I hired a tree service to cut it down. In addition the 24 foot rounds were hard to manipulate so I had them quarter each one.
This provided quite a bit of wood; it was a tall tree.
I set the splitter on vertical and my son and I set about to split the quarters into manageable size. I can roll the round or semi-round pieces but since my son is in construction and is incredibly strong he picks them up and carries them.
Then I set the splitter on horizontal and split all of those into wood stove size. This is easier on horizontal because I have absolute control, and can even create flat pieces like a book which give maximum heat in the stove.
I had been loading the tractor bucket with wood and driving around the line of trees in the above photo to the woodshed. This seemed wasteful of fuel and time. Then I remembered an old trailer stored in one of the barns, unused for 25 years. Sure enough, it was there and the tires were still full of air. Using my cool hitch that clamps onto my bucket I dragged it out and filled it with an entire pile of split wood.
I can move a huge amount of wood each trip. Now driving backwards and towing takes a bit of getting used to because it doesn't track like normal, especially going between the two trees on my route.
But because of the weird tracking I can get close the the woodshed and it's easy to stack it inside. Extra bonus: as I drive all the sow bugs fall through the slats in the trailer.
Tomato growing technique
I have advocated here the technique when planting tomatoes of tearing off the lower leaves and planting deep. My plants are through for the year (sigh) but this photo demonstrates the results of the method, two sets of roots. There's proof right there.
Proof.
Welcome to the table. Discus firewood, tomatoes, or anything your heart desires
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