Sugarwood Frolic
October 12, 2013
Okay, maybe not big foot, but perhaps, big belly! I know after working with it all day, I have decided that it is too big 😮 What a great day for working outside. The sun was shining. The breeze was light and cool. It made for great working, until the very late afternoon, when the breeze died down.
My two farmer friends and some of their boys, came today to help me cut and split wood for the sugarhouse. It takes a mountain of wood to boil all that maple sap. We will need about 12 to 14 cords of wood. Trust me, that is a lot!
The day got off to a rocky start when I got the log splitter stuck in the mud. Once we got it out, it wouldn’t start, probably got wet. We worked that out and finally got underway. The boys worked like grown men. All of us kept right at it.
Lunchtime came, so we took an hour break to fill us up. The smallest boys went fishing for a while. I watched, listened and shared in conversation. My cousin and uncle shared a few of my “prized moments” with the group. The laughter was good for all of us.
At the close of the work day we had made great strides. One third of the wood is cut, split and stacked to dry. The other almost two-thirds is all cut to length (28 to 30 inches). Much of it is stacked ready to be split. Only three trees lay waiting for us to buck. The tree tops of those trees have been eliminated.
We worked in an area of the woods where my “crop tree release” efforts were put to use last year. Many cull, crooked and dead trees were removed from a hillside where small sugar maples are growing. The trees that were removed, will be all used up as firewood, to boil 2014’s maple sap.
I am tired, but still can’t quit smiling. The long wet summer of 2013 is almost behind us. I am catching up on my jobs. Having great friends and family to help, makes the whole job sweeter. Now, if I can just get serious about losing that big belly 😮
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