Building the Wall - improvising a garden fence

Today, I loaded up my German axe, Canadian pry bar (pictured later), Swede saw and Japanese pull saw and headed down the road to cut some fence posts. Who says we can't travel these days, at least, in our imaginations?

My neighbours said I could take some trees from their large wooded property, so I cut three 30' spruce and bucked them into 7' sections before I had to go home for a snack and a nap.

Though we had snow last week, spring has now come for real and the exotic trilliums are all starting to open in the forest. And everyone knows, the black flies come at the same time as the flowers, so I was working in a dense fog of bug dope and hopeful bugs.

Before the journey into the forest, the day started with an expert delivery of the second load of alpaca poo top soil, paid for in the local currency of cookies. 

Neighbour Doug carefully places top soil on the pyramid...

 yesterday, I added some branches to hold things in place until the pile sinks more and the soon-to-be-planted vegetables develop roots

Back to the forest...

I found some 30' spruce with small butts of about 14" circumference (4-5" across).

I used the double-bitted axe to start the cut, then the swede or japanese pull saw to finish.

I think it would be faster to do it all with the axe but sometimes the access point

is a bit awkward for the axe (or axe person).

I feel a mixture of gratitude and remorse every time I take a tree,

so I leave the site as clean as possible,

distribute the branches,

and I say thank you.

I found this one back from the road

it fell easily, clearing the other trees... then I limbed it and bucked it into three 7' sections.

Next tree was up on a hill, which proved to be a bit windier than ideal

I limb as many branches as I can reach before making the first cut in the direction I want the tree to fall

Tree looks bigger than it was... the wind blew it slightly off course and it got briefly hung up

in a crux of other branches and trees

I needed to use the pry bar to pop it off the stump

I could imagine my father laughing quietly as I huffed and puffed and pulled the tree out.

As I stopped to swat blackflies (futile), I spotted this neon orange fungus

My neighbours told me to fall any that were close to the road since they need to keep 

the sides clear, so I did! 

Glad that traffic was light today (non existent)

My aim is improving! 

A decent load of fence poles to get me started.

I am covered in sap, bug bites and bug dope but otherwise unscarred.

I learned tonight that rubbing alcohol will clean sticky sap off of the axe and saw blades... wonder if that will work on my jeans too?

Unloaded the poles and then thoroughly watered the soil.

The hose leaks, so that is a mist of water, not steam, arising from the Hugel pile.

And the gopher who lives beside my garage decided it was time to build his own Hugel pile.

Tomorrow, peel the logs (well, poles) and my garden wall starts to go up!

Take good care of yourselves and thank you for reading

about my quiet adventures 

beyond yet nonetheless including

the world of 

bassoon.