3R Home and Barn Project

[rox]

You sure have a nice small burn pile. It is scary to burn, I agree with you. What we are going to try this year is the small banches lower the brush hog on them and leave them lay after they ahve been chopped up. Our neighbor said the old owner used to do that and he didn't burn.

Have you looked at a hand power prunner? Thee things are really really relaly slick. They are pricy but you can clean brush and prune 100 faster with no effort. These things will cut through your wrist so you ahve to be carefull but they are good. http://www.pellenc.com/en/
The website is kind of funky, on the left hand side menu on the bottom pick products then Lexion. On the Lexion page notice there are some links near the top, if you click on "case" you can see thw whole set up. I wear this and my husband has the really really fantastic prunning saw the Silky saw and the big loppers and hand prunners and this is what we use to process all our cut of branches. This is an ideal set up for anyone processing downed trees and such for disposal and firewood.

 

[3RRL]

So at what time of year/temperature do you have to start worrying about snakes around the brush piles? Seems to me all that work is best done in the winter months when the snakes are somewhere else

Good question charlz.
In previous years, it's usually been around the end of March/beggining April when we see our first Diamondback Rattlesnakes out sunning themselves. They are hungry and looking for food, so they are particularly aggressive. We see them all through the Summer and later in the year as well. As late as September or even October depending on how warm it is. I was surprised to see a large one last October even though it was starting to cool down already. He was on that giant rock pile that abuts the rear of our home. I went in to get my .22 but he was gone when I came back.

Winter is definitely the time to work around the brush piles, but even then (like right now) we keep an eye out where we stick our hands....you never know. There have been quite a few Turkeys out at this time too. You have to watch out that you don't get run over by a herd of Turkeys.

 

[3RRL]

You sure have a nice small burn pile. It is scary to burn, I agree with you. What we are going to try this year is the small banches lower the brush hog on them and leave them lay after they ahve been chopped up. Our neighbor said the old owner used to do that and he didn't burn.

Have you looked at a hand power prunner? Thee things are really really relaly slick. They are pricy but you can clean brush and prune 100 faster with no effort. These things will cut through your wrist so you ahve to be carefull but they are good. PELLENC COMPANY : tools for vineyard and olive-growing professionals
The website is kind of funky, on the left hand side menu on the bottom pick products then Lexion. On the Lexion page notice there are some links near the top, if you click on "case" you can see thw whole set up. I wear this and my husband has the really really fantastic prunning saw the Silky saw and the big loppers and hand prunners and this is what we use to process all our cut of branches. This is an ideal set up for anyone processing downed trees and such for disposal and firewood.

Hi Rox,
Yeah, this was our very first try so we were extra careful.
This last week we've been working on making a couple more ... just a little larger than the first. But we are separating the good Oak logs from the shrub from when I cleared the home site. Many of the Oak trees that I took out were "stored" with the Buckbrush shrubs. We only made the new piles but didn't burn because it was so nice this week. Next week, right after the warm days it's supposed to rain again so we will wait for overcast/rainy days to do the next burning.

I looked at that link you posted.
Loretta has a neat little hand held battery operated chain saw she uses for pruning. lol ... it has a bout a 6" saw bar on it. We have giant loppers we use because the Oak is so tough to cut and we rerely use hand pruners for what we have to do right now. We also have a 12" Solo arborist chain saw for limbing and a 20" Stihl MS 310 for the larger trunks. Loretta is very much into planting, growing and trimming her plants and shrubs, but we haven't started a garden yet. We are still working on cleaning and clearing. But it's funny you brought that up, because she is out shopping right now for some fruit and nut trees for the future orchard. So it won't be long before she can get back to her favorite thing ... gardening.
Thanks for the information!

 

[john_bud]

2 cords? I burned that much and more in the month of January. It goes fast when the low is below -30F and the high is under -5F. Brrrr Oh well, at least we don't have to worry about rattle snakes !

jb

 

[GuglioLS]

You guys are probably getting tired of this old thread?

Not at all Rob,
The only thing making me tired is watching all the heavy lifting and hard work you two have been up to. That one oak log stump your lifting must weigh a ton. So then with all the slash and burn piles along with all the log splitting your getting everything cleaned up then? Must look like a national park now. It sure is getting green again too. How is it that Loretta gets away wearing a sleeveless shirt and your still wearing that long sleeved Marlborough man red shirt with a sweater underneath? Must be Loretta's keeping warm doing all the work while you just fart around supervising Oh and how come every time I come to visit it's like 15 degrees and snowing

Here's my wood pile as of Dec '08:



It's over 80 feet long and doesn't even fit in the picture, looks like you got a ways to go to catch up, no more lallygagging there Rob - HaHaHa

Larry

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Rob,

Your so far ahead of me on landscaping and things. Going to work in the dark and getting home in the dark doesn't leave much time except weekends to work outside.

I can not do a burn pile since woods are so close around the house. I plan on reanting a chipper as soon as the time changes so I can have more daylight.

Your place is looking fantastic!!

David

 

[3RRL]

Not at all Rob,
The only thing making me tired is watching all the heavy lifting and hard work you two have been up to. That one oak log stump your lifting must weigh a ton. So then with all the slash and burn piles along with all the log splitting your getting everything cleaned up then? Must look like a national park now. It sure is getting green again too. How is it that Loretta gets away wearing a sleeveless shirt and your still wearing that long sleeved Marlborough man red shirt with a sweater underneath? Must be Loretta's keeping warm doing all the work while you just fart around supervising Oh and how come every time I come to visit it's like 15 degrees and snowing

Here's my wood pile as of Dec '08:



It's over 80 feet long and doesn't even fit in the picture, looks like you got a ways to go to catch up, no more lallygagging there Rob - HaHaHa

Larry

Man Larry, your wood pile is outa sight!
Well, lol ... it's obvious who is smarter when it's cold an pouring outside...me or Loretta. She is just more hot blooded than I am. I wear those long sleeves so you don't oogle at my giant bicep, hahaha, plus I don't get all scratched up. You are right, we have a long ways to go to catch up but we are still working at it. I just put my backhoe on so I can use it to grab the rest of the Oak logs in that big pile of shrubs and trees in that draw below the house (towards South Camp). There must be 5 or 6 Oaks in there yet. But it's a pain to get them separated from the Buck brush I piled on top.

It's a long ways from looking like a National Park, but we are getting after it ... little by little.
When are you and Esther coming out? I need to make a call to the Weather man.

We did a lot more brush pile making for a couple more burns but decided to wait until next week. After the warm spell there is supposed to be rain coming again and we will burn then. You can't be too safe when dealing with big fires like that. On the way to Rancho today, we saw a fire on the 210 fwy. A couple nice days and guess what ... fire season around here. So will only burn when the weather is wet. Last thing I need is a bill from the State for putting out some forest fire I caused.
Our tractors are running GREAT!
Rob-

 

[3RRL]

Rob,

Your so far ahead of me on landscaping and things. Going to work in the dark and getting home in the dark doesn't leave much time except weekends to work outside.

I can not do a burn pile since woods are so close around the house. I plan on reanting a chipper as soon as the time changes so I can have more daylight.

Your place is looking fantastic!!

David

Hi David,
Great to hear from you and thank you!
I see you have made a lot of progress at your place even though you've been working all those hours. I regularly check your thread out when there's a new post on it.
As far as burn piles, they are pretty much a pain I've learned. It takes a lot of work and needs constant attention. You may have noticed that we got our WC-6 Jinma Chipper together and working finally after buying it a year ago. Well, I'll be using that as MUCH as I can instead of making burn piles like I did. Of course back when I had nothing, the burn piles seemed like a good idea. lol
Rob-

 

[rox]

Hi David,
Great to hear from you and thank you!
I see you have made a lot of progress at your place even though you've been working all those hours. I regularly check your thread out when there's a new post on it.
As far as burn piles, they are pretty much a pain I've learned. It takes a lot of work and needs constant attention. You may have noticed that we got our WC-6 Jinma Chipper together and working finally after buying it a year ago. Well, I'll be using that as MUCH as I can instead of making burn piles like I did. Of course back when I had nothing, the burn piles seemed like a good idea. lol
Rob-

Rob,
I have thought tha chiping is a two sided sword. Sure you don't burn but then you have all this small stuff that dires up very quickly jsut laying on the ground which is basically nice dry fuel for a forest fire. Can catch fire very easy with a spark etc. To me ideal is chipping and then rototilling in the chipped matter. That is what we are going to do this year. Well we are going to try it and see how it goes. Mainly for the thin branches with leaves we are going to lower the brush hog on them, not chip. We will use that power prunners to quickly adn efortlessly remove the small branches from the larger part of the branch and then bush hog the fine branches.

 

[bindian]

Rob,
Do y'all have Copperhead snakes out there? We don't have many rattlesnakes in Southeast Texas, but every once in a while I find a rattlesnake out sunning. But the numerous Copperheads seem to rove out earlier and more often. They can pop out on a winter day when the sun has been out for days. I have even seen one at night years ago, crossing my path to my rabbit hutch.
hugs, Brandi