[Carl Russell]

Actually, I bore through the tree, leaving some wood along the very back of the cut. That wood will hold the tree upright so that I can bore in from the other side. When I have cut in from both sides, and set the hinge thickness, I drive the wedge in the back because the tree has a slight lean back, or just for assurance to push the tree in the right direction. When the wedge is driven tight, I cut the extra wood (trigger wood) finishing the back cut, releasing the tree to fall.

I featured these pictures here precisely because the type of work we are doing here requires competent directional felling. I want to preserve as much understory as possible, which means I need to be able to drop the trees so that I can then skid them out in a way that does not destroy regeneration.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Now how’s that for a small hearted sugar maple?

Skidding up one of our new trails.

That’s a good 12 footer. 180 bft

Carl

[Carl Russell]

The tree landed on a stump just in front, which cause the hinge to break….

[Carl Russell]

This is a white pine tree with a classic white pine blister rust canker. It is marked for harvest.

This one is another example of defect that makes it a choice for harvest. Notice the forked top.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Yesterday was a day of fine trees.

This is one of the best red spruce trees I have ever cut.

18″DBH, 3-16’s and a 12, scaled 350 bf.

This is the type of regeneration we are releasing in this harvest. It requires cutting and backing horses into little avenues in the underbrush.

The rear view of the removal route. The 2 butt logs scaled 250 bf.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Welcome Island Girl. I am intrigued by your story, and I look forward to reading about your progress. I think it is entirely doable, and it makes sense to get started now.

Good luck, Carl

[Carl Russell]

Welcome 8bit. I look forward to reading about your trajectory into farming.
Glad we can be here for you.

I think it’s cool how those of us who’ve been at this a while can inspire the novices, and then we get inspired as well by the novice enthusiasm.

Thank you for sharing, Carl

[Carl Russell]

dominiquer60;20174 wrote:

It’s not the end of the world and if Lisa’s saddle is too narrow you can borrow mine, it could really use a cleaning too:)

That’s an offer that won’t be taken lightly!!

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Woot Woot!!! Looks awesome Erika. Good luck at the fair, Carl

[Carl Russell]

Oh yeah, and a brand new set of all leather, 3-ply, draft sized d-ring traces. They cost him $400 new, and he would like $300 o.b.o

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Scott, for twenty years I have used the scoot and bobsled as my forwarder. Especially because I work alone. There are no bottlenecks in that equation as the relative cost of the sleds is negligible, and they can sit idle until the load is ready.

The significant cost of mechanical forwarders do require some economy of scale shifts, and that is why in our current operation we have two teams, a chopper, and the forwarder operator. Our plan is to have all four chopping for a n hour in the morning, then get the teams moving while the others chop for another hour, then get the forwarder moving while the others chop and skid as needed.

In reality we are finding that there are days when there is a teamster alone in the woods, or on another day chopper and teamster, or both teamsters with no extra chopper, and the forwarder operator is really busy at home or has breakdown issues so he is just coming and moving wood as his schedule lines up.

The big factor as far as I can see it is that we all have lifestyles that are supported by horse-power which provides a low cost, low-overhead foundation so that we can do what we need to do without going broke.

This leads to the other part of this formula. Using animal power is more than just the application of energy, as Tim pointed out. We are leading diverse lives with farm and other enterprises that interfere with a purely economic model of a logging operation. This is a good thing in reality, but it throws a wrench in the calculations. With machinery this is a much thinner margin of comfort.

The other part of using animal power is not to mimic the modern concept of forestry that supports and is supported by the use of equipment based harvesting systems. In other words, we don’t need to try to move the same material that machines are so “good” at moving. If we are going to base our systems on animal power we need to based the work that we perform on the capabilities and limitation of the animals.

When I used to log exclusively with my oxen, I had a highshool student visit me for his senior project. He had been in 4H and was hanging around pullers, but he wanted to spend some time with someone who was actually working oxen. He said to me “You really try to make it as easy as possible for them, don’t you”? Yep, that’s the point.

It is an efficiency that transcends modern economics.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

The only two items still available are the 19th century sled and buggy.

Sled $350

Buggy $250

Carl

[Carl Russell]

dlskidmore;20150 wrote:

…. I’ve only seen the concept of a multi-phase building in two sites, one for yurts, one for foam dome homes. I’ve not seen any multi-phase building plans for traditional wood homes.

Contact the Yestermorrow School in Waitsfield Vermont. They specialize in just what you are thinking about. Even if you don’t want to design your own, a class there might be a great investment for planning etc. http://www.yestermorrow.org/

On the second date I decided to test my then future wife, and asked her is she would live in a log cabin in the woods. She said yes. My idea was a 16×24 with a loft, no electricity, gravity H2O, wood heat. We ended up with a 36′ diameter 2 story plus basement 8 sided log home with full off-grid electric system. Just to illustrate how the perspectives can differ.

As far as home vs public schooling. We have been HSing for 7 years, and I can tell you it doesn’t have anything to do with the information. I agree that the information is an important part, and it is important to find valid sources, but more importantly it is the freedom that we have to allow and direct our children’s exploration and learning. The current public schools are based on curricula that break learning down into prescribed levels and rates of exposure. We have taught our kids to spend the time to understand, and to go as far and as fast as they want to. They get to spend a lot of time with their parents, and on the land that sustains them. And they get to know themselves, and what it means to be a human being. In Vermont we can homeschool and send our kids to the building for classes such as music, or in truth anything like math if we can’t handle it at home.

Hope that wasn’t too much of side-track, Carl

[Carl Russell]

While we were building our 2500 sqft log home we lived in my “Love Shack” (an old post and beam corn crib that I retrofitted to live in back in the 80’s). We had a six year old, a one year old, and Lisa was pregnant. We lived in the 12’x18′, story and a half cabin for about six months, until Bazel was born.

We all slept in one bed, a queen mattress on the floor, and watched a lot of video tapes at night. We had electricity, but we carried water, and used the shower at my mom’s, until we had the new house plumbed and heated. Our stay in the corn crib lasted from Sept. – March, and it was a cold and icy winter. we used our window sills as a fridge, freezing fruit at night if we weren’t careful.

All-in-all it was an adventure. We knew it would only be temporary, but it lasted a few months longer than we had planned. It was a testament to the strength of our relationship. It is doable, but since we’ve been in the big house we’ve completely filled it with people and stuff… hard to imagine living for very long in a small home with kids.

I have a friend who raised three kids in Yurts 1 mile walk from the main road. They had a communal yurt, and three more for individual living spaces. He raised them all to college age right there, growing their own food, etc. He built a small two story garage/office next to the road where he had power for his office, and to run a couple of freezers. He parked his truck there, had a workshop, and when the kids walked to the bus in the morning they would wait there in the bitter cold.

There are as many solutions as there are situations.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

We have been having discussions like this one on the job recently. There are a lot of mechanical/technological alternatives these days, but one of the more important aspects of the old versus the new, is how we use our horses to do the work. I notice sometimes that there is a tendency to use horses like they were a machine.

Most of us these days have grown up in a culture that uses machines to do a lot of work for us. Well if you want to use horses successfully, you need to do a lot of work for them first. This is one of the basic lessons I learned from several of the old-timers I traipsed around behind. Takes a lot of work to work horses. Can’t just push levers, you gotta be able to directionally fell a tree, clear skid trails, roll logs, etc.

I think it is fine to try to mix technologies, but we have to watch out that we don’t let the machines affect the way we see the work. That is one of the difficulties with this endeavor. The machine costs a lot to buy, maintain, and run, and it increases productivity, but it also operates on a different time line, and has a different functionality than a human using hand and animal power.

To be successful with horses mixed with machinery, you can’t work on the time line of the machine, which is why I see a lot of horse loggers end up logging with skidder or tractor.

Carl

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