Cleaning Up After Tropical Storm Isaias
Power is restored at my Bedford, New York farm as clean-up after Tropical Storm Isaias continues.
My outdoor grounds crew is working hard to pick up all the branches, repair various sections of deer fencing, and secure any leaning trees. Last week's storm slammed the east coast with tornadoes, flooding, and high winds. Widespread power outages affected millions of residents and businesses from North Carolina to Maine. The next few days are expected to be quite warm and humid, but definitely much calmer.
Here are some photos of the big clean-up at Cantitoe Corners.
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- My generator room houses an industrial-sized power generator – the backup power source for several structures on the farm. We were on generator power for four days. The room is located at one end of my long carport and is easily accessible from my Winter House.
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- Standby generators connect to the home’s wiring and are installed with a transfer switch. This switch monitors the connections to the local utility power. If the transfer switch box senses a disruption in power due to an outage, it automatically activates the generator and transfers utility electrical circuits to the backup power system. I am fortunate to have this at the farm.
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- I lost a lot of branches in the storm – some are too heavy to carry and need to be cut into sections before feeding into the chipper.
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- Pasang is a very skilled chainsaw operator. Here he is cutting one of the big downed limbs from a maple tree that fell in my azalea garden. It is crucial he wears all the necessary equipment such as headgear, eye protection, and chaps to keep him safe as he works.
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- STIHL’s most well-known tool is the chainsaw. We use several models here at the farm. STIHL designed and built its first electric chain saw in 1926 and 94 years later, it is still one of its best pieces of equipment. STIHL has chainsaws that are powered by AP 300 S Lithium-Ion Battery and by gas.
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- Chhiring carefully feeds smaller branches into the mouth of the chipper. This chipper is getting lots of use around the farm this week.
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- The chipper has sharp moveable blades that can cut wood up into small pieces.
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- Meanwhile, attention is also given to the trees in my orchard. I have more than 200 planted here. The storm’s strong winds caused some of them to list and needed to be re-staked upright.
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- Pete and Fernando worked on the hardest hit first. Thankfully all the trees survived.
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- After removing the weakened stakes, Pete digs the holes deeper – one hole on each side of the tree.
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- Then Pete hammers the stake into the ground about a foot deep.
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- Fernando secures green 3/4-inch tree tie webbing from the stake to the tree. He ties it above the lowest branch to prevent it from slipping.
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- If the lowest branch is still too high, Fernando drives a screw into the webbing and into the stake – this will keep the tie from moving.
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- As each area is cleaned, Domi blows any additional debris – leaves, twigs, etc.
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- Here at the farm, we’ve been using STIHL’s backpack blowers for years. These blowers are powerful and fuel-efficient. The gasoline-powered engines provide enough rugged power to tackle heavy debris while delivering much lower emissions.
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- Dawa works on fixing any fencing that came down because of fallen trees or branches in the woodland. It is important to take care of the fencing right away to keep the deer out. Dawa and Phurba walked the perimeter of the fence line from opposite directions checking and repairing along the way.
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- Here’s Pasang cutting another tree limb down by the Japanese maple tree woodland.
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- And, wherever there is cutting, there is chipping. If the chips cannot be spread out immediately, they are collected into the back of our dump truck.
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- Some of the tree sections are carted away with our trusted High Low.
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- Here, a tree on the outside of the stone wall fell inward, crushing my new black deer fencing. Thankfully, this only occurred in one spot.
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- Chhiring donned all the proper safety equipment and cut the fallen part of the tree into more manageable sections.
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- Ryan uses the STIHL mini saw to help. Don’t be fooled by its compactness, this GTA 26 offers high cutting performance, quiet operation, excellent ergonomics, and long battery life – thanks to its 10.8 V AS 2 replacement battery. It fits right in the palm of one’s hand and is great for smaller jobs and tight spaces.
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- Here, Chhiring uses pliers to pull up the deer fencing so it is taut.
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- There is still a lot of work to be done, but soon the farm will be back in good shape.
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- The days following the storm have definitely been much calmer – and much sunnier. I hope those of you who suffered damage are doing okay and making headway with clean up chores.
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