Moving Many Logs and Stumps to the Compost Yard
Winter chores continue at my Bedford, New York farm. In fact, we're getting so many outdoor tasks done because of the mild winter weather.
My outdoor grounds crew has been working tirelessly clearing the woods of dying or broken trees, knocking down weeds, brambles, and thorny barberry bushes, and picking up the many fallen branches. Yesterday, a large grapple truck from Central Tree Service, Inc. in Rye, New York came by to move all the heavy logs and stumps to my compost yard. Some of the wood will be repurposed as milled lumber, while the rest will be set aside for the tub grinder and made into mulch - everything is always put to good use.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- During this time of year, my very skilled outdoor grounds crew takes down the dead or diseased trees around the farm. It always saddens me to see the trees go, but I always re-use or re-purpose the wood and then plant new, younger trees in their place. Once the trees are taken down, they are placed in various piles around the farm.
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- We try to keep all the piles as neat as possible so as not to block any carriage roads or damage the ground beneath them.
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- The trees are carefully marked before they are taken down. Here is one showing a large “x” – it is important to only remove those trees that are already dead or are dying.
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- Many of the trees are ash trees – infested and killed by the emerald ash borer.
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- The borer larvae kill ash trees by tunneling under the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves water and sugars up and down its trunk. This is a closer look at the damage done by the emerald ash borer under the bark. The ash borer, also known by the acronym EAB, is responsible for the destruction of tens of millions of ash trees in 30 US states since it was first identified in this country in 2002.
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- I enlisted the help of Central Tree Service, Inc. This company in nearby Rye, provides full arbor care for all trees and shrubs including the removal of any logs and stumps.
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- Juan drove a big grapple truck used for carting away large debris. Here he is at the first pile of logs along the carriage road between my hayfields.
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- Juan is very skilled at using this hydraulic grapple attachment. He carefully lifts each piece of wood from the pile and places it into the truck bed.
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- Juan maneuvers the grapple from a seat above the truck. The grapple has four fingers and can be rotated as needed.
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- When the truck is full, it can weigh up to 20-tons. This is a heavy load. Juan said even the tires looked a bit compressed from the weight.
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- Meanwhile, my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring, uses our trusted Hi-Lo to transport logs from various areas around the farm to the carriage road, where they can be retrieved by the grapple truck.
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- Here, Chhiring moves some of the logs from the hayfield near my pond.
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- Once the grapple truck is completely full, Juan drives it ever so carefully to the compost yard. I feel very strongly about composting. In fact, this entire corner of my farm is devoted to this important process. During the year, the crew amasses quite a large pile of organic debris – bark, stumps, logs, and brush. The grapple truck is positioned by the pile designated for logs and stumps for the grinder.
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- Stabilizers secure the truck during all the work being done.
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- Juan slowly lifts the logs out of the truck and piles them up.
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- In another area, Juan places two logs perpendicular to this pile earmarked for milling. The ground logs will keep the stacked wood from rotting before they are milled into usable lumber.
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- For this particular pile, Juan looks out for logs that are in good condition and very straight and separates them from all the rest.
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- This day’s loads brought in a lot of good logs for our sawmill. These are very heavy, but Juan makes the job look so easy.
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- These will be made into beautiful floor boards and planks for future projects.
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- Here is the pile for the tub grinder. And it will grow even bigger before the tub grinder arrives. I like to call in the massive machine once a year or once every two years, to reduce the size of our debris pile into much finer, usable wood chips and mulch. We’ll see how big this pile is by summer.
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