At it again - the never ending brush pile

I have a lot of trees, ergo, I have a lot of brush. Mother Nature likes to toss sticks into my yard. Every year, there is a tree or two that for one reason or another needs to be harvested. The aftermath of a tree being felled is brush. January and February are my favorite months to burn brush.

Why? Because of the weather, specifically snow. Burning when there is snow on the ground is pretty safe. Same goes for during a rainfall. 

Yesterday, I braved the cold and lit a small brush pile. I wasn't sure the fire was going to catch and get going, but it did. The flames had died down to mere embers, and I was ready to call it a day. I'd no sooner taken off my wet jeans when a gust of wind rocked the house, and then kept blowing. 

I did not like this. Would the wind reignite the embers in what was left of the brush pile?

I pulled on a pair of sweat pants and went back outside, hopped on the John Deere 1023, and scooped up a few snow piles leftover from a few days ago when I used the snow pusher attachment on the lane. I dropped the snow on what was left of the smoldering brush pile. And you know what happened then?

Yep. The wind stopped blowing.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, country lifestyle, rural living, John Deere 1023, snow, rain, burning brush, resources, wind, fire, work smart

 

Perfect weather!

Suffice it to say that August got away from me. I accomplished very little. Looking back through my day calendar to see what I did do was depressing. Yes, Tropical Depression Debby was a hindrance, but I can't blame it all on the rain. I think my ass grew into my recliner, which I do not like. It can't be allowed to become a habit. 

In my defense, August was stinkin' hot. Hazy, hot, and humid hot. Not the sort of weather anyone not accustomed to it needs to be doing yard work in. I busied myself with several canning projects. Broth, three different soups, and a lot of applesauce made it onto the pantry shelves. I'm not finished yet. I still want to process some beef stew, pork stew, and jardiniere (pickled veggies). 

But today was for something different. Today was my kind of weather with sunshine, almost no breeze, and the mercury in the mid-seventies. I got busy and cleaned up several months worth of downed sticks and had a little 'campfire'. 

I don't know what we did before we got the John Deere 1023. Having a compact tractor makes life a lot easier. I filled six buckets full of debris and burned it one bucket at a time. I took my time and took breaks sitting on the tractor to watch the fire, too. I kept it small and it worked out great! 

It feels good to get that much done. At least now when someone comes to visit, the lane and approaches are tidy. I call that a good day's work.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, rural living, country lifestyle, John Deere 1023, campfire, burning brush, yard work, a writer's life, outside chores, good weather, autumn

Sitting by the fire on a rainy day

Living in the country as I do, I constantly find joy in the simple chores around our little homestead. And a lot of those chores are cyclic. By that, I mean they need to be done at about the same time every year. Burning brush isn't cyclic. No matter if it NEEDS to be, it can't be done until certain criteria are met. 

Having acres of woodland we end up with a lot of brush. Branches and limbs fall to the ground on a regular basis. There is pruning to be done along the lane and along the edges of the yard. Getting whacked in the face while mowing isn't much fun! It can hurt! 

Rose bushes get trimmed, the garden gets weeded, shrubs and bushes die and need cut back in the hope of new growth, and yes, sometimes we help out our city-bound family members and bring branches from their yards to burn. 

I won't light a fire unless it is raining or rained in the night enough to make the ground wet, or unless there is a cover of snow on the ground. This is the way I stay out of trouble. This is how my grandfather taught me to burn, and it makes good sense. 

This past Sunday, we got a wonderful soaking rain. We don't typically do a lot of chores on a Sunday, but I didn't think sitting in my pickup watching the fire would be much work, and it was not. It was actually rather pleasant. 

I took my Kindle and a travel cup full of coffee with me. I stuck a stick in the USB port and cued up my playlist. I left poor Deuce inside with the Lord of the Manor and I had some quality alone-time. 

After a bit, Himself sent a text asking if the fire was burning. I took a picture and sent it to him. It wasn't until I took the picture off my phone that I noticed the Universe had had a little fun with me. Take a look at the photo. The song that played when I took the picture was Fool in the Rain by Led Zeppelin. 

Funny, Universe. Funny.

The Lady of the Hideaway

The Hideaway, Holly Tree Manor, homesteads, simple country pleasures, rural living, burning brush, soaking rain, Chevy trucks, common sense, country traditions, coffee

The never-ending brush pile

Having a lot of trees means we always have a lot of sticks and limbs to burn. If we want the place to look decent, that is. We could let everything stay where it lands, but then we'd be knee-deep in deadwood. The solution is we burn, which is what we did this Monday past.

A strong wind is Mother Nature's pruner. Dead limbs and sticks come down. I pick them up. Sometimes what comes down is the entire top out of a tree. Wood with a large diameter gets cut to length for the woodstove. Everything else gets tossed on a pile that gets burned on a regular basis. 

It's a family affair. If we're working outside, the dog is generally right there with us. Our current cat, Loki, will meander around to keep an eye on us, but he's not a helper. He's a watcher. With this cat, that's almost as scary as it sounds. 

Burning is hard work. The brush is usually awkward and heavy. Having a battery-powered chainsaw helps. Once the fire is going, there is time to take a break and enjoy the flames and being outside. Once the center burns out, the edges need to be raked in so that material burns. Having the John Deere 1023 with a bucket really helps. The tractor does the work. I spent years using a rake and believe me, the tractor is better! 

Once the fire dies down, it's time to wet down the area and let it finish. My office has a window where I can keep an eye on things. Wetting down the ash forms a crust, and what's underneath smolders away to ash. Then it's time to start the process over again.

There will always be the next big wind that prunes the trees. It's just the way things are. 


The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

The chill is back but the fire is warm

The weather forecast for yesterday started out with a predicted one to three inches of snow followed by a wintry mix. What we got was about, maybe, an inch of sleet. Snow or sleet, the end result was the same. Nothing much was accomplished here on the hillside unless you consider drinking coffee a viable use of time. 

This morning brings the promise of a bit of sunshine. I was awake early, reading a piece of fluff on the Kindle. Sitting quietly beside the window with a cup of coffee and a book is my favorite way to be one with the coming day. It gets me started by instilling calmness. 

I've been waiting for a day like today for several weeks. Having a wooded lot, there is always a brush pile that needs to be burned. Burning requires careful consideration. Weather and available time need to coincide. I need to 1) be home for the day, 2) the brush pile to be of sufficient size to burn quickly and hot, 3) it must be raining or the ground must be covered by snow or sleet, and 4) there must be minimal wind. 

Burning is never a chore. There's something primitive and pleasing to sit near a hot fire when the air and ground are cold. A dancing wood fire is fascinating to watch. We get a lot of enjoyment sitting by the woodstove, too, as ours has a glass panel. It's a simple pleasure. 

* * *

Rural living is often governed by the weather. Burning the brush pile didn't happen today. Once I went outside, I determined there was just too strong a wind blowing. For the sake of safety, and not burning down my house, I decided to put it off until another day. And that day will come soon enough. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor