Forestry work

ashremovedNow how many years have we looked up at the top terrace and not noticed this? There is a monstrous ash tree right in the way of the stately oak. I swear they are no more than five feet apart.

We were all standing on the top terrace and looking up at this ridiculous situation this week.  And the answer was simple. One had to go.

Nicolas had already cut down the rampaging cornus alba which has always distracted me from this view. (That’s my excuse. I hate that cornus. It grows all over the mountain top in a very unwelcome thicket.)

So which do you save? We don’t have a lot of ash on the mountain.  But oaks. Oaks, are slow growing and brilliant trees for our future firewood.

Ash makes good firewood too. So either way we weren’t going to mess up.  But the final vote went for the oak.  It needs more room to grow.  So down came the ash.

And if you think that any part of this tree is going to waste, think again. It’s a bit like a country butcher dispatching a pig.  Every part is put to use.

The largest and thickets trunks will need to mooch about for a few years to dry out (and yes, I would have preferred they didn’t have to dry out right in the middle of my soon to be sorted terrace.  But they weigh a tonne, so they might have to lie in situ until I come up with A Plan.)

The medium logs will be cut to use as starter logs for the fire.  And I happily collected every last branch and twig for my chipping pile. Every twig. I do have A Plan for those.

ashspares