Thursday 14 Jan 2016
It has been a difficult decision, but we finally decided to go ahead and have the monster cypresses taken down. They are over 30 metres tall, and significantly shadow our electric and hot-water making facilities in the shortest months of the year. In the summer, the sun is so high overhead they cast only a very little shade. As we want to press on with planting some of the trees for our projected 'Forest Garden', it was time to fell the trees and clear the land.
It has been a difficult decision, but we finally decided to go ahead and have the monster cypresses taken down. They are over 30 metres tall, and significantly shadow our electric and hot-water making facilities in the shortest months of the year. In the summer, the sun is so high overhead they cast only a very little shade. As we want to press on with planting some of the trees for our projected 'Forest Garden', it was time to fell the trees and clear the land.
First tree stripped to a bare pole
They cut all the side branches off first, and made an enormous, smokey fire of the green needles. We had thought of keeping the leafy bits and putting them through the chipper, but it would've been an overwhelming job, so we decided against it.
The ash heap actually smouldered for a week despite two days of heavy rain
Even the side branches of the first two trees made a significant pile of firewood
Bare poles. The workmen were waiting on a part for the big chainsaw, so they stopped at this point for a while, but at least we had sunshine on our solar panels for a lot longer each day: warm water and electricity - hurray!
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