This was a kick-back day for both Deb and me. I’m feeling human again, more or less, save the first hour or so after I get up in the morning. She’s got the double-whammy goin’ on and wasn’t up to setting the world on fire today.
I stuck to my habit of striving to be mildly productive. The waste-water tanks needed dumping, so I did that. I went over to the back yard and disassembled our collapsible fire pit (now that we have a couple of real ones), then stowed it for us to bring along in the Ranger or the truck.
There were chunks of charred wood (essentially lumps of charcoal) left in the portable pit from our last fire, and I saved it in a five gallon bucket. To that I added as much wood ash as I could scoop out of the burn pit. I topped off the bucket with dead oak leaves and carried it down to the lower level.
That’s where we keep our secondhand compost tumbler, cooking up a batch of rich organic matter that we’ll use in the vegetable beds we have planned. So far we’ve contributed coffee grounds and vegetable scraps, plus greens, browns, water and a little soil.
I figured it could benefit from what wood ash brings to the party — trace minerals and a higher pH. Into the tumbler went the bucket.
This isn’t my first composting rodeo — I’ve been home-brewing The Good Stuff for over 40 years. But I’d never used a tumbler before, and I’m pleased with how well this one seems to be working.
Eventually, I think, we’ll build an open, two-bay compost bin out of pallets, lined with chicken wire. A pitchfork will come in handy.
This is fine for now.
When we were preparing for the fifth-wheel’s arrival on The Mountain, and then the cabin a few months later, we pruned a lot of overhanging branches along our road. Several small trees had to come down, too. At the time, we stuffed all of the trimmings into the woods.
As I’ve driven up and down the road since, my eyes have been drawn to the trees I’d dropped (or partially dropped). It seemed to me that I could realize a little free firewood whenever I got around to bringing it in.
This morning I got around to it.
What I picked up was one eastern red cedar, two black locusts and a fourth tree, another hardwood, that I haven’t been able to identify. I cut the trunks to manageable size and brought them back to the wood yard. I bucked the haul there and stacked it on runners for now.
It looks like an hour’s work produced enough hardwood to keep the woodstove fed for 24 to 36 hours, as well as plenty of cedar for the fire pits. Very gratifying.
Tomorrow will bring rain, reportedly a whole lot of it, and behind that will come a few days of cooler-than-typical temperatures.
Fine with me.
They did it again. #GoBucks
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB