Wood!

You know its been a good few days at work when you get home aching and proceed to sit on the sofa all night writing your blog, watching films and expending as little energy as possible!

Monday saw Becky and I working in the woods all day with contractor Seamus Hill, felling oak and sycamore and cutting the trees to lengths between 10 ane 14 feet. The timber was to add to our pile of other oak and pine stacked up ready for milling. It was a long day to reach our required amount but we made it, and today Nathan Home joined us with his mobile sawmill to cut the wood into planks, rails and posts. It's tough work, lifting and carrying the finished product from the saw to the trailer, then unloading and stacking the timber at the other end, but so satisfying to see the full process from felling trees to the posts and rails that we will build with in the future. The timber will now be left to dry out and season.

Loading the saw mill

I'll be moving and stacking this lot tomorrow

Buster keeps a watchful eye on us from his favourite spot... strange dog!

The day went really well with two exceptions - finding nails in two of the trees which blunts the sawblade, a costly error! The nails must have been hammered into the wood a long time ago, judging by their position, and the tree simply grew around them, leaving no trace of the damage. A good example of why you must never, ever put nails in trees!

Tomorrow our volunteers and students will split up into several groups, some hedgelaying, some fencing and some helping me to move the rest of the freshly cut timber to the barn.