January 13, 2007

• Cut and Burn

  We have been trying to reclaim the bank of land that runs from just off our deck down to the river.

  The slope was just untended for the past twenty years.  The last two springs have seen floodwaters bring driftwood on to the lower bank.  This we had to ignore as some of the wood was actually the size of entire trees!

  We have been cutting the Kudzu and brush back all summer, moving the dead fall and knocking down the poison oak.  We left it to dry until today.  My hands hurt from using the hand saw all day.  Typing this hurts
  

  We hauled the fire pit down the bank; it is cut and burn day.  Everything had dried from the summer and we just hauled the scrub down to the pit.  The pile we started with was about the size of a full chord.  There is something nice about burning dead wood on a winter day. 
  

  There is still a good bit to burn but we can see a clear section all the way to the lower bank.  I am already thinking of spring and the flower beds.  Hydrangea and Rhododendron will do well down there, some Forsythia along the edges and flower beds in between.

  Now we wait for the sleet and ice storm to remind us that the calendar still says January ...
  

  • 9:47 pm
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