The Alder tree harvest begins!! Gotta cut in the winter before the sap returns. Oh what's the science behind that? I think I deleted my shiitake email notes...basically the shiitake does not eat the sugar but instead eats the wood... The Hermit Hut remains buried in snow but the roof didn't even need cleaning off - only maybe an inch of snow since last time I was up.
A fuzzy photo but you can see the hand saw I use - a Corona pruning saw - their biggest size. Those gloves in the foreground got all wet and then froze - and also got holes from the saw.
So here I start to set up a "portable" tarp-tent. Only I should not have used the cot. I thought the cot would keep me warmer - I forgot that I prefer a harder sleeping surface for my back. So the cot is too uncomfortable.
I did use the cot to hold up the stove pipe - as the damper makes the stove want to fall backwards - and Dave of Dave's Bullets and Real Survival - he said he uses a spool of wire. So I picked up a spool at the hardware - when I also got a camp axe. I used the camp axe to split fire wood and to hammer in the stakes for the tarp. I had to make my own stakes that were deep enough for the snow - and also I used paracord (as per Dave's recommendation). So the paracord was to create the A-frame but also to create loops in the grommets. The stakes then went through the loops.
All that took way too long to set up!!
So then the Krazy Glue was not enough to keep the masking tape on the "non-stick" silicone baking mat. Oops! So I improvised - using carbiners and tarp clips. Turns out I needed that open space for a smoke hole as I accidentally opened the stove when the damper was closed! So I had forgotten to "fix" the damper before I added the other pipe section on. The damper has to have the rod pushed into the grove so it holds properly when turning it. Otherwise it wobbles and you can't tell if it is open or not. Once I took it apart again and fixed it then the damper worked great!!
The tape is aluminum cold weather tape but it doesn't stick to the polyester-canvas tarp! Oops - just to the polyethylene tarp.
My leather boots were soaked - yeah I need to go grab them out of the car right now!!
So at least the stove was drying off my wool socks!
So also I was able to heat up my lentils that had been freezing in the car. So the part of the plate that was right next to the chimney - that little part was boiling!! So I kept stirring the lentils to get all of it on the boiling spot. Then they lentils got hot.
With the damper activated the stove would make this "whooshing" sound as the heat fought against the damper. It was pretty cool sounding actually - it was a rhythm whooshing. But then when the wood burned down enough, the whooshing went away. That's when I knew it was ready to load more wood - and I would open the damper. But I kept burning my hands as I had to reach way down to load the stove.
So then it got dark and my tarp tent had the north side open along with the south side. the north side just had a carbiner closing the door. So the wind picked up as it got dark and it got too cold to stay in the tarp. I did not have enough tarp clips - to cut the 10 x 12 tarp - to cover the front door. Also as I said - the cot was uncomfortable anyway. So I could have removed the cot and tried sleeping on the snow - but I would really need a wider tarp. So instead I took refuge in my nice cozy Hermit Hut.
I didn't like cutting down all those Alders but it should make growing space - less competition for the sun - for the other trees in the "bushes." So the other alders that are just 2 inches in diameter - they should grow faster. As you can see - a migrating Jungle Neo-tropical bird made a nice cozy summer home in one of the alders. So you can't really tell I cut down some 30 Alders but I looked at the growth rings - and they are 10 to 12 years old. So they grow a 1/4 inch or more a year on average. So those 2 inch diameter trees might not be ready for a couple years at best! Next winter might be slim pickings for Alders and I might have to resort back to a few big birch trees again.
I don't have many big birch trees on the land - in the mini-forest. I do have a lot of willow. Maybe the shiitake will fruit on the willow (even though that is considered more difficult since willow wood decomposes too fast). We shall see! Hopefully I'll get a big shiitake harvest this spring.
I will start inoculating these trees as early as possible - but they need to dry out first so that the shiitake spawn can began eating the wood. So they should be dry enough in a month but you don't want them too dry! Fortunately the land gets a lot of water in the spring. So they should maintain the 30% hydration level needed - otherwise I can soak the logs.
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