October 21st and 22nd were rainy days. Our area got over an inch of the stuff and then it was very windy. On Sunday we were finally about to get the last couple of steps done with our garlic planting.   As we packed up and headed out, Jo spotted this.

A huge tree down on the other side of our creek. At the base it was at least 24 inches in diameter. After the first what the heck, I could see the wheels start turning in Ron’s head. He had already told me that he was planning to try growing other types of mushrooms. He had already done a lot of research and decided that he would try oyster mushrooms and grow them in totem fashion. You need a freshly cut log and that is what Ron now had.
Now we just needed to figure out how to get this particular log cut into chunks we could handle.

On October 29th we finally went out with chainsaw in hand to tackle it. Now that it is fall, we cannot get the early starts we are used to. We now have to wait for the sun to come up and the temps to rise. But we lose so much time. Getting out there after noon means “half the day’s wasted”. Of course Ron tends to say that when it is 7 am and we are not up and heading out the door already.

The first thing we had to do was figure how just how this was going to work. The tree was down, but caught on two other trees. In order to cut it into the needed chunks, we needed to get it safely onto the ground. Ron had his thoughts but I had my own. Luckily he listened to me and decided to start from the lower end. First we had to cut down lots of little trees and pull others that had already fallen down out of the way. They were tripping and snagging hazards that had to be dealt with.

Ron got busy with the chainsaw and soon the tree was down. Unfortunately a good bit of it was not usable as the bark had been pulled off during the fall. We had to look each log over carefully and then get out the measuring tape to be sure we got a 4 foot section.
Once the final cuts were made, Jo and I got to work.

We decided the best way to get them up to our wagon, was to flip them end over end. This was easier on the two of us and worked quite well.  Gravity being our solid friend. Still, it was hard work and we burned off lots of calories.

I really need to talk to Fitbit.  Why don’t they have chopping down trees and hauling logs listed on their workout options?

I got something out of this for me too.  A wood chopping stump.  The one we had been using for the past few years has rotted into a pile of wood chips. Now we just have to get this home and into our backyard.  Thank goodness for our trailer and 4 wheeler.  Otherwise, Jo would be in charge of rolling this up to the car.

We have five logs ready for us to cut into slices and then re-stack making a mushroom spawn sandwich.  That will be a story of its own.

We didn’t cut the entire tree down, leaving about a five foot length behind.  You can just see it behind all the brush and trees.  It was too dicey to try and cut it down.  There is a gully right behind those broken stumps.  And lots of small downed trees.  Not the safest place to be wielding a chainsaw.

 
I was a bit worried about what was going to happen next.  Thinking that the whole root ball would swing back and then drop into our creek.

The following week, we were delighted to see that it had in fact swung back upright. Now Ron is trying to decide what he wants to do with it. Maybe a bird house on it? More ideas are swimming around in his head. He is very much into reusing what we have. Especially when we have to work hard for it.