Another hard day’s work

This morning’s micro-storm meant a change of priorities around the croft today as I had to clear away the tree that had snapped and make the remaining ones a little more safe. I use a brush saw, pruning saw, axe and hatchet so it takes a little longer, but it suits our philosophy. It would be nice to have a few people to help on occasions like this, but I manage well enough on my own.

The most irritating thing about the damage is that the wood is useless. The trees are Cupressocyparis leylandii, which has a soft, sappy wood that clogs up chimneys when burned. I can’t even use it as mulch in the pig pens as the sap can cause skin irritation, which is not something I want our pigs to suffer. The wood will all have to be dragged out into the field and burned.

The first job was to cut the trunk and branches that had come down on the road into manageable lengths. Leylandii is surprisingly heavy, thanks to the sappy wood and very dense foliage, so shorter lengths make it easier to move. Always wear stout gloves when working with Leylandii to avoid skin irritations (the Wee ‘Un gets a nasty rash from it), clean your saw blades frequently (the sap clogs them up) and either sharpen the blades or have replacements to hand when they go blunt—and they will.

Despite rashes and scratches, boys will be boys and every time I turned around I found a pair of them in the pile of branches waiting to be taken out to the field. I’d chase them out, persuade them football, hide-and-seek or alien hunting was the better option, turn around and, hey, there they are again. Little devils!

Today’s tree was the third to come down, so I’ll have to take the rest down at the earliest opportunity as none of them are particularly sound. When I was cutting branches off, many snapped before the saw blade was 10-15mm through a 50mm branch. It’s not surprising the trees are breaking apart in our winds.

Several hours hard work later and the roadside is clear again, the broken branches have been removed, the overhanging branches have been cut back and there’s a vast pile of greenery waiting to be moved. All that on top of two very hard cycle rides this morning (uphill into a very strong headwind), moving a pig hut three times (the boar keeps moving it back), playing football with the boys and doing the chores. For some reason I feel a little tired tonight! Oh, and there may be more trees down tomorrow as we’ve just been hit by a fresh gale.