The implications of a dry, early spring...

The past month has been one of the warmest and driest Marches in recorded history. Insects are already in the air!

The winter of 2009-2010 on the North Shore was marked by below-average precipitation and above average temperatures.  A high-pressure air mass has loomed over lower Canada and the upper midwest for most of the winter and spring. Consequently there is a fire ban until "green up."  This weather certainly has its impact on the forest.  Most of the minor creeks are drying up by the day.  A large percentage of the lakes have washed out their ice.  In places by the shore, the snow wasn't deep enough to matt the grasses down.  As a result the grass is upright and dry.  

The fire danger is high. In 2007 a large fire called the Ham Lake Fire ravaged the upper Gunflint Trail during similar conditions.  The fire grew quickly burning through the upright dry grasses.  The fire was huge compared to other recent fires such as the Cavity and Alpine.

So, I haven't burned slash in over three weeks.  My piles are about as tall as I am and growing daily.  There are four piles at the corners of the cabin site about 100' away from the future structure.

I have been slowly thinning balsam fir from the cabin site. Right now I have a continuous 30' perimeter around the site that has been thinned to 10' spacing of aspen and white spruce. It is amazing how much different the forest feels when void of 2-6 inch fir every foot or two!

Before I make any cuts I cruise the timber and flag the "keepers".  I prioritize white spruce, birch, aspen, and balsam fir.  Nowadays if you're a balsam, you have to be the prettiest ol' balsam around or else...

I've been cutting every few days or so.  The days following the cut, I limb logs, pile slash, stack timbers and plan the next move.  To date, half a dozen healthy and straight grain aspen and spruce "keepers" are within 30 feet of the structure.  My goal is to thin the 50' perimeter around the structure before the driveway is built.  Next year I'll thin the next 50 feet.

I've been learning quite a bit about forestry practices through these last four months of logging.  The idea about the distance between trees is to avoid crowns touching.  The strategy to promote the healthy growth of trees means you have to remove the competition.  If the tree has adequate soil for nourishment and plenty of room at the crown to grow, you're giving the tree its best chances for growth.

I've found some spruce budworm in the balsam around the property.  Budworm is a communicable disease that is often carried by balsam but can spread to other species.  The sickly trees are characterized by dead trunks, missing low limbs and a sea-foam green moss growing on the dead branches.  This forest has been taken over by balsam, which increased competition and led to a decline in the aspen.  You can tell that this is happening by the darkening of the bark at the base of the trunk.  Some trunks are completely black.  

At this point I have accumulated a couple cords of 6" thick, 10' long Balsam timber.  My hope is to mill them into posts for the shed.  I hope to mill onsite with a portable Alaskan mill. 

The forest behind the property offers a lifetime of exploration. Slowly, but surely, I have been wandering further and further out from the property.  The land has become such a familiar setting, it has dominated my thoughts and energy for some time now, so exploring new turf is a great change of pace!

I'm hiking new trails everyday and have begun building mountain bike trails...

The lower Devils Track River gorge.  3/4 of a mile directly west of the property.

Site plan

Here's the scheme:

To date the driveway, garage and cabin sites have been cleared. I have thinned the forest in a 50' perimeter around the cabin site.

We have been contemplating rotating the cabin so the gable ends are aligned East/West to maximize a southern exposure. There may no need for a privy as we are still entertaining the option of a composting toilet for the cabin. Other than that this depiction accurately illustrates our plan.

Wilderness doesn't give in easily

The wolves have roamed up stream. A pileated woodpecker is hanging around the cabin site.

I'm tired after 3 months of clearing. I've felt a bit beat lately and our dog, Luna, scratched the cornea of her eye on a branch. It's like the wilderness is reminding us who's boss. The woods are going to kick us around a little before we can make ourselves too cozy in this space.

I vividly recall this particular moment; it was one of a hundred-some trips up and down the driveway, hauling a log of wood when the reality of my situation struck me. For the first time in three months I asked myself: "what the hell am I thinking?" My thoughts churned, "I don't know how to do any of this! I'm making it all up as I go. I'm making mistakes that I won't realize until they bite me down the road."

I have to admit, I felt defeated. I finished my load and sat down at one of my favorite driveway spots and stared off at the lake. That's when I realized that this was exactly the moment that you make a decision. You get off your self-defeated butt and figure out the next piece of the puzzle. You take things slowly, work hard, find the solution and grow from the experience. It's not defeat, it's exactly the type of lesson I set out to learn.

Needless to say, I have been taking it easy on the workload since. I've hauled the rest of the firewood to one of the two aspen woodpiles. Like many folks in the County, I plan to burn a 50:50 combination of birch:aspen. Fortunately, we have no shortage of aspen on the property. The birch will have to come from somewhere else.

Most folks have their wood for the following winter delivered in 8 foot long logs in early spring. That way you can buck and split the wood and let it cure all summer and fall before the next heating season. We'll be a little behind with firewood next year.

Last week I started to clear the garden site. I flagged off an area and dropped the smaller trees. We have been watching the sun's seasonal and daily patterns over this area since we first found this land about a year ago. The seasons certainly seemed to have turned. I got my spade shovel 8 inches into the clay loam before I hit frost this week.

I have been hiking the forest directly to the north of our land. I'm working on establishing a route for a spur trail to access the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT). The SHT is about a half mile to the west of the property along Woods Creek. World class hiking just outside our door...

I've found it's important to take some time to explore the woods around me. It's a nice break. Nobody ever said this was going to be easy. I just have to remind myself no matter how tough things can get, I've got to keep working. I've got to keep working for the day when I'll simply open the door, hang the wide brim on the hook, stoke the stove, kiss my sweetheart, stir the soup, and sit down to do nothing but enjoy this place that I call home.

I'm going to start building a tool shed...

Osier Creek

A view of the driveway from under a spruce.

A close-up of that spruce.

The western property line follows Osier Creek.

The first hot meal...

Yesterday we hauled up our grill and ate our first hot meal on the property. It's the little things that make this space feel like home. Just sitting around devouring onion & garlic cheeseburgers topped with tomato, ketchup and mustard, radiates a warm, comforting feeling that one typically feels sitting in their easy chair or kitchen table at home. Since most of the week has been full of thinning firs, this meal was a great break in the monotony of felling, limbing and piling.

We are slowly figuring out the front and back yard of the cabin site. I have flagged white spruce "keepers" on all four corners within 30-50 feet of the cabin. I am going to take out all the firs within this range. All poplar within a heights distance from the cabin will go as well. All shorter poplar will remain. Basically we will have one tree every 15-20 feet apart in the half acre area occupied by the cabin.

It's amazing how fast the water ran its course through the property. In just four days the melt water tapered off. The property is well drained. There will be one location where I will definitely build a board walk between the driveway and cabin. Other than that, I feel confident that the rest of the infrastructure will be poised well to accommodate future storms and spring melts.

We got a solid bid on the driveway this week. I purposefully waited until the runoff to bring a couple of contractor's to the land and bid out the driveway. That way they can see how the water will run under the most extreme circumstances and design the roadway accordingly. Most of our landscapes are shaped by the great, catastrophic events and resulting processes.

It's definitely feeling like spring. The "Alaskan sneakers" (rubber boots) are officially on. I haven't worn my fleece-lined pants in over two weeks. Cardinals are in the trees and the water is meandering it's way back to Superior...

Water, Part 1

With the spring melt comes water.

I've spent my career in the water business. From guiding canoe & fishing trips in the Boundary Waters, to consulting oil and natural gas companies on how to assess and manage water, to studying water's interaction with metal-producing mines, to administering wetland and storm water laws and ordinances; I've spent much of my life thinking about water. In my opinion, it is earth's greatest resource. After all, we are primarily water. We owe our entire existence to the primordial volcanic waters that birthed algae. Water is life and life-giving. With the early, gentle spring melt of 2010, I find myself in awe by the flow of water under and over our land.

According to the local, state and federal governments, there are no "streams" located on or relatively near the property. But let me tell you, there are three. Granted, all three are ephemeral (flowing seasonally, versus perennial meaning flowing year-round). Two streams provide the eastern and western property lines of the property. One meanders down the heart of the land. They are all minor; about 6" to a foot deep. With the spring weather they are all busy anostamosing their way through the rocky abandoned shoreline substrate. They flow down the gentle 10 or so degree slope until they reach the next lower shoreline berm where they pool up a foot or so in depth; slowly infiltrating back into the type 7 wetland ground where the liquid originated until it channelizes back together. And so it flows, all 6-800 some feet between the watershed divide on top of the hill down to Superior.

Whether my personal or professional life; I strive to manage water as sustainably as possible. The way water interacts with the land is a lot like humans: it's fluid, it changes with time and time is the great unknown variable. Regardless of what the weather man says, you never truly know if it will rain tomorrow...

Today it's raining. The stream gauges are climbing. Winter is flowing back into Lake Superior. I'm soaking wet...

Early Spring Thaw

The snow banks have been melting as daytime temperatures are well into the thirties. Consequently, we have been scrambling to get our slash piles burned before too much grass is exposed and burn permits are required.

The garage, driveway and now the cabin site are all cleared. Yes, we have slightly altered our master plan. We've decided to build a small 16 X 24 cabin first. Our priority is to get on the land as soon as possible and we believe we can do this most comfortably with a cabin instead of a garage. There will be plenty more on this decision and subject in future posts.

Beyond clearing the site, I have been thinning out all the balsam fir within a hundred feet of the cabin site. This measure, a sound forestry practice, is also wildfire prevention to minimize potential fuel in close proximity to our dwelling.

Needless to say, I've learned a lot about fires during the last couple of weeks. Fire is alive! You've got to breathe life into it and nourish it into maturity. Once an adult, a fire lives it's vibrant hours as it pleases, with the help of a couple of gentle nudges of course. Kind of like me...

I don't know what I would do without birch bark. It has been my designated fire starter in the north woods of Minnesota since my dad let me play with matches. Being a full-fledged adult pyro, I have no problem getting a blaze going. Here's my process: I take a healthy birch bark peel and get it burning with dried fir twigs. (A trick we learned while running dogs where we were forced to master the art of twiggy fires due to lack of firewood.) I pile on the fir twigs until they flame. At that point I build a teepee with dried 1-2 inch birch/aspen. Then I just pile on all the dry wood around me. With a coal base established, I add on a couple of hardwood logs. Then, the fun begins!

As you know, I'm thinning primarily firs. I cut them down into 5-6' lengths. Once I have a good fire going, I throw the firs into the inferno. I'll throw on a couple, let the flames engulf it, and add some more until I feel that the fire needs time and oxygen to burn. This is where the nurturing comes in. Every fire seems to have it's own capacity. Some fires will only take a tree before you have to shake it up with a little oxygen. Other fires, however, can take a dozen trees at a time. Flames roar 20 feet in the air and the monster will need no more attention beyond sating it's voracious appetite!

I've burned 7 piles since the clearing began. I still need to clear a parking area, a 6 foot wide trail from the driveway to cabin (60' long) and finish thinning the 100' perimeter around the cabin site. I must admit that I am looking forward to carpentry work. Chainsaw work is fun but change of pace will be welcomed.

We had a couple of guests on the property recently. Amy's dad, Bill, paid his second visit to the property. His advice has and always will appreciated. We were able to chat about construction methods. At this stage in the game, I am all ears...

Our good friends Nathan, Shannon & 8-month baby Liam were out for a hike the other day. This was Nathan's fourth visit as he has been one of my partners in slash burning crime on a couple of occasions. His help is always appreciated.

Our friend Tristan also paid a visit to the property. The more folks that we have out there, the more the place feels like home.

Wolf Update: The wolves have seemed to have moved on. They left some carcasses of which the coyotes (and Luna) are cleaning up.

So, for now, I will continue thinning firs. However, my thoughts are spinning plans for pouring the sonotube piers that will be the foundation of the cabin...

Driveway Cleared!

With highs in the thirty's and the relatively strong February sun taking charge of the afternoon sky, this past week on the North Shore has been ideal conditions for work.

The week started at sunrise last Saturday. On her way to Duluth for school, Amy dropped me off with my sled and our beloved Adirondack chair at the bottom of the hill. The pink hues of the sun rising over Lake Superior was spectacular! As the morning light forced its way through the sky, I started by hauling the sled up the hill and over to the garage site. I then made my way back down to get the chair. Schlepping the collapsed wooden chair over my back like a #3 Duluth Pack was probably a site to be seen! I can you tell it hurt like hell, but well worth it! It is now set up at the garage site looking down the driveway. I feel like a king on his throne, sipping my tea, and admiring my slow but steady progress of clea

ring the drive.

So began a week of solid driveway clearing. Every afternoon, Luna and I climbed the hill and spent the waning hours of sunlight cutting away. Finally, one week later, I reached the bottom of the driveway! The saw must have known that the task was complete too, within seconds of limbing the last tree, the trusty Stihl choked and ran out of gas. That's fine, it deserves a little love and a new chain anyways.

The driveway is cleared 16-18 feet in width. It gains about 40 feet in elevation over the 420' length. From the top there's a slight dog leg to the left as it weaves through the white spruce. Saving the spruce (versus the fir) always took precedent in negotiating my way through the thick upland boreal forest. I cut in 25' increments. With the general alignment in mind, I assessed the canopy looking for "keepers". From there I'd measure out my width, cut the smaller shrub and pile. Then I went at the big stuff. I'd start by dropping the fir, limb it and stack. Then the hardwoods. After everything had been dropped and limbed, I piled the hardwoods and conifers separately. And so I crept along, 25' at a time with the occasional tea break.

At this point I've been burning the slash separate from clearing. We've had three burn sessions. The first two occasions climaxed with 10-12 foot flames! I must admit, I had a great time singing "O' Christmas Tree" as I tossed entire balsam fir trees into the inferno.

I've been contemplating how to manage our white spruce forest. Luckily, I know some foresters. Being a "rock-licking" geologist, I don't know the first thing about forest management. But, like all of this homesteading business, I'll make it up as I go! My plan is to thin out all the fir I can. They grow like weeds, carry disease, have a short life span and compete for nutrients with the spruce. This spring I hope to plant white spruce, red oak and red pine.

Driveway cleared, now onto planning structures...

Finding a clearing routine...

I've been spending my evenings on the property clearing, surveying, and planning. The first half of the week has been beautiful! Highs in the low 20's and snow.

Sunday started with a couple inches of dry lake-effect snow and continued throughout the day. It was the kind of snow that skiers dash to the Wasatch Range of Utah for. Instead of skiing, I was sawing away at the firs and poplars; clearing the garage pad. I rather enjoy being out in foul weather. It helps me appreciate the fair days. I guess it's the Norwegian in me. "There's no such thing as bad weather just bad clothes." Right? Hence the wool outfit that I wear religiously. Ever since my time in Alaska working in the bush: wool is the only way to go. It keeps you warm when wet, enough said. Fleece is for sleeping in a tent or the city.

On Monday I decided to take a break from the chain saw and enjoy the white powder. After work I made my way over the hill and skied 10 km of absolutely perfect trails through the red pines of Maple Hill.

On Tuesday I went back out to the land with a GPS unit and surveyed-in the corner pins, as well as the locations of the house, garage, shed, driveway and septic sites. I have been mapping my progress by hand and thought the time was right to get everything surveyed and flagged accordingly. Now I have the property on my own map with my own data and within a meter of accuracy. It's about time considering that we've owned the property for a whole month now!

Wednesday brought me back at the clearing. Here's my routine: I drop a few trees. Limb the straight spruce that I want to keep for structures and basic lashing practice. Drag the limbed poles to their storage by the future shed. Gather the burn brush and hardwoods that aren't firewood worthy. Haul the brush to the burn pile of choice. Drag the wood-stove destined birch to the "bucking log" and repeat at the top.

The big news is that I have now cleared the garage site of all vegetation with the exception of one 10" diameter white spruce that Amy has grown particularly fond of. I will drop this one with her present, so she can say her goodbyes or whatever she's got to do.

So tomorrow I will cut this nice spruce and start burning the slash piles. I'm planning on using kerosene to get the piles going. Kerosene is less volatile than straight octane. As much I love seeing things go boom, I'll play it safe this time. To answer what is on the back of everybody's mind: everything is very green, so yes, the "boy scout juice" is necessary.

There is a huge black wolf roaming the woods. Luna (our mutt who weighs pert-near 70 pounds) stepped in one of its tracks. Her print was less than one half the size of his! I'll keep the camera handy with the hope of sneaking a shot of this one. As I was making my way to the truck I could hear the pack howling in the distance. Apart from the howls, they were making strange hyena-like sounds. In reality, they probably weren't so distant. The critters sounded like they were within a 7 iron shot away!

Hearing that pack at the end of the day has become part of the routine. Cut, limb, drag, pile & howl. Another day done gone...

Wood Chips A-Flyin'!

Finally got back out to the property today for a warm day of clearing the garage site! Sunny, clear skies in the morning that clouded up in the afternoon. Highs in mid 20's.

When the weekend rolled around it was time to get out and do some work! The air today felt like spring. I know, I've lived in Northern Minnesota long enough to know that this is just the mid-winter thaw. However, it felt great to know that the sun is getting high enough in the sky to promote some of that good ol' spring melting. Plus, the melting and refreezing at night is helping us to see how and where the water flows on the property. This will help us figure out culvert locations for the driveway, make decisions about structure orientation, etc. So far no surprises. We had a couple of storm events in the fall that gave us an idea of the drainage patterns. At this point I don't anticipate any major driveway alignments or structure placement changes due to drainage issues. The big test will be this spring when everything melts!

Today was the third day of clearing the garage site. At this point we are about half way to having the garage pad and turnaround cleared. It took us most of the morning bucking the birch that I had felled the last time we worked. From there Amy started stacking the 16 inch lengths to cure for next year.

This picture shows the garage site looking down the driveway on the left. The area that we have cleared to the right is about half of the space that we will need. Unfortunately, the trees in the middle of the shot will be coming down next.

By the time the sun was getting low the felled birches were bucked, the fir were piled and ready to be burned and the cut wood stacked and curing.

The word is that a storm front might be coming through tomorrow. Nonetheless, we hope to be working away some more. It feels so good to be "carving out our niche" in the great north woods...