Raspberries and chainsaws
Apr. 27th, 2025 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unicorndukeThis week was a weird one. We received our raspberry plants in the mail on tuesday so they went into the basement for a day or so. The basement is very nice and cool and it's better to store them unopened in there until planting. I went into Full Planting Mode, so I spent a day getting the trenches dug with the trencher, nice wet wood chips dumped in the bottom of the trench and my least favorite: irrigation work.
The irrigation is all set up with 2 inch plastic tubing with plastic corners and connectors and the drip tape is punched into the lines and fed from there. Plastic connectors are very easy to run over with a tractor or mower. They go crunch. So I got a bunch of stuff laid out and the main line for hte taspberries hooked up and ready to go when we set up the irrigation pump. Two of our pumps are down in the city being serviced. We kept the one that worked when put away. I tried starting it the other day and it wouldn't start, so I will try cleaning the carburetor as perwhich_chick 's recent post.
It was getting very very dry here, a combo of no rain plus lots of wind, and the raspberries needed water. So I set up a little irrigation line just for the rows that needed it and used Physics! My parents have 250 gallon water totes for their maple sap collection. So I grabbed one of those, filled it with 125 gallons and took it down and plopped it on three stacked pallets. Then we planted! Just over 200 raspberry plants, we got four of the rows done that night, turning on the water for each row as we went. Since it seemed like the pressure dropped a lot, we did two rows rotating as we planted. Once we finished that evening, I filled a second tote with 200 gallons and then realized the 5410 absolutely couldn't pick that tote up. The 5410 is a great tractor to have the forks on, it's fast and maneuverable. But it's got a light front end and no weights. When dad gets the full tote of sap, he uses the forks on the E, which is one of our chonky plow tractors.
So I let 50 gallons out of the tote. Driving was....interesting. Dad explained that you could drive the 5410 with a load too heavy with it, so long as the front wheels were mostly on the ground and you could brake steer. You might need to drive backwards, especially when crossing the road because you pop wheelies otherwise. So I backed over the road with the tote and popped a wheelie on the far side, which I hadn't expected for some reason and it scared the crap out of me and the people who came driving out of town really fast. I wasn't carrying the tote high, so it was a very small wheelie.
In the end, I had to get the tote to around 140 gallons because the tractor couldn't pick the tote up high enough to get it on the pallets otherwise. so all my wheelies were for naught. I hooked up all four drip lines and let it run overnight.
The next morning, we planted the other two rows which were further down the field, so I got the little water tank with the hose (we use it to put campfires out in the fall and it's strapped to a pallet) and watered them in by hand using Physics Round 2. Then I spent some time putting more woodchips on things. In the end, the irrigation didn't get fully set up because of the pump failure and also someone needs to clean the filters (on my to do this week) and blow all the lines out, but saturday we were due for an inch of rain, which would get us another week without irrigating.
I spent Friday evening working alongside one employee picking rock. It's fine. It's rock picking. The bobcat makes it easier at least. Especially the big honkers. We only got one big honker out of the field but it was the size of my torso and thick enough that we couldn't physically move it by hand. So I levered it out of it's hole with the bobcat and scooped it. At this point, it's started absolutely pouring rain, so I sent the employee home, swapped the bobcat to forks and moved the fertilizer pallets that my dad left out under cover and then jammed the bobcat and 7040 under cover.
I'm sure I did some other stuff but I don't remember what.
Saturday and today (Sunday), I took a chainsaw course! The Game of Logging Level 1 and 2, which covers safety, chainsaw basics, techniques for cutting down the tree and then we felled some trees. There was one person cutting at a time with the instructor right there with them, but it was really helpful to watch the other people cut down trees because the trees were all different. My first tree, I had to wedge it down because it had a backbend in it which was kinda fun. Second tree done today, I had to do two bore cuts since the tree was too big for the saw. I was very pleased with my aiming. There was also a half day on chainsaw maintenance which was very valuable. I'm so pleased with the course, definitely a slightly different cutting technique than the typical, we started with a 70 degree notch, bore behind the notch so the hinge is a specific width and then finish out the tree on the good side. I liked the way it worked and I can see why loggers would do it because it leaves a very clean stump with basically no fiber pull, which would lose board feet.
It was extremely windy today and the instructor said normally he wouldn't cut on a day like this, but we'd just go as safe as possible, so we wedged every tree. There still was one tree that got wild, it was actually dead but you couldn't tell, so when the guy cut almost all the way through, the wind pushed the tree right over the wedge. The good news is that it fell on the bad side (wedge always gets placed in the bad side to help balance it while we finish the cut), so they weren't working on that side and the rest of us weren't standing on that side either. It didn't hit anything either. Just about 100 degrees away from where they were aiming. The instructor also had a lot of horror stories about logging. He's been a logger for 40 years and has known people die in so many ways. But he used it as a teaching lesson on safety. Use chainsaw chaps and helmet, work on the inside if something is under pressure, if unsure, don't do it, use a wedge, always go away from the tree at a 45 towards the good side.
Very good training. Super worth the price. I'm helping my parents pack up a bunch of supplies of stuff in a few minutes since they are taking a canopy, chairs and tables down to my brother's tomorrow for the wedding in a few weeks. I'm so sleepy and thankful that I have tomorrow off and my parents will be out of the house all day tomorrow.
The irrigation is all set up with 2 inch plastic tubing with plastic corners and connectors and the drip tape is punched into the lines and fed from there. Plastic connectors are very easy to run over with a tractor or mower. They go crunch. So I got a bunch of stuff laid out and the main line for hte taspberries hooked up and ready to go when we set up the irrigation pump. Two of our pumps are down in the city being serviced. We kept the one that worked when put away. I tried starting it the other day and it wouldn't start, so I will try cleaning the carburetor as per
which_chick 's recent post. It was getting very very dry here, a combo of no rain plus lots of wind, and the raspberries needed water. So I set up a little irrigation line just for the rows that needed it and used Physics! My parents have 250 gallon water totes for their maple sap collection. So I grabbed one of those, filled it with 125 gallons and took it down and plopped it on three stacked pallets. Then we planted! Just over 200 raspberry plants, we got four of the rows done that night, turning on the water for each row as we went. Since it seemed like the pressure dropped a lot, we did two rows rotating as we planted. Once we finished that evening, I filled a second tote with 200 gallons and then realized the 5410 absolutely couldn't pick that tote up. The 5410 is a great tractor to have the forks on, it's fast and maneuverable. But it's got a light front end and no weights. When dad gets the full tote of sap, he uses the forks on the E, which is one of our chonky plow tractors.
So I let 50 gallons out of the tote. Driving was....interesting. Dad explained that you could drive the 5410 with a load too heavy with it, so long as the front wheels were mostly on the ground and you could brake steer. You might need to drive backwards, especially when crossing the road because you pop wheelies otherwise. So I backed over the road with the tote and popped a wheelie on the far side, which I hadn't expected for some reason and it scared the crap out of me and the people who came driving out of town really fast. I wasn't carrying the tote high, so it was a very small wheelie.
In the end, I had to get the tote to around 140 gallons because the tractor couldn't pick the tote up high enough to get it on the pallets otherwise. so all my wheelies were for naught. I hooked up all four drip lines and let it run overnight.
The next morning, we planted the other two rows which were further down the field, so I got the little water tank with the hose (we use it to put campfires out in the fall and it's strapped to a pallet) and watered them in by hand using Physics Round 2. Then I spent some time putting more woodchips on things. In the end, the irrigation didn't get fully set up because of the pump failure and also someone needs to clean the filters (on my to do this week) and blow all the lines out, but saturday we were due for an inch of rain, which would get us another week without irrigating.
I spent Friday evening working alongside one employee picking rock. It's fine. It's rock picking. The bobcat makes it easier at least. Especially the big honkers. We only got one big honker out of the field but it was the size of my torso and thick enough that we couldn't physically move it by hand. So I levered it out of it's hole with the bobcat and scooped it. At this point, it's started absolutely pouring rain, so I sent the employee home, swapped the bobcat to forks and moved the fertilizer pallets that my dad left out under cover and then jammed the bobcat and 7040 under cover.
I'm sure I did some other stuff but I don't remember what.
Saturday and today (Sunday), I took a chainsaw course! The Game of Logging Level 1 and 2, which covers safety, chainsaw basics, techniques for cutting down the tree and then we felled some trees. There was one person cutting at a time with the instructor right there with them, but it was really helpful to watch the other people cut down trees because the trees were all different. My first tree, I had to wedge it down because it had a backbend in it which was kinda fun. Second tree done today, I had to do two bore cuts since the tree was too big for the saw. I was very pleased with my aiming. There was also a half day on chainsaw maintenance which was very valuable. I'm so pleased with the course, definitely a slightly different cutting technique than the typical, we started with a 70 degree notch, bore behind the notch so the hinge is a specific width and then finish out the tree on the good side. I liked the way it worked and I can see why loggers would do it because it leaves a very clean stump with basically no fiber pull, which would lose board feet.
It was extremely windy today and the instructor said normally he wouldn't cut on a day like this, but we'd just go as safe as possible, so we wedged every tree. There still was one tree that got wild, it was actually dead but you couldn't tell, so when the guy cut almost all the way through, the wind pushed the tree right over the wedge. The good news is that it fell on the bad side (wedge always gets placed in the bad side to help balance it while we finish the cut), so they weren't working on that side and the rest of us weren't standing on that side either. It didn't hit anything either. Just about 100 degrees away from where they were aiming. The instructor also had a lot of horror stories about logging. He's been a logger for 40 years and has known people die in so many ways. But he used it as a teaching lesson on safety. Use chainsaw chaps and helmet, work on the inside if something is under pressure, if unsure, don't do it, use a wedge, always go away from the tree at a 45 towards the good side.
Very good training. Super worth the price. I'm helping my parents pack up a bunch of supplies of stuff in a few minutes since they are taking a canopy, chairs and tables down to my brother's tomorrow for the wedding in a few weeks. I'm so sleepy and thankful that I have tomorrow off and my parents will be out of the house all day tomorrow.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-28 01:13 am (UTC)That sounds like an excellent chainsaw course.
(Dad was not especially careful about much, but he was always particularly careful about making sure the escape route away from the base of the tree was clear before the saw got started. It kinda stuck with me.)
Yay getting the house to yourself!
(May your brain let you nap.)
no subject
Date: 2025-04-30 12:08 pm (UTC)I did a little dozing outside in the sun, it was very nice!
Yes ...
Date: 2025-04-28 01:40 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2025-04-30 12:06 pm (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2025-05-01 04:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-28 02:36 pm (UTC)‘Round this house, chainsawing is done using a full welding helmet - full helmet, integrated face plate, integrated hearing protection - and giant logging chaps as well as solid gloves, wedges, and a spotter.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-30 12:06 pm (UTC)I've got all the safety equipment and went for the logging helmet with in built face shield and integrated ear protection. I will probably add safety glasses under the faceshield because I found some sawdust went under the shield and into my face depending on how I was using the saw. I suspect if I practice enough, I won't always need a wedge, but for now, I'm going to wedge every tree I cut down until I get better.