Tree Felling Precision, Cutting Rounds, Large Tortilla Batch - Thursday

flemingfarm(80)

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Yesterday morning I headed out early to get the tree cut down. I had left the birds closed in the coop and the hut so they wouldn't be roaming around in the fall line of the tree. I tightened the cables on the tree to pull it as hard as I could manage. It then took me about 10 minutes to get the face cut notched out and only a minute or so to get the back cut done and have the tree on the ground. I am pretty damned proud of my placement. The tree landed directly atop the cable and about a foot from the brooder hut which was not even touched by the branches thanks to the fir tree overhead.

Since the tree was standing dead when it landed most of the branches broke off for me which meant a lot less to have to limb.

I went and let the birds out right away and they all started pipping and chirping at the mass of tree now in their way.

It was just before 10am and I had all the limbs cut off the trunk and found that the chain needed to be sharpened. So I headed back to the house for a bit to cool off before heading back out.

I sharpened the chain and got to cutting the rounds. I started at the bottom since the base of the tree is laying across the circle drive and I will need to drive through sooner than later. I cut until the saw died from running out of gas which was 20 cuts. The chain was getting a bit of a turn to the cuts from one side of the chain being sharper than the other but I thought I might be able to keep going with it.

I picked the boys up from school then after filling the saw up I got to cutting more rounds but only made it a few cuts before the chain was just too bad to keep cutting. I had managed to cut past the driveway so once I move the rounds and branches I will be good. The biggest issue I have right now is I can't get to the yard to move the rounds in so it will have to wait a while until the snow melts or I cut a path. I think I will shovel the snow from next to the hay and stack the rounds there. The branches are all going to a pile in the garden so I can burn them for the ash.

Around 4pm I got the batch of tortillas going. I ended up dividing the dough into 24 pieces this time which made for some smaller ones.

The giant sizes are nice for wraps but the smaller ones are good for the boys to just grab and eat as they want.

It takes me right about an hour to make a batch of tortillas which is a far cry from the 4 hours for a loaf of bread.

Today we woke to an inch of snow which is done already but puts us over 53 inches for the winter. I need to wash my clothes first thing then have to shovel the snow to then move the wood rounds, pile all the branches in the garden, sharpen the chain on the saw and maybe cut some more of the tree into rounds. I think I will have to make flatbread buns for burgers tonight since we are through the store bought buns.