Tuesday, March 31, 2009


The volcano is smoking and it is another wonderful day.

Weiner and Bule going to dinner.
Some 30 years ago, a previous owner of our farm had the idea of making money by planting a monoculture pine plantation where a natural forest once stood. Monocultures are never the right way to go, and pine is not indigenous to our area.

We made the decision to remove the pine and use the proceeds to rehab the land back to the diversified forest it originally and potentially would have been. A forest of mixed species is what is right for the regional wildlife and for the forest. Monocultures are easily infested or plagued and pine is simply not supposed to be here. These pines had a borer and it was their time to go before they deteriorated.

Friday, March 06, 2009




















Our farm has a 14 acre pine forest with about 500 trees, that have reached maturity. We explored harvesting the pines ourselves but this was a job for professionals due to the steep terrain, mud, weather, permits required, equipment, tractor, transport and the difficulty of removing such large trees without someone dying.

We spoke with a number of loggers, received quotes, and decided that the lumber mill we frequent, was the most honest and qualified for this job. We are happy with their work, their diligence and timeliness (they show up, lets not forget that this is the land of manana and quince dias).

This morning when they had loaded the tractor trailer, they came down on the very rugged goat trail of a road, crossed our big river (no bridge) with the tractor trailer loaded, and when they arrived at our house, I took these photos. The road going up is so difficult, their 4 wheel drive tractor helps to pull them up and over the very rough spots. The experienced driver is able to make the hairpin turns like the pro he is.