So back in 2020 there was a catastrophic derecho that knocked the whole state of Iowa for a loop. 80-130mph winds for an hour straight. On our farm we were very lucky that no one was hurt and only one outbuilding was damaged. House took a couple of solid knocks from falling tree limbs but generally unscathed. But oh, the trees. Devastating and overwhelming how many trees were down, blocking the driveway, in the hayfields and pastures, just everywhere you looked there was massive amount of cleanup to do. Because it was late august, the trees were all in full leaf, so the massive old trees took the worst hit.
So we just started cutting eveything into big 8-10ft logs and dragging it into the orchard where we lined the entire fenceline with piles of logs. So, about 700 ft of fenceline, stacked 4-5ft high with logs-- it looked like a medieval fortress. Just about every weekend that weather permitted, we have plugged away at the fortress, bucking the logs into smaller pieces, splitting those into firewood, stacking firewood, cleaning up and burning the stumps and small debris.
The milestone: yesterday, almost 2 years later, we cut and split the last of the fortress logs. I swear my husband had tears in his eyes - so often it felt like an insurmountable amount of work but we kept at it. (ok, so we’re not entirely done–there’s still a whole giant oak tree on the ground, but it’s way out back and not in the way of anything so it’s been the lowest priority. We’ll tackle it in the fall when the brush dies back.)
