Stumping

As political pundits’ newscycle turns to election stumping, our workcycle turns to ash stumping. The inevitable next step in our current homegrown lumber undertaking is to transform the stumps (leftover from five removed ash trees) into mulch and then prepare the ground for grass seeding in the spring.

After felling five ash trees in the vicinity of Rosslyn’s icehouse and carriage barn with precision and arboreal poetry… [there are] stumps to be ground down and logs to be split into firewood…

(Source: Logs Off to Sawmill)

If you missed previous posts in this homestead-centric series (“Aerial Arborist Haiku”, “Stump-to-Lumber”, and “Lumberjacking”), the long-story-short is that we always try to repurpose, upcycle, and recycle if/when possible. When it was determined that these five dying ash trees needed to be removed, we returned to the playbook that has served us well for more than a decade and a half. Reuse everything. Lumber, firewood, and mulch (wood chips).

Once the giant stems are down, cut into 10-12’ sections, and trucked off to the sawmill, grinding down the stumps is the next project. The previous two images document the process: an immense stump grinder is operating, swipe after swipe, gradually reducing what remains of the tree into shredded wood chips.

The fluffy mounds are then transported to our mulch pile and/or our compost (if mixed with soil) for use next spring. Next spring these spots will be spread with topsoil and seeded for grass to become part of Rosslyn’s lawns.

This final snapshot documents Aaron and Tony whittling down a giant stump before using the stump grinder. Chainsaws and stump grinders give the mistaken illusion that this work is mechanized, perhaps even easy. Far from it! Every step is physically taxing. Reducing the stumps as close to the ground as possible, swinging a splitting maul again and again, is exactly the sort of exercise where Tony excels.

Well done, Tony and Aaron! Thank you for stumping the ash trees. Next step, firewood…