This Week in the Woods
Well it’s been about a month since we wrote about our weeks in the woods, not because we haven’t been working hard, but I guess it’s because we HAVE been working hard. After wrapping up a job for Prentiss & Carlisle down in Alfred, we moved up to New Gloucester to clear some land for a farmer. It was a quick little transition job because it was STILL too wet to get to the other jobs we had lined up. Clearing jobs are nice because usually the skid is short and the wood volume is high. Obviously, this is isn’t what our typical job is like so it’s kinda fun to just go get it all.
It was a looooooooooong painful spring this year.We went into spring very optimistic about market conditions with the improvements to and the restarting of several mills and then mother nature put a giant monkey wrench into that optimism! The spring was long and drawn out with a slow thaw, a lot of snow pack, and it pretty much rained until July 1st. It’s just the name of the logging game though. Summer is finally rolling and we are enjoying the opportunity to get onto some great woodlots but we certainly wouldn’t mind more great woodlots.
Currently, we are in our home town of Poland and everyone knows how much I like to work here. We are working with New England Forest Consultants on a heavily wooded 40 acre parcel. Part of the parcel is in shoreland zoning. That might not sound like much but what it means for the harvest is very important. In shoreland zoning you can only cut 40% of the timber within the zone, therefore it is crucial to have a skilled feller buncher operator and forester. The goal of this harvest is a return on investment which means logs logs logs. It is definitely fun when we’re cutting logs.
Not a week goes by without something breaking or needing maintenance and this past week it was a stupid hydraulic temperature sensor. Just a little sensor that tells me if my hydraulic fluid is hot and it was always on regardless of the temperature of the fluid. That bad larry cost 300 bucks. So annoying.
The little guy is growing like a weed and should be ready to run skidder any day now. The big kids have spent most of their summer on their “job site” digging “pay dirt” and building roads but we have taken some breaks to do a little fishing.
