The Workaway Adventure Continues
 February, 2018
 
We have to admit, it is really nice having all this help with the tough jobs around here.  On top of that, we are getting to meet some really special people. 

As usual, this particular job started with Charlie, our tree faller, paying us a visit.  This year was a little unusual.  In our attempt to help make our place a little more fire wise, Charlie worked directly around the house, limbing only 3 trees!  The tangle of limbs was monumental.  Ideal for a Workaway crew. 

In addition, Charlie brought a sidekick who dropped 30 or so trees in the woods halfway down the property.  Again another job ideal for a Workaway crew.

Charlie's first work location - our front door.
Cedar is particularly fire prone and there were lots of limbs directly over the roof of the house.


The view from the front door.
Our Workawayers arrive day after tomorrow.
Hope they can find their way into the house!

On the opposite side of the house outside the library was a grand fir also hanging over the roof.


You can see how far up Charlie climbed removing limbs.
Now the work begins.

This is Jacquie and Nico.
Two of the hardest working individuals you would ever want to meet.
    


We teach all of our Workawayers how to drive our tractor.
John Deere makes everybody's job easier.


First day, 4 workers, 4 hours -- it looks great!!!

But we only managed to clear out a small portion of these limbs by quitting time.

Next day -- We had a huge pile of wood chips we wanted spread.  Gave  them the tools and they took over.


The raker
The hauler


Still raking

Still hauling



Nico is a culinary school graduate and has spent many hours in restaurant kitchens prior to falling in love with commercial farming.  When Dianne started making buns for our lunch sandwiches, he gave her a lesson in how to create a beautiful bun.

Thank you, Nico!
Once we finished the work at the house and spreading wood chips, it was time to move to the heavy duty work of dealing with firewood.  To show what was facing us, here are some photos after Charlie had left.

This tree was 23" at the base, way off in the distance.





The next day was a new experience for us as Workaway hosts.  We had commitments in town.  We fed them breakfast, showed them where the wood was, and drove away.  But with these two conscientious workers, there was no problem.  By the time they were done, every single bucked round had been stacked neatly beside the tractor road.  WOW!







Nico decided to go back to the earlier job and place cedar limbs as an edging.

Day 4.  Nancy worked at the house untangling the limbs outside the library.  Dianne started bucking the trees that had not been bucked. Jacque and Nico filled trailer after trailer and hauled the rounds to our storage location by the barn.  Later this summer, they will be split and stacked in the barn, but that is a job for a future Workaway crew (we hope).




We took a break for lunch.  After lunch Nancy and Dianne finished the limbs outside the library.  Some were so big they had to be chainsawed.  Then we loaded them in the tractor trailer and hauled them away.  Nico said he wanted to haul more wood even though we told him he had worked long enough.  He ended up hauling wood until it was almost dark.  That was quite a long day.  We are sure what prompted this was the fact that the forecast for the next day was 100% rain.




TThe rainy day was put to good use.  Nico and Jacquie took their car to Glide and Don Kidd gave it the once over for them.  It was making a "weird" noise and they wanted to make sure it was safe to drive.  It was deemed safe!

Thursday was to be their last day here, and we told them they had done more than enough work, so they went for a 10 mile hike on 2 segments of the North Umpqua trail.  We fed them a hardy breakfast, they loaded up on lunch and snack food and off we went.  They left their car at the Wright Creek campground and we then drove them to the Panther segment trailhead.  They hiked the Panther and Wright Creek segments.  

Ready to hit the trail.

Cocodrie greets the returning hiker
Friday they packed up and headed back toward Orcas Island, Washington, and their farm work. 
They definitely made a mark on Long Shadows.