kontextmaschine:

Okay, went to smash that last bit of Blueberry Hill, found some steady ground to the side but after a few swings realized it was steady cause it was thin dirt atop some still-intact planks, so I smashed them for a while.

Also weeding, clearing out this one grass from the front that’s much taller (and leggier and unplush) that used to be like 80% of the cover.

Taking an hour break then I’ll go back out, got some other stuff in mind.

More weeding, flat-smashed all the stuff I’d sharped, then covered the wood in the dugout with pine boughs, then covered that with the wood I’d been smashing up, I’ll cover that with grass clippings in a week or two. Also, built half my (pressure treated) scrapwood into a bonfire.

Okay, went to smash that last bit of Blueberry Hill, found some steady ground to the side but after a few swings realized it was steady cause it was thin dirt atop some still-intact planks, so I smashed them for a while.

Also weeding, clearing out this one grass from the front that’s much taller (and leggier and unplush) that used to be like 80% of the cover.

Taking an hour break then I’ll go back out, got some other stuff in mind.

Alright, started on the little bit of Blueberry Hill left to smash but it really was left til last because it had the least stable ground to stand on and after a few swings realized I wasn’t gonna have my big finish today.

So instead I edged it (ba-dum-tiss).

I also finished off all the weeding circuit except the yards – front and top rear – within the retaining wall, took the time to try to totally clear some subpar grasses out while the soil’s still moist and good to dig out clumps.

Dumped 3 buckets of pull onto my ramp down into the Blueberry Hill dugout shell, that’s just loads dumped on wood fill full of air pockets so when it rains dirt drains down there and I gotta keep packing more on.

Tree in the top backyard starting to bear leaves, there’s a part where I cut two trunks to mount a bench and table, and shoots are growing off the sides right to thicken to be trimmed into a candelabra of supporting pillars in time.

OK, gathered up the last of the wood, there’s one pile of staves too thick to bother bashing, one of ones too short, and one of ones I’ll give a pass at smashing into two each of Category B but just set out to rot intact if they don’t break.

Then cause I’ve been smashing wood all week I started another weeding circuit. There be some tiny ass bittercress in the world, the little white flower not even above the surrounding grass blades.

Yeah, good thing I stopped smashing when I did yesterday, the back between the lower back where I stabilize my base and the shoulders where I throw the maul is tense, it woulda been totally locked up.

Okay, it was drizzling when I went out so I went under the boughs of the pine to smash the last bit of Blueberry Hill. Sharp-smashed half of it and realized I could finish it all standing on that rubble but I’d put my lower back out of commission a few days more, so I just blunt-smashed that half flat, went and cleared every blade of a low-quality grass from the lower back yard, and threshed the piles of branches left after yesterday, sharp and flat. Started to gather up the wreckage but it got too dark, so tomorrow.

Anyway, sorting that smashed-up wood took a while so that was most of today’s yard work. Smashed 2 piles of medium branches and one of light, which produced 2 trash cans of twigs, 1 pile of medium, 1 of light, 1 of short-but-too-thick-to-snap, and a handful of almost wrist-thick ones to chop up with the lopper.

So, tomorrow I’ll thresh those, I think there might even be a third round after.

kontextmaschine:

Okay, I just looked at the part of Blueberry Hill left to be smashed and my lower back hurt, so I went over to smash piles of branches on solid ground. I got 2 piles of small branches and 2 of light medium with the sharp axe end of the maul head and then a drizzle came up, so I went in to rest the back, in a bit I’ll gather the piles back together and get them with the blunt head, then sort the rubble – twig-size stuff skimmed for later use, stuff that’s proving too thick set aside to be lopped, and everything else gathered up to be threshed again

Gathered and flat-smashed them all, finished ditches on both sides of the rammed-earth ramp to the gate, moved a roll of wire grid to the backyard where I’ll use it to shore up the Blueberry Hill retaining wall (this was the original yard task I thought up around Christmas of 2021), and started filling in the dugout shell with logs and covering with pine boughs.

Okay, I just looked at the part of Blueberry Hill left to be smashed and my lower back hurt, so I went over to smash piles of branches on solid ground. I got 2 piles of small branches and 2 of light medium with the sharp axe end of the maul head and then a drizzle came up, so I went in to rest the back, in a bit I’ll gather the piles back together and get them with the blunt head, then sort the rubble – twig-size stuff skimmed for later use, stuff that’s proving too thick set aside to be lopped, and everything else gathered up to be threshed again

OK smashed up most the rest of Blueberry Hill before a windy rain started blowing under the pine. Had to stand on drier & less consolidated debris to do so though, which I’m feeling in my lower back. Also got some ditch digging done, gotta tamp down the long side of Strawberry Ridge beside the woodchip trail before I do that, though, and that’s down the priority list.

Smashing shoulder’s back and I finished off 1 of the 2 parts of Blueberry Hill remaining. (In the “dugout”, where the soil level inside the shell of Blueberry Hill is below where I built the sides to)

Then started to fill it in with logs, then I’ll cover with twigs, smash, then grass clippings. The other area is more out of the way against a slope, but as is pine branches shade it from rain while it’ll smash into a drainage path, so I want to do that to get it wet some before the rainy season ends.

Also, dug some drainage ditches alongside the path with my ditch shovel.

Okay, coughing only felt like a dull, muffled pain today so I threw the maul a few times, still gonna be a day or two more though. Did more prepping and sorting of the wood I’m gonna fill Blueberry Hill in with afterwards.

Have totally eliminated some of the grass species that grow big & fast but low-quality, realized this will change the timing to mow them to leave them reasonably long for the hot season.

That tweaked pec is really bugging me today – it makes it uncomfortable to breathe in too deep and expand my lungs, so no smashing or even much bending over – so just some light yard stuff, digging up the dirt I laid for a backdoor ramp to Blueberry Hill and leveling out the plateau where the actual blueberry plants will go

Ok no smashing today while I wait for that tweaked pectoral muscle to clear, sorted the wood for future smashing, did some more weeding, and now that I’ve mostly smashed up Blueberry Hill and used the pulled stuff from weeding to build a ramp down into the shell – from right by my backyard gate – I don’t need the one I built up from the other side anymore, so dug that out and used the dirt to build up the lowest part of the plateau.

Also had yet another neighbor walk by, congratulate me on all the work, and extend offers of bounty

Strawberry Ridge further decaying in the rain, with some of the wood I’m gonna smash into smaller bits and bulk up Blueberry Hill with

From last year when I was doing yard work all year long I have a pretty good sense of local micro-seasons and know the rain stops after May.

So, I’ll want to start tamping down any loose soil on the rammed-earth ramp sloping up to the backyard gate so I can get a few cycles to compress it to water- (and plant-) impermeable hardpack before it dries too much. Most of the pulled weeds and dirt this year I dumped to build a slope down a bit into the shell of Blueberry Hill.

So I want to use that ramp to get down and smash all of Blueberry Hill and refill it with new compost by late April to get wet some and start decay processes, maybe break wood apart in Strawberry Ridge too, also I want the grass to be a bit past medium-length then to trap moisture by the ground so I’ll cut it tight in a week or so and throw that in to get rained on and paste things together.

When it gets dry weeds stop sprouting, last year pulling them was full-time by now and afterwards I used the time to trim all the trees, it’ll still free up some this year I guess I’ll use to get the renovation started.

Smashed some small bits. I think there’s about a session and a half left, but I’ll have to let it sit and settle and go through a few wet/dry cycles to firm up to be solid enough to stand on to get another ¾ session, then same before I stand on that and get the last bits.

kontextmaschine:

Ok, more smashing. 2-4 sessions left.

Not cold outside at night and smashing that until recently woulda finished me for the day (week, even!) no longer does, so went and smashed some more.

Maybe 2 sessions left.

Ok, more smashing. 2-4 sessions left.

Alright did a little patch of smashing and I would have registered it as great stamina months ago but it was pathetic compared to yesterday so I’m gonna let myself recover back to full.