Pruning Trees and Clearing Brush

Living out in the country on a wooded acreage requires a few more property maintenance tools than are necessary to maintain the yard of a property in the city or town. From time to time a municipal property owner may need to prune or even fell a tree, but out on the wooded acreage tree pruning and felling can be a requirement from day to day. Because of the heavy population of trees the plight of natural decay and high wind damage and snow weight breakage is a common occurrence that creates problems that must be dealt with regularly.

To deal with the frequent tree maintenance a good chainsaw is necessary. If there were only one tree to cut up on an infrequent basis, perhaps a hand saw would suffice and the job could be carried out over days of time. But when a tree needs to be cleaned up quickly a chainsaw is a very efficient way to handle the chore. Another handy tool to have when brushing and pruning trees is a quad. After the tree is all cut up something has to be done with the larger blocks of wood and the smaller branches and other debris. You could use a hand pulled wagon and sometimes perhaps a pickup truck, but a quad is ideal for getting into difficult areas where a truck cannot easily go and does not require the physical endurance of the dragging of the hand pulled wagon. Not everyone living on an acreage has a quad or the desire to purchase one, they are quite expensive, but I have discovered that a good quad can make acreage living much easier.

On a heavily wood acreage many tree problems commonly arise quite frequently. Wind is an environmental element that is dealt with all twelve months of the year. Often the wind is mild, but there are some days in every season when winds gust up to seventy to ninety kilometers per hour or even higher. Powerful wind gusts often damage trees or blow trees right over, causing them to fall across drive lanes and fall on fences and on buildings also. Another very common issue happens in the early spring and in the early fall when wet sticky snow showers down and clings to the tree branches. Under the heavy weight of snow buildup tree branches often snap and smaller trees can bend right over and snap off their trunk near the ground. When such issues arise dealing with the problems efficiently is only possible if you have the right tools.

When the weather elements damage the branches of trees they begin to appear very unsightly. Trimming off the broken limbs greatly improves the appearance of the entire vicinity around those trees. If the yard has evergreen trees which have branches that grow out from the tree trunk at ground level and upward, trimming off the lower branches allows for easier yard maintenance. Removing the lower branches for one, two, or three feet up the trunk can make the yard look much neater. It is very difficult to mow the lawn around evergreen trees that have not had their lower branches trimmed. Often the mower wheels run over the branches pinning them to the ground and the mower cannot get beneath them.

On the acreage wood can be very useful. You can enjoy many bonfires year round, but especially during the warm summer evenings. Those who have fireplaces in their homes will never have to purchase wood because through regular yard maintenance they have plenty of their own. If you have excess amounts of wood you could sell some by the bag full or by the cord to those homeowners who have none. Myself I am going to wood as a primary heat source for my home which will save me during the colder seasons $250.00 to $400.00 per month. Wood is a very valuable heating fuel.

The quad is another extremely helpful machine to have on the acreage. There are so many things that the quad can do and so many places that the quad can get into. The quad is my tote-goat - I use it to carry many things around to the areas on the acreage that I need to work at. I use it to carry wood, I use it to carry heavy boulders, I use it to skid fallen trees to where I can easily cut them up, and I use it to pull a trailer when those loads will not fit on the carrying racks.

I would be lost without my quad on the acreage; it is like having a third hand. You do not need a huge quad to do the work that I get done with mine. My quad is a Yamaha 250cc Timber Wolf four wheel drive and it has all the pulling power that I have ever required. The 250cc has very good fuel consumption as well which makes its operation very economical.

Living out in the country on an acreage requires more than the desire to live in a home on a huge piece of property. Living on an acreage there is always a great deal of work to be done and the work is not always pleasent. Sometimes the work gets demanding and physically hard. People who thrive in a country acreage environment are those who accept all the challenges that the property can throw at them. To such people acreage living is more than a life - it is a lifestyle.

I welcome all your questions and comments as well as any suggestions or ideas of your own. Please contact me through any of my links with any input that you desire to contribute. I enjoy hearing from everyone.

Thank you

How To Pam