So saw, So sore

Unglamorous as it maybe, the annual firewood harvest is one of the most important of the year. This year’s timber will need a full twelve months of drying before it is ready to burn. Pruning the trees so drastically also serves purposes other than our firewood production. Here in the north east of Catalunya we experience very strong winds sometimes hurricane force which twist and tear at the trees woody growth, capable of causing irreparable damage to the tree. The heavy limbs of the mulberry trees in our garden thrive in the Mediterranean climate and if left unchecked may cause structural damage to the house during those northerly Traumontana winds.

 We have so far resisted the purchase of a chain saw, and therefore rely on pruning saws and loppers. This makes for a few days of hard work but we will feel better for it, won’t we? Well if I could find that saw we could get back to work. Carol and I are begging to feel like the Waltons with all this timber around us.

Progress is slow

The telescopic pruner was earning it´s keep, all around me timber fell about my ears and soon the ground was covered in the pruned timber from the Mullberry trees. It now appears that there was rather more tree in the sky then I first thought! I am giving the tree a severe Spanish style pruning cutting back into the crown of the trees.

Cut and thrust

Pruning those Mulberry trees probably means loosing the best part of this years fruit crop, however as so many of those rather tall branches place much of their produce out of gathering range and into the realm of insects and birds, maybe there is not so much to loose. If you watch the Mulberry trees twisting and turning under the effects of the Tramontana winds you can see their crowns straining the very fibres that make up the trucks of those trees. Buds are already beginning to break on the branches evidence that the sap is rising though probably not as fast as my blood pressure will be by the end of the day!

In the final week of what used to be called winter, the weather should be cool enough to tackle the work. Armed with a telescopic tree pruner, pruning saw, loppers, and secateurs I would guesstimate that a couple of hours should be enough to at least fell the longer branches if not complete the pruning.

Add it to the list

Pruning our three Mulberry trees has risen to the top of the jobs to do list. The longer branches nearest the house are now long enough to strike the fascia of the building when whipped up by the too frequent winds. Another years growth will thicken up the timber and and this could result in storm damage next winter. It is the sort of task that needs addressing every three years though I don´t think the previous owner was to enthusiastic about pruning as he was equally unenthusiastic about any obvious endeavor.

Mulberry fool

The Mulberries are cropping well despite the lack of rain water. The berries are very sweet and they are attracting the attention of the builders as well as the wasps. Not sure yet which will sting me the most!

Frequent gusts of wind shake the over ripe fruit from the branches littering the ground with decaying pulp. This black gunge is walked into the house staining the newly laid tiled floors.
I pick as much as I can use and freeze and leave the rest to the birds, bugs and builders.

The trees grow well here, and I see the fruit being sold in the local supermarkets at 4€ a kilo.
Mulberries have a short season and I am not sure how many people would be needed to pick and market the fruit if I plant more trees.

Just found this button - €, probably going to have to use it a lot from now on! Isn't technology wonderful when it works?

Compost

The pallets from the builders materials are utilized to build compost bins. The pallets are held together by plastic cable ties, the advantage of the ties is that the bins are easily taken part and moved around the plot.

We collect as much as we can of the horses droppings which littered the land and incorporate all of our waste vegetable matter. Without water the manure will take a long time to mature into useful compost. So we add water little by little and turn it every week by hand. Already change is apparent in the heap, but it is early days yet. I will have to search for an organic compost accelerator.

The only green matter we have is a little grass, and the leaves shed by the three as yet unidentified trees. The trees provided useful shade on the eastern terrace of the villa. The former owner of the house seemed to be describing a kind of fruit or nut, but there are no signs of a crop.

Whilst scouring the horticultural books on a cold dark autumn evening, I finally identify the three trees, they are Mulberry trees. Now what can you do with mulberry's? Is it warm enough here for a silk farm?