- While listening to #1 song Kesha’s “Tik Tok.”
- Poking” people on Facebook.
- Playing Angry Birds in our free time.
- Admiring newly engaged Kate and William.
- And wondering whether Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress was real…
Garrett and I unceremoniously bought our 20 acre property off of his parents at an amazingly discounted price (but still having to save up for a couple of years to do so).
The only reason that this land was available was clear from the beginning:
- NO ELECTRICITY
- NO SEPTIC
- NO RUNNING WATER
- NO BUILDINGS
- NO ROADS
Little did these two new land owners know that there will be a lot of work involved in making it live-able but MOST IMPORTANTLY WE ARE OBLIGATED TO KEEP THIS GORGEOUS FOREST HEALTHY AND THRIVING.
Over the years, a city girl like me had to learn a lot about wild fires, forestry, living off the land and best practices of dealing with forest creatures like mice, squirrels and the occasional brown bears that apparently like to help themselves if you leave trash out OR brew a very potent beer outdoors.
In case you thought that 13 years would be plenty of time to maintain and landscape our property.
Nope!
Since Garrett and I were only part-timing in Montana during our summer vacations, we had a very limited time to do any forest maintenance.
Coming back a year later and there seemed to be more trees, somehow, made the task of maintaining 20 acres seem impossible.
Luckily, ma and pa would help us burn a lot of our tree piles, but still cutting down trees, piling them up and burning (during spring time ONLY) still remains a regular chore/activity here at The Hohnstead.
And ma and pa have 100 acres to maintain…
To tell you the truth, this city girl used to really dislike any vacation activity that didn’t involve hanging in a hammock and reading a book.
But over the years, I’ve learned to appreciate the solitude of the forest, the physical labor of dealing with trees (which I’ve grown to really enjoy) AND of course, the gratitude of being able to live in SUCH A MAGICAL PLACE!
Lastly, creating videos about our projects at The Hohnstead has really helped to turn a regular activity into a creative exercise of running around, setting up my single camera at various angles while recording. Then spending hours to edit all together, paying attention to the story, audio levels, continuity issues, lighting and more.
We hope that you enjoy this short film, done in no talking (ASMR) style because talking is overrated when you’re in the presence of her majesty — Nature.
- Lack of vertical space can allow a fire to move from the ground to the brush to the treetops like a ladder. Remove all tree branches at least 6 feet from the ground.
- Defensible space is the buffer you create between a building on your property and the grass, trees, shrubs, or any wildland area that surround it. New regulations are going into effect, requiring 5-100 feet of defensible space in order to allow firefighters to be able to do their jobs.
- When burning brush, keep an eye out for a few days afterwards, in case the roots underneath have been ignited. This may cause your fire to re-ignite.
- Use caution when cutting down trees with a chainsaw, using a lawn mower or other gardening tools. Plenty of fires have started when small sparks from garden tools ignite dry brush.
- Find a way to re-purpose newly cut lumber. Here is an inspirational video from my father in law, using his homesteading tools and know-how to re-purpose wood.
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