Another Burn Day

Tom and the Mountaineers Fire Crew were back the last couple of days, and we made a ton of progress. We had created good fire breaks around trees, power lines, and other things we wanted to save. We also created fire breaks in between blocks of blackberries so that the fire didn’t get completely out of control.

Thanks to the JD 3320 and the Brush Crusher grapple for making that work easy.

Today, we had a light North wind that was perfect for burning. And, boy, did we burn. Huge 100 x 20 meter blocks. The pumps were filling the fire hoses from Childs Ditch and keeping all of the burns under control.

By the end of the day, we had uncovered decades-old fencing and rock wall infrastructure from the Ranch’s history.

It is hard to explain how dramatic the transformation has been. We didn’t even know this wall existed until last week; it was covered in blackberry bramble eight feet high!

Old wood gate posts and crumbling metal gates were uncovered from the brambles.

Towards the end of the day, we drove to the top of the hill above Manton. The wind had shifted, and the smoke rose up and blew east towards the Red Barn.

We have now removed more than 10 acres of blackberry bramble by grapple and fire. The soil beneath is fertile, but blackberry root remains. We will need to bring in some more goats soon.

— KLM