Post new year 2019

Phew... I am spent! cutting and cutting and cutting. I am posting here the day by day progress pictures of the forest plot. First off, here is me in my gear.

Helmet is really needed

I was real glad to have worn the helmet. Already the first day I got two big bamboos falling and hitting me right in the head. The mask also is a must because not only does it stop me from getting all the sawdust in my lungs, it also blocks the white, black and other color fungus spores that seem to live in this plot.

Day 2

Spending so much time in the plot, I saw that my neighboring owners, let's call them Mr K and Mr. O, also come by once in a while. Mr. K came by almost every day with a truckload of burnable (including plastic) trash and made a nice fire on his lot and burned it. One day he gave me a baked sweet potato which he had made in that same fire. Hot hot hot and yummy. They are both nice guys and seem to want to help. Mr. O already set me up with another Mr. O who I already mentioned lent me his field.

Day 3

It was nice to have someone to chat to when I felt out of breath and took a break. And I could gradually get some background information about the area, like long time ago how water used to be lead over our plots in order to reach the rice paddies further down west. (Before those rice paddies became golf courses). I would stop my cutting, get a sip or two of drink and have a five minute chat while wiping my glasses. Yes, the glasses fogged up all the time thanks to the mask and my heavy breathing, so I was cutting half blind.

Day 4

In the day to day pictures it is not so easy to see how much I have been cutting due to the thick bamboo grove still remaining in the background. So I add a picture from the side just to show better.

Day 4 from side

I started by just felling the bamboos and letting them lie there randomly but quickly realized that they pile up real bad. So I spent the 5th and 6th day cleaning up the mess from the beginning, and starting from day 5 I actually took care which way the fallen bamboos would lie so they would not take too much space.

Day 5

You can see that the border between my plot and Mr. K's becomes cleaner and cleaner. I wanted to chip down all that bamboo and spread it over the plot, but I don't have a wood chipper. I think if I chop down the bamboos in decent enough size and arrange them properly, they would work as mulch blocking the sun from reaching the soil and stopping more bamboos from popping up. Also they would disintegrate naturally over a couple of years and add to the soil anyway. So that is what I will do.

Day 5 from side

Once Mr. O came by and showed me a really old map of the area and told me a little about the history of the place. He was also accompanied with the owner of one of the plots farther south. We were talking about how there are 2 paths in the south and that no one knows whose the plots directly to the south of the path belong to, and how the city never maintains that path so it has become overgrown with trees. Actually Mr. O thinks that the paths are where the woods are, and that the clear land that looks like a path and currently being used is part of our plots. Anyway, we all would like to remove as much trees from south as possible to allow for sun to reach the lands.

The old-ass map, with my plots marked with red crosses

I don't think the expression "not being able to see the forest for all the trees" applies here, but something like that is what I get to experience first hand. Not being able to see the forest plot because of all the bamboos. The more bamboos I cut, I discover more of what the plot has growing in it. The most obvious is the several tall sugi trees which I kind of could see even before cutting down any bamboos, but now I get to see how many more there actually is. All of sugi trees I really want to cut down as they cast big shadow and take up land with their roots and are generally in the way. Plus I have a bit of allergy. Also their falling branches and leafs are a big nuisance according to Mr. O who agrees with me wanting to cut them down. Except he asked me to let one sugi remain. If I understood him correctly he wants it to serve as a marker for where the path goes south of my land. It is the biggest sugi tree around, and it is right in the south part of my plot so I want it gone. But I don't have the power or time yet to cut it down so I just said sure, for now. Of course since the tree is on my land I get to decide to cut it.

Me and a couple of the sugis. These are biiig

Cutting down bamboos is one thing but the sugis are large powerful beasts that I think not me alone with my chainsaw can kill. I will attempt of course on the smallest of them and see how realistic it is. But still thinking about it is scary. The tallest non-bamboo tree I ever fell was the one next to the house, which was a midget in comparison. And that one was a pain in the ass to cut down. I think if I ask nicely the other owners that Mr. O knows can help out...

Day 6

Except for the sugi trees, what grows in that plot is 4-5 types of "weed" trees and bushes almost all with running roots. Thanks to the thickness of the bamboos, those are still tiny and I can pull them out with my hand, so it should not be a big deal.

Day 6 from side

It is nice to see the sun shine on the middle of the plot where it didn't reach before. And it is nice to walk and step on old rotting branches and bamboos and hear them crack crack. Once I have cleared all of the bamboos, I will cut them into shorter logs and arrange them on the ground to cover everything. After that I will cut down as much bamboo as I can from the north side because they all kind of lean over my plot and just fall over once in a while. If a bamboo falls on a sapling, it is finished for sure. Then I want to also go into the south plot on the other side of the path and cut down bamboos there too. I am sure the owner doesn't mind me cleaning up.

Sugi trees emerging slowly from their hiding

After that, I want to fell down all the sugis, and then rent an excavator to dig up roots and stuff. After that I can put in saplings. If I work really hard, maybe by summer I can do it but it would be the most optimistic case.

Day 7

After the 7th day I had cleaned up along the border between my land and Mr. K's, but he said he didn't mind if I mess up on his land cause he is not planning to do anything on it anyway.

Straight and clean along the border

After 8 days of hard work, it was time to go back to work (office), but I am glad I have cleared more than half of the plot. I will cut more on weekends and hope to finish it within this month...

Day 8

I think I can see a slight difference even now, compared with the "Before" picture