If you have been following along with our photos of our yard, you will often notice a tree trunk that is in the middle of the photos of our overall yard. When we first moved in, there was a tree trunk that clearly had been cut, but was still managing to grow. At the time, we thought we would leave it. As the first few years went on, we realized it was an awful tree, so we kept hacking at the top to kill it. Finally it did die. Then we decided we would keep the stump and maybe put some bird houses on it, incorporating the stump into our landscaping.

In the last 2 summers, it has become apparent, that as we finish the yard and are now working on the bottom portion, that the stump has got to go. It just doesn’t fit with what we have done and what we plan for the bottom. Sure, we could incorporate it, but it will always be a bit in the way, and eventually will rot, at which time we will have to deal with the stump anyways. So we decided to get rid of it.

Luckily we have some great friends who have a big chainsaw and are comfortably taking down the tree stump almost to the ground. These are the same friends who also help us get firewood every year so that we have a good supply for our wood stove. We of course, offer ourselves up for grunt labour in ensuring they get all the wood they also need. Anyways, they popped by to help us take down the old dead tree stump. We figured it must be rotting inside by now since it has been dead for 5 years now. Nope. It is still quite solid.

They were kind and bucked up the logs to manageable size so that we can chop it and use it next year for camping wood. Upon some reading, it does sound like elm wood can be good to burn because it doesn’t have a lot of sap and it doesn’t spark much. Though there were some cautions because it can smell a little funky, depending what it was growing near. Luckily for us, it was surrounded by junipers for most of it’s time growing, so the smell shouldn’t be an issue. Since it has been dead standing for 3 or 4 years, it doesn’t seem very wet, but regardless, we will stack it in a dry place and tarp it to keep the snow and water off it. The true test will be when we are chopping it, though it does sound like Elm in general can be a hard wood to chop and takes a little work.

My dad may also look at a few of the smaller pieces for carving. It sounds like it can potentially be good for carving, but there wasn’t a lot of information online. It is apparently good for furniture making based on the grain and the strength and flexibility of the wood. If I was into that, I would definitely keep some of it, but I am not setup, nor do I have a lot of interest in building furniture. Sure, I’ve done a few chairs for around the house, but I don’t think I would want to mill the wood and then build something out of it.

Overall, it is great to have the stump gone. The yard feels much larger without it there. It got cut down yesterday, and when Kurt and I were blowing out the lines this morning, we both noticed how much larger the back feels now. The only task other than cleanup of the logs is to get the stump out. I am going to go and talk with some garden centres about the best option. Ideally, we will drill holes into the stump and pour something in, but we want to make sure it is non-toxic for Basil, as well as our garden. We will get that done before it gets too cold, so that it will hopefully start the rotting process this fall and through the winter into spring. It’s not the end of the world if it isn’t rotted by spring, but it would make landscaping the bottom much easier if it was gone.

Onward to the continued landscaping of the bottom area of the yard. We have some more digging to do before the frosts really start setting into the ground.