A Day's Work, part deux

The bulk of the work I did at Shalom no Mori was cutting logs along their length and then stripping the bark off of them. These logs would be used to create a new home for the Komoriyas. So far the foundation has been completed, constructed almost entirely by the three Germans who made Zum Ginsielder lodge. They have never worked with concrete before. All of this makes me want to build my own house.

The logs I worked with were all felled at some other time in Shalom Forest. I really wish I could have cut a tree down. Maybe some other time. We used a truck to transport all of the logs from the log spot to the cutting spot. Some logs had been lying around in the sun for a long time, and had thus lost their weight in water. I could carry these by myself to the saw spot. Usually two people worked the saw, but it was very possible to do it solo. Hiro-san asked me to do it by myself a number of times, including carrying the wood by myself. This made me very proud, and I enjoyed it.

I think we can all agree that I look really cool in this photo

Cutting a log

I actually took the first two photos myself, using a timer. That last photo was taken by Victor, from Tokyo (but originally from Peru). Victor was WWOOFing together with his family as a short vacation from hectic Tokyo life. Good people. Victor used to be a professional photographer, part of the Nikon Professional Circle. He gave me a lot of pointers and tips on photography. Thanks, Victor.

All of this work with logs and cabins and saws made me feel a bit (a very wee bit) like Dick Proenneke. Having seen the short film about him, Alone in the Wilderness, I knew that it was entirely possible to just heave a big log on your shoulder and walk around with it. The movie follows the construction of a log cabin from start to finish by Proenneke, all by himself, entirely by hand. He also filmed nearly the entire movie. I suggest anybody who can to see this film (I can lend it to you). Maybe you'll learn something useful, like how to carry logs on your shoulder. Thanks for that, Dick.

After cutting the logs, we would load them up in a truck and drive them down to the river. We set up a power washer which I then used to strip off all the bark.



Aside from this work, I did a number of small odd-jobs- installed a screen on a small dam used to re-route water to a future fish farm, built a gate for the pony's corrall, cleaned up the pony's poop, etc. The last few days I spent at Shalom Forest the work wasn't so great. We just cleaned rocks and soil out of of road drainage ditches for the electrical company. There is a small road throughout the forest that Hiro-san's family built so that the electrical company can easily maintain power lines in the area, which I am sure they are compensated for. There are a lot of drains along this road that get filled up- often entirely- with fallen rocks and mud. So we shoveled all of it out, which was hard work. I don't mind doing hard work, but the point of WWOOFing is to learn about organic farming, or at least sustainable living practices of some sort. Shoveling rocks for the electrical company does not fall under my rubric of "organic farming" or "sustainability". The WWOOF program is not just about work exchange. Oh well.

In all, I learned a lot through my work at Shalom Forest. My favorite job was definitely the log work- carrying, cutting and stripping bark. I wish I could have stayed around longer to help Hiro-san lay the base logs on the foundation, but I had to get going to the grape farm in Enzan.

Next up...Meet the Family!