More Chipping Piles of Branches

Posted on by Julia

August 4, 2025

Late Saturday morning (August 2), Bruce hitched the chipper to the mower and drove to the back pasture. He unhitched the chipper next to a big pile of branches and got it set up to chip. Bruce put the cart so it could catch the chips. In two different sessions, we spent around three hours chipping. It is surprisingly hard work.

We filled up the cart twice. The first load, I had Bruce pull the cart to the native persimmon tree we planted. I had placed cardboard around the persimmon tree. Bruce dumped the full cart of chips on the cardboard and I redistributed them, completely covering the cardboard.

Moving the Full Cart to the Mower

The second cart was dumped around the miniature nectarine and blueberry bushes.

There was quite a pile of chips that overshot the cart.

Bruce put the chipper back into the barn.

On the way back to the house, I spotted this Red-spotted Purple butterfly. We have just started to see a few of these beautiful butterflies on Blackberry Homestead.

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly

Later in the day, I inspected the garden. I found another tomato hornworm. Ugh!

Tomato Plants Turned to Sticks

On Sunday (August 3), Bruce and I did some more chipping. We finished up a pile of branches and got another cart full of chips. I had Bruce dump the chips around the blueberries. Then Bruce took the chipper back to the barn. He went back with the mower, hitched the cart to it, and drove it to the Bama Dirt pile of dirt.

I stayed in the garden harvesting and removing the hornworm and armyworm damage from the tomato plants.

As I headed inside, I startled several Variegated Fritillary butterflies and Buckeye butterflies up from the lawn.

The Variegated Fritillary butterflies are everywhere outside on Blackberry Homestead. They flutter up from the yard, over and into blackberry thickets, and around the gardens.

I stopped at the herb garden.

Variegated Fritillary Butterfly on Marjoram

I spotted this green metallic native bee on the marjoram. It is a species of sweat bee.

Green Metallic Bee

In the evening, Bruce and I were walking around the front yard. We were looking at the pine trees out front and I noticed several cicada shells on the pines. I spotted a cicada breaking out of its shell. I was excited to see it. I excitedly pointed it out to Bruce. We both took pictures and hoped to see it emerge from its shell. Then we noticed the ants and realized it was dead.

It still made for an interesting snapshot.

We sometimes see a hummingbird zooming around the pepper plants enjoying the red clover growing in the buckets with the peppers. The hummingbird also stops by the hummingbird feeder.

We decided to get dinner out at a local restaurant, The Woods. We had a lovely meal.

After we got home, we took Nox outside since she was at the back door when we came in.

We saw a few fireflies while Nox wondered around doing Nox things. It is such a delight to see the few remaining fireflies.

It was a busy, productive, and fun weekend.

15 thoughts on “More Chipping Piles of Branches”

    1. My husband has metastatic cancer, so today we did get good news that his tumors on his liver are staying the same. I am glad to be home with him now, so my anxiety is released from always working on site. He has lots of energy in the morning but by afternoon, things catch up. I just got a clean bill of health for my mammogram, so happy for that. Doc is monitoring my blood cancer which has not progressed beyond 1A. I was lucky, discovered early! Right hip is a work in progress but now that I am not teaching and exercising as needed getting better. Day by day.

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      1. I am so sorry to hear about your husband’s and your cancer. What a relief that the liver tumors didn’t get any bigger. I well remember the crushing worry I had while Bruce went through his bout of stage three colon cancer. I can only imagine your fears. Please accept a virtual hug from me. It seems there is always something that is a work in progress as we age. Hips, knees, shoulders, and the back want to hurt sometimes. Day by day.

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      4. Yes, it is. A very challenging time as we closed our cupcakerie and moved forward. I use the best and sometimes the rawest of times in my debut novel “The Bayou Heist.” One of my beta readers for my second novel treats both my husband and I. He is avid reader.

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  3. Julia,  After chopping all those branches, I bet you and Bruce were feeling pretty chipper!!  (Sorry – I couldn’t resist.) Love, Howard

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    1. Howard,
      Groan and another groan from Bruce.
      We are hoping your surgery goes well tomorrow and you recover quickly. We’ll see you in about 3 weeks.
      Love,
      Julia

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Published by Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We have a 12-pound dog, Nox, who we love dearly. She has been with us since 2009. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. We bought a ranch house on a hill in the middle of five acres. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist and I’ll share my current projects. Reading is my favorite hobby.