Woods Work
My ideal day is to write all morning and into part of the afternoon, and then get outside to walk, or tend the garden, or work in the woods. This woods work often baffles people—“What do you mean?” they ask. It takes many forms—from pruning tree seedlings we’ve planted along streams to cutting firewood to felling injured or crowded trees as a way to improve the overall forest. Or to put it another way, I'm a tree-hugger who loves his chainsaw.
In the summer, when the sap is up, woods work also involves making bark baskets out of poplar and hickory.
Here's a sampling of essays on this work--one about making these bark baskets, another on planting small trees under power lines, and a third on doing a tree census while fighting wasps.
Counting Trees, Fighting Wasps
Woods Work Photo Gallery
Here’s a photo sampling of this work. All photographs taken by Michael DiBari.Clicking this picture will bring you to a special photo gallery ... don't be shy ... go ahead and click!