A rare midweek post: here are some pictures of our new sawmill operation.
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New Sawmill
A South Roane Agrarian
Notes from an East Tennessee farmer
That is TOO cool! I am so jealous right now. Ok, so green is not a good color on me. I’ll get over it.
There. Much better – so congrats on the sawmill! But I do have a concern here (don’t I always?)… I see a tractor hauling the log from the wood. Isn’t this where you should have your mare?? That half mile uphill (at 45 degrees) shouldn’t slow her down.
The log in the pics – Green Ash?
Clem,
Thanks for the congrats on the sawmill. It is very easy to operate, like pushing a lawn mower through moderate grass. We certainly intend to use Ginger in hauling logs. But, and this is one of the reasons we are looking for a second draft horse, this log was quite heavy. I two wheeled the tractor up the slope. No level ground on this farm! I don’t think she could have budged it off of the slope. We’ll use her for some of the smaller logs off of this tree.
The tree was a poplar, although we have plenty of green ash around, But as the emerald green ash borer extends its range that will change.
BTW Chris left you a reply on the last post.
Cheers,
Brian
The farm I grew up on was at the top of a ridge. The fields along the crest were not too severely sloped and we could grow some cash crops. More than half the farm though was wooded – slopes too steep for anything else. We cut trees for firewood and split rails (split rail fence). I’d guess the wood products came in third behind alfalfa hay and the truck garden for their contribution to overall farm income. Diversity is a good thing, and firewood sales would come in the fall when the garden income would begin to tail off.
We used a tractor to haul logs out of the wood. Had an old Paint gelding, but he would likely have been more work than he was worth on those slopes. The experience of wielding an axe and working with a chain saw has come in handy over the years.
Saw Chris’ comment. I wish there were something I could say or some evidence I could provide that would lift or soften the veil of doom. I understand the concern folk have when confronted with all the negative news. And there are plenty of negatives to behold. But I wonder whether we cut ourselves short – doom ourselves to a self fulfilling prophecy: We’re doomed, so why try?
I see all the resources we have at our disposal, our ingenuity, and our history of rebounding from trials much worse. These give me hope. Its all those little silver linings. The clouds may be dark and foreboding, but the silver linings are there – its up to us to search them out.
Those are some great memories. A lot of hard work but something you obviously benefited from in the long run.
Very jealous of your sawmill, Brian. What are you using the timber for? Onfarm use? Or do you have local markets?
I do a bit of salvage milling with a small logosol chainsaw mill. I sold some Himalyan cedar (Cedrus deodar) rounds the other day to a woodworker. So what would otherwise have been firewood is now being turned into useful and ornamental pieces:
https://www.facebook.com/Thingsofclayandwood1
(Page down a bit to see the rounds being turned.)
This sort of small scale sustainable timber production can be a useful farm income stream and provide sustainable supplies for local woodies and more prosaic uses.
David,
Thanks for the comment. It is pretty cool and we are enjoying using it. Currently we have been cutting wood to complete the siding on a new hay barn. But it was bought with woodlot management in mind as I wrote about last year in two posts. We divided our woods into eight woodlots with a two year harvest plan for each. That gives us sixteen years between selective harvests. The first year of the harvest focuses on firewood and culls. The second year focuses on select timber.
Our woods (about 40 acres) were harvested about fifty years ago as a clear-cut. So the trees that grew back in are a bit of a hardwood mixture. The culls and selective harvests, if done correctly, will balance some of that growth out. Wendell Berry, in his latest book, has an essay called A Forest Conversation. It lays out with more eloquence the general idea.
BTW Very jealous of your pepper mills! Now that is a real skill.
Cheers,
Brian