“A constructive and careful handling of the resources of the earth is impossible except on the basis of large co-operation and of association for mutual welfare.”
— Liberty Hyde Bailey, The Holy Earth
Winged Elm Farm has approximately 40 acres of hardwoods, and last year I posted a couple of pieces on our woodlot management plan, here and here. In them and here, I use the term “Anthropocene,” the period in Earth’s history when the impact of human existence shapes the natural world and climate. I chose that term to distinguish the plan we’ve embarked upon as being a more old-fashioned management approach.
A large “wolf” tulip poplar in a new growth woods on our farm.
As we began the process of managing our woodlots, our biggest hurdles were knowledge and the preconceptions of being moderns. Our mindset was geared toward extraction, the basis of our current economy. Our innate resistance to extractive processes like clearcutting was primarily why we had avoided managing the woods at all.
But a Wendell Berry piece three years ago spurred our interest in sustainable management, and a casual review of the 19th century literature based on the knowledge of small farms past showed us a clear path for applying the same model. How markedly different was the approach of those manuals and handbooks — managing woodlands for the benefit of farm and watersheds for future generations — from the “modern” practices of that century and the 20th of the extractive industries.
Last week, as we prepared to take hogs to market and dreamed of the variety of dishes and cuts we were to enjoy, the phrase “nose to tail eating” came to mind. The term is used to describe the process that takes advantage of every bit of the animal. It’s a way to honor the animal’s life and sacrifice.
One of our Haflinger drafts hauling a small log out of the woods.
The slightly modified term “nose to tail logging” aptly describes a good woodlot management program, the constructive use of every bit of the harvested tree: for our benefit, for the soil’s benefit, for the watershed, for the wildlife, and, most important, for the woodlands’ benefit.
There are innumerable old texts on managing a woodlot, books that describe how to select harvest, reseed, preserve soil, amend and improve the soil. So far, the approach as applied to our farm seems to be working — from selection to lumber, chipping to removal, sowing mushrooms and providing firewood, leaving wildlife habitat to conservation. Future generations will need to be the final judge.
A couple of newish books, too, have helped us flesh out the specific and the larger challenges to sustainable woodlot management.
Paul Stamets’ work, especially his book Mycelium Running, helped reshape the way I viewed the soil and its structure in the forests, a soil as in need of care and replenishment as that in our pastures. And, of course, it opened my eyes to the use of fungi to facilitate those ends.
Poplar lumber newly cut on our Norwood mill.
But the mindset of extraction lingers as the world’s dominant invasive species. Azby Brown’s recent book, Just Enough: lessons in living green from traditional Japan, helped me correct some of that dominant outlook. A study of the Edo period (early 1600s to mid-1800s), his chapters on farming, and particularly the one titled “Guardians of the forest,” were revelatory. The care and thorough use of all woodland products, the steps to endlessly recycle natural products through multiple generations of use, the care of water sources, waterways, and riparian buffers — all were woven in that period into an overall societal commitment to what we would now call planetary care.
The practices of the traditional Japanese and of our own small-farm woodlot ultimately rely on a larger cultural awareness of the need for such intensive conservation of both the woodland and the products derived from it. The evidence of stress on our Eastern hardwoods from escalating climate change is before us. To be successful in both harvest and preservation will require some old-fashioned individual commitment and a multi-generational commitment by our culture.
Our farm can commit to the first. It remains to be seen if there is the will for the second. And that is the real challenge.
Hi Brian,
Any online links to texts describing the earlier farm woodlot management techniques you mention?
Bye for now
David
David,
Sorry about that, I’ve been an avid book collector for years. So I often pick up old farming memoirs and how to books. Most of the how to books seem to have a chapter on common sense woodlot management. A good online link, one I found helpful, is: http://www.ridgewindsuffolks.com/uploads/1/7/0/8/17089550/natures_tree-marking_paint.pdf. Jason Rutledge is contemporary and logs using Suffolk drafts. In this short article he lays out pretty much the base outline of what you would need to do to sustainably harvest a woodlot.
Hope all is well down under as you prepare for spring,
Brian
Thanks. I had a quick look at the Rutledge link. I think what he says should be interpreted with respect to the forest and tree type.
There’s a history of at least several thousand years of smallholder tree growing in Europe and several hundred years in North America. And before fossil fuels wood was used for just about everything. I think there would have been a lot of vernacular experience in growing trees for different outcomes. Energy prices have been down a bit over the last year or so due to various factors but IMO it’s likely the general trend in energy prices will be upwards. Wood for various uses becomes more competitive at various energy price points. I’ve found some older material covering tree growing for multiple outcomes on smaller farms but I’m keen to get more. Agroforestry here is often either oriented to biodiversity/habitat/riparian zone protection or industrial forestry-lite. One traditionally trained forester with an involvement in agroforestry told me the other day that anything less than 20 hectares is lifestyle forestry 🙂 I think there’s scope for other models.
I should do a thorough search on what’s available through the various projects putting older texts online and collect these for easier access. And as you mentioned in your post, buying older farm handbooks and so can be a useful source of info.
Warming up a bit here. We had the warmest start to October on record. Nasty El Nino event appears to be on the way. I still have ~1000 tree seedlings to get planted so could do with a bit more rain and cooler conditions. Planting an interesting mix of exotics and natives.
Grass is growing prodigiously. We have about 50 cattle (mix of mums, calves, older calves) agisted from next door at the moment so they should deal with the spring flush.
Lifestyle forestry, now that speaks volumes about why we are in the mess we are in, eh? With that said, our initial approach is to focus on home use. As we generate surplus we plan to launch a CSF (community supported forestry). Like the CSA model the consumer gets a range of forest products each year. That could be a certain number of board feet of lumber, a rick of firewood, mulch, mushrooms, select pieces for carving and crafts. I recall that you carve and do woodworking, so that could be a natural path for your wood products.
Cheers,
Brian
‘Twill be interesting to see if a CSF engages the community. Boxes of food in a CSA have an immediate relevance to current household purchases. Whether or not wood will resonate the same way will be of great interest. Firewood in a regional area might have similarities to CSA products.
I do very little woodcarving or woodworking due to lack of time … and lack of skill 🙂
I am keen to sell specialist wood to woodworkers. If you page down to the March entries at:
https://www.facebook.com/Thingsofclayandwood1
you can see some big Himalayan cedar rounds I sold to Anne-maria being turned for use as small tables. And if you go to the entry on Jan 19th you can see me in action cutting the rounds under direction from Anne-maria. These were from a salvage tree that had fallen over in a formal garden in Melbourne’s rural fringe. Some woodworkers are keen to get unusual wood like this.
Maree’s cousin was here on the weekend. She’s on a 5000 acre grazing property near Armidale in northern NSW. She and her husband are interested in doing some agroforestry. I recommended considering durable timbers and less common and feature timbers. It’s hard for small growers to compete with common species grown by industrial forestry. And you’re very much a price taker with pulp or commodity lumber.
You can grow a heap of good timber trees in Tennessee:
https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/documents/PB1756.pdf
Locust makes excellent bee fodder and lovely wood. Durable for fence posts and the like as well as a good feature timber. And can you grow cherry in your parts? Another lovely timber.
I’ve just been planting some Western Red Cedar. Not sure how quickly it will grow in our area but I’m planting a few dozen as an experiment. Sequoia grow prodigiously in the Strzeleckis.
David,
Thanks for the comments. We do a fair amount of ordering from the TN forestry service. But I’d also point out that our woodlots are already intact. So, most of our work is of the use and encourage variety. I’ve read those pieces on your blog: must be were I got the idea you were the woodworker.
Cheers,
Brian
Brian and David:
Interesting thoughts. I have only begun to think about how I might manage the wooded parts of my small farm. I know I’ll have to study up on government regulations before doing anything more significant than a casual tree removal for something like firewood. Even firewood can become an issue of concern when we consider Emerald Ash Borers which have already killed many dozens of trees on our property.
Not sure if either of you follows Joern Fischer’s blog, but there is a new post up there about wood pastures in Europe and some of the concerns faced in their part of the world:
https://ideas4sustainability.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/new-paper-reviving-wood-pastures-for-biodiversity-and-people-a-case-study-from-western-estonia/
You see cows baking in a paddock with no trees on a 40C day and you can’t help thinking that a bit of silvopasture wouldn’t go astray.
I have read some material about wood pastures in eastern Europe. More research covering holistic returns as well as just returns from the cattle would be useful. I think that’s the case for a lot of integrated farming techniques/agroecology/permaculture and so on. What works. What doesn’t. What are the costs. What are the benefits. Hedgerows add a substantial visual interest to rural areas as well as shade, shelter, habitat and so on. This can help tourist values. But small fields don’t work well with big tractors.
On small fields and big tractors… you’re absolutely right. But then there are the small tractors. And if a small tractor is still too large… a scythe, no?
Often the benefits of alternative production systems are difficult to measure. Along the lines of externalities (CO2 impacts on climate from fossil fuel burning) the ecosystem services provided by some husbandry techniques are not easily monetized. Not suggesting we give up – this might be exactly the direction we need to start looking toward. But this won’t be an errand for a single day’s packed lunch.
But without quantification of the returns – and here I’m using the term returns to include benefits other than financial as well as financial – the conversation can rapidly descend to hearsay, superstition, cant and the opinion of charismatic guru types. Which might even be correct sometimes but we’ve developed the scientific method to get a bit more rigor in our endeavours.
The permies criticise reductionist science as not including enough factors. But they don’t do a good job of filling with well quantified, repeatable observation what they perceive as the gap.
Multi-factor experiments, trials and so on are difficult and expensive. But without such results it’s difficult to pick paths IMO.
My two bob’s worth
David
Clem,
Thanks for the link. I was unfamiliar with both the blog and concept. Although that type of pasture is common enough in Florida, and along the Gulf coast. Perhaps it will be used more often as this old world heats up. Hate to hear about the Emerald Ash borer. It has not yet arrived in East Tennessee. One more thing to deal with when it arrives.
Cheers,
Brian