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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] pressure treated organic?

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  • From: Shawnee Flowerfarmer <farmingflowers AT hotmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] pressure treated organic?
  • Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:59:32 -0600

Catalpa trees provide one of the few temperate forest woods that don't rot the way expensive lumber like teak doesn't.  A professor at Morton Arboretum says that there are still Catalpa fence posts in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin from the 1830's/40's. 
 
Catalpa seeds germinate within two weeks of harvest, and the tree, while young, can grow five feet a year with nurturing.  Before using a source like teak, you might be on the look out for catalpa salvage.  Just this week, a young arborist told me about cutting down a 100 year old catalpa; he wanted a place to dump the wood.
 
Also, today an elderly farmer asked me if I could start a crop of Osage Orange trees for him.  He remembers how rot resistent the wood is and recalled that a chain saw could barely cut down an old one, throwing sparks in every direction.
 
Remember, there were solutions to lumber decay before there was treated wood and before it was common to clear cut tropical rainforests to meet our needs.
 
Shawnee, zone 5 with spectacular sunsets this week....

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