Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[mtncats <mtncats@yahoo.com>]

Hi Bobby,

 

I've got nothing against loggers, they perform a valuable service.  Their economics is also something I understand and no way would I want to do what they do for the money they get.  Just works far better for me, and my wood lot, to avoid that whole issue.  My tree tops are processed along with the logs.  Pays (barter) for my logging help.  Better for me than selling firewood.

 

BTW, the mobile machinery I've purchased has far more than paid for itself by my using it for paid work.  My approach is to buy what I need ("need" for me includes low overhead) and then look around to see if someone else is interested.  Someone always is, once you learn how to operate it.

 

Something I forgot to mention about logging is the danger of using a 3 pt hitch.  Every year there are deaths from tractor "wheelies" that go all the way over, crushing the driver.  I've done a lot of log moving that way.  Front weight is critical.  My preference, however, is industrial machinery, not farm.  Larger, rather than smaller.  Mostly my fleet just sits there waiting.  With no loan to service, it's pretty simple. 

 

The next question is how far you want to take adding value.  One of the reasons I moved here was lumber selection, as a furniture maker.  Somewhere you have to decide how many different enterprises you want to undertake.

 

I grow trees, well, that doesn't require much on my part, but you get the drift.  Then I'm involved in sawing them, stickering them, kiln drying them, storing them, selling them, delivering them.  The next step of adding value is processing the boards.  Which I do on occasion.

 

Millworks use a lot of lumber, commissioned furniture (my inclination) far less.  I've done both.

 

Which is part of the reason I have no inclination to sell surplus produce, whether raw or processed.  Everybody needs to figure out how many hats they can comfortably wear.  Believe you mentioned coop, which presumably means more heads to wear those hats if you can find individuals to be the key person, necessary for any successful operation.

 

If/when that societal energy collapse occurs, I'll certainly change my hats, which are pretty diverse already.  This week I was approached by a California landowner to design/build rentals along the lines of our current residence, with a passive heating/cooling system and no-maintenance exterior.  Way off-base for me, but we'll talk.

 

You're gonna have fun figuring out which enterprise(s) to try first.  If you approach them from a business standpoint you're less likely to become disallusioned.  Some will work very well, others less so.

 

Good luck,

Tom (in central Va)

Bobby G <bobbyg53211@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Tom, i agree with your approach of trying to add value
> to what's growing on the land you're managing. it
> seems that could be an approach common to whether
> you're growing trees, or vegetables, or fruit. 
>
> i agree the loggers pay very little to the landowners.
> but of course, from the loggers' perspective, that's
> how they make their living. around here in Wisc. i've
> heard of ppl getting as little as $40 a cord from
> loggers for a hardwood cutting. 
>
> and a lot of loggers leave a serious mess in their
> wake. one way i've gotten firewood (to sell, or use
> here at home) is by cutting the "tops" the
>  loggers
> have left. one place i was cutting had well over a
> hundred cord of wood *left* lying around after the
> loggers. and a lot of that was not "tops" but whole
> logs that just didn't grade as nice lumber, so they
> got left. 
>
> considering that the dried firewood can be sold for
> $180-200 a full cord (it's cheap around here) that's a
> lot of value to leave lying around.
>
> and when cut into boards, and kiln or air-dried, the
> wood is worth considerably more than that!
>
> i think the same math applies to activities like
> processing some of the food you grow--whether by
> drying, or canning, making preserves from fruit, or
> baking, packing it for retail, that sort of thing. 
> compared to "farming" as just selling grain by the
> bushel as dry commodities, the economic yield per acre
> is just off the charts, no comparison.
>
> bobby g

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