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What would YOU do?
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Posted by southerngardenchick 7 (My Page) on Mon, Mar 30, 09 at 18:38
| Hey everyone! Love this forum, been reading for a couple of days now!
Here's a question for all you brilliant foragers and creators out there.
I'm in a town where the big ice storm hit. Our town got NAILED. So... everywhere you go you see THIS.
This ones in front of my house, all the limbs and trees that fell on our property. Sad huh?
Fema is taking care of the clean up... BY BURNING IT ALL. OMG, that almost actually hurt me when I heard that! I thought for SURE that they'd haul it to a saw mill and make stuff outta it... so NOW I gotta salvage all I can from our pile.
I don't have a woodchipper.
They are all different sizes... some real short, some longer.
MY HUSBAND HATES SAWING AND DRAGGING LIMBS NOW... LOL! But I do have a strappin big ol' fifteen year old who I can force to help me!
Any ideas?
Beth
p.s. I'm right beside the highway... and behind a bunch of businesses... so that's why you see all that trash out there. I have to pick it up a couple of times a week! DON'T LITTER YA'LL! LOL... ;) |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: What would YOU do?
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| this isn't what you want to hear but: MY HUSBAND HATES SAWING AND DRAGGING LIMBS NOW... LOL! But I do have a strappin big ol' fifteen year old who I can force to help me! sometimes you lose more than you gain. Force, yes, but forever they seem to remember the 'bad' parts of life rather than the good ones. so, don't force him and the hubby already has made his decision. Turn away from the pile, absorb yourself in some other worthwhile endeavor that doesn't require 'forced labor' of those who love you. Hope this helps. ( I don't believe I said the above cause I saw several neat ideas in that pile but alas, I have taken my own advice at times and left something alone cause I would have needed 'forced labor' to retrieve it.) |
RE: What would YOU do?
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| You could call a tree felling company that has one of those big chippers and ask them to chip it for you. They may be in big demand right now if everyone has the same stuff in front of their house and also trees that need to be felled. but I'd at least call and find out what they'd charge you to do it. I had a local guy come out and take down a tree for me a couple years ago and asked him if I could have the chippings. He said that he had chips from two other trees he'd taken down that day, but that if I would take them all he'd knock off $40 that he would have had to pay for dumping the chips at a landfill. So if you offer to take any chips he already has along with the ones he makes out of your limbs he might do it cheap for you. Cheryl |
RE: What would YOU do?
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| what about renting a wood chipper from tates or similar company? |
RE: What would YOU do?
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| We had an ice storm the end of '07 that left football fields of limbs that took months to get rid of. I was in the same boat as you (disabled DH & no teen-ager to order around) so I didn't get much, but I did pull out all the limbs that I could get loose with my lopper, about 1" in diameter, & save them for tomato supports, Y-shaped ones for holding up sagging bushes & peonies etc. I just stood them up in a corner of the fence & have saved them for re-use. |
RE: What would YOU do?
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| LOL... Maybe I shoulda put that differently. My fifteen year old helps me, but it feels like I've gotta force him to do anything! We're very broke, so renting a woodchipper wouldn't be feasible right now... but that was an excellent suggestion! I'm gonna get started pulling stakes out of the pile today. And if I can find pieces that'll fit together, I'm going to edge my front garden with some thicker pieces. Who knows, I might get creative and make some wood art... somehow! I've got untill the 13th, that's when they're picking up the wood. I'm fairly sure all the tree cutting companies around here are up to their eyeballs in work as it is. Thanks for the thoughts guys! Beth |
RE: What would YOU do?
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| use it for HUGELKULTUR! this is a great way to make raised garden beds while composting the tree and improving soil nutrients. It's a german idea. http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/ we're composting an old christmas tree that has been sitting out at our tenants lawn since dec in some new garden beds. what a great idea this is. |
RE: What would YOU do?
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| If the whole neighborhood has been affected perhaps you could get a few neighbors who feel as you do about burning together and as a group rent a chipper. |
RE: What would YOU do?
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| Mother Earth magazine has an article last month and it was in this month also, touting the HUGE benefits of biochar. That is, burning your downed wood in the ground--makes a great soil amendment. That sounds like something your son would like to do :-) Good luck Denise |
Here is a link that might be useful: Biochar in your garden
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