Recycling Felled Trees from the Farm
Recycling felled trees is always a big priority here at my Bedford, New York farm.
Over the years, I've planted thousands and thousands of trees. Unfortunately, I've also lost many trees - they've fallen during storms or had to be cut down because of damage or disease. However, I always save the logs so they can be made into usable lumber, cut down to create dozens of tree stakes and carriage road markers, or thrown into a big tub grinder to make mulch. I am very proud of our up-cycling practices.
Enjoy these photos.
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- I plant so many different varieties of trees every year and I am so pleased with how well they have grown at the farm – in groves, in allees, and in the woodland. I feel strongly about reforestation and giving back to the earth, so the more trees planted, the better.
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- Some of the trees are just so majestic. The Eastern White Pine is a stand-out beauty. These trees, which were actually already here when I purchased the property, are located in one of the paddocks and can be seen from across the farm.
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- Here is a grove of American beech trees – they are already beginning to show a little fall color.
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- I hate taking down trees, but we sometimes need to cut down trees that are dead, damaged or diseased in order to make room for new ones. Whenever a tree falls or is cut down, I save it in a pile designated for either the sawmill or the tub grinder depending on its appearance and condition. Those earmarked for milling are then limbed, or stripped of branches.
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- These smaller logs and wood scraps are neatly piled in another area and saved for the giant tub grinder, which I I like to call in once a year or once every two years depending on how much there is to recycle.
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- I’ve used the team from Material Processors for years. It is a 30-year old company that focuses on recycling green waste, clearing, and preparing land spaces for development. When processing the wood, the bucket releases the debris into the hammermill at the bottom of the tub. As the tub revolves, the hammermill shatters the wood into smaller fragments.
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- Here is the inside of the grinder when it is off – it is quite massive.
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- A continuous discharge conveyor carries the material away from the machine and piles it up in a mound. As the tub spins, friction actually causes some of the wood to smoke. The wood chips are put through the grinder a second time to make it even finer.
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- A year ago, during a taping of an episode for my show, “Martha Knows Best,” I helped Mauricio Guevara, a skilled lumberer, master woodworker, and restorer mill some of the wood on my farm. Mauricio is the owner of New England Antique Lumber Inc., in nearby Mount Kisco, New York and in Westport, Connecticut, and shares my passion for recycling and repurposing.
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- Here, the log is placed on one side of the sawmill and secured within the machine’s loading clamps. Most mills are designed to hold logs at least eight feet long, so shorter logs can be a bit more challenging.
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- The logs milled must be very straight – not curved, and must not show any signs of rotting. Rotting logs will fall apart when milled.
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- The machine is very accurate. Each of these cuts is measured exactly to the desired thickness.
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- Some of the wood is made into stakes. I have a small table saw in our shop where we can cut custom stakes to support all my young, developing trees. The same table saw can cut stakes to mark the carriage roads.
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- These one-by-one inch stakes are the perfect size for using around seedlings. It supports them as they develop. They also help to protect them from any snow plowing equipment or weed whacker – the stakes make the trees more visible once the leaves fall.
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- Last June, I had many ash trees cut down and removed because of damage done by the ash borer beetle. The Emerald Ash Borer is responsible for the destruction of tens of millions of ash trees in at least 30-states. The larvae kill ash trees by tunneling under the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves water and sugars up and down the trunk. These ash trees can be saved and also used for lumber.
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- Any logs too big to be cut at the farm went to another facility. And last week, Mauricio delivered large truck loads of cut wood.
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- Ken and Mauricio drove the lumber from Pennsylvania where Mauricio’s larger saw mill is located.
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- They brought back ash, yew, and pine lumber – all from felled trees here at the farm. The wood was cut into boards and then dried in an oven. Ash is used for furniture, flooring, doors, cabinetry, architectural moulding and millwork, tool handles, baseball bats, hockey sticks, oars, turnings, and is also sliced for veneer.
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- The Yew tree is a hard, relatively heavy softwood. Yew wood, seen here at the top of the pile, can be used for veneers, cabinetry, furniture, carvings, and even archery bows.
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- Whenever storing lumber, be sure to keep the wood elevated, level, and well stacked. It should also be kept as dry as possible and free of damaging insects.
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- This wood will be saved for future building projects here at the farm. I am so glad I am able to reuse, recycle and repurpose these valuable natural resources.
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