Site Discussions

We decided not to build, but to restore an 1880 farmhouse 10 years ago. We soon learned that the 1975 oil boiler was about 70% efficient and consumed 1700 gallons per year.  At $4.60 per gallon (which is a little cheaper than most liberal dems like to see it), would cost us $7,000.00 plus per year. The new e-classic OWB will use around 8 cord per year at $225.00.  It is not your daddy’s OWB and was pricey but you do the math! Get serious! is there any form of energy liberals would be accepting of! You name, and they will find fault with it! I’m just waiting to find out how I will be punished for this purchase, probably a phony global warming wood tax under!

I was very pleased to come across this article on the Resilience Science blog.

I’m very impressed with this program and hope to use it as a case-study in my current research taking place in Otaki, a small village in the mountains of central Japan. 

The village owns about 2,600 hectares of forestland, but is struggling economically and having a difficult time finding funds for management.  Ecologically, things are getting bad—habitat conversion has made wildlife pestilence rampant.

But, I was encouraged to see this article.  Thank you.

You can read more about Otaki and its forests at my blog: In the Pines.

“.................OR SOME OTHER FACTOR”

I have been trying to get a quantitative academic answer to the question “Do bees suffer from circadian disruption?”. So far I cannot get a definitive answer. Does anyone know if bees suffer from “jet lag” caused by the modern 24 hour day?

This is causing severe problems for many species. It is suppressing melatonin production in humans. The 24 hour day is maybe killing off Life On Earth? Are bees suffering as well? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?

For those who read the comments about it costing $10,000 to install and purchase a OWB and were horrified, no worries. Check eBay, that poster obviously has no common sense or simple mechanical knowledge to be able to hook one of these up. Second although firewood may cost “$300” for a cord it is obvious this person has never considered cutting it themselves.

First comment would be, where are you getting your numbers on a cord of dry firewood?? $150 yeah, maybe 15 years ago!! Let’s start with true numbers, say $300 for dry, $250 for seasoned, and $225 for green. Those are real numbers in northern NH.

From Shari Halik, formerly a butternut researcher at University of Vermont:

You can definitely eat the butternuts if you can get to them before the squirrels do!  I’m sure there is info out there on drying and cracking and recipes. 

You can also plant the nuts, but again you have to make sure the squirrels don’t dig them up.  I’ve heard of people using wire mesh or even cow manure to fend off the squirrels!  Sometimes the nuts take a couple years to germinate.  They do need a period of stratification, or cold (refrigerator temperature) and moist, before they will germinate, which they naturally get outdoors in the winter.  When using butternut seed in my research projects, I kept the nuts in moist peat moss in a cooler for 3 months and then planted the nuts 1-2 inches beneath soil in pans.  As they germinated, I transplanted the seedlings to individual tubes or pots.  When transplanting the seedlings to the field, they struggled, but butternut seedlings are pretty hardy.  I have several coming up on my property in Vermont and also have a couple mature trees that haven’t been infected by the canker fungus.  I’m not sure how long they will remain healthy, but there is always hope.  If you have a lot of nuts, I would try different things, dry some, keep some moist in a refrigerator over the winter, plant some this fall, plant some in the spring. 

Good luck!

I have black walnut and butternut trees in my yard. I would like to grow more and save the butternut. I do not think they are sick. Please help me to know how to grow more.

There’s a picture of two walking sticks in this article, and the caption says “This pair of walking sticks rests on a sumac flower.”  Well, they may not be moving much, but they’re certainly doing more than resting!

I have 200 plus nuts from my tree and was wondering what to do with them. Can I start new trees from the nut, eat them etc.?

Annette,
It is not really possible to tell what is bothering your trees from your description. Can you contact a county forester or extension agent to help you? It would be best if someone could come to look at your trees. It doesn’t sound like an insect to me, unless the gouges are very tiny.
Good luck with this!

WE HAVE SEVERAL PINE TREES THAT GROW IN OUR BACK YARD THAT LOOK LIKE THEY HAVE BEEN KEYED. THEY HAVE SEVERAL GOUGES IN THE BARK THAT LOOK LIKE THE TREE IS TRIING TO SPLIT OPEN. SAP IS COMING OUT OF THESE GOUGES AND DRIPPING ONTO THE GROUND. IS THIS A NATURAL PROCESS OR IS IT CAUSED BY SOME TYPE OF INFESTATION? IF YOU CAN HELP ANSWER THESE QUESTION OR DIRECT ME TO SOMEONE WHO CAN, THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.

Hi Elizabeth,

At Northern Woodlands, we publish information about forestry, but unfortunately don’t offer any forestry services ourselves.  If you need assistance locating a consulting forester, logger or lumber yard, please let us know.

Do you buy lumber? I have 5 hemlocks that need to be cut and that I want to sell as lumber.

The best thing is to get the opinion of a professional arborist. Someone who works with urban trees needs to make an assessment on site about the extent of any damage. The City of Denver provides a list of arborists at http://www.denvergov.org/TreeContractors/ConsultingArboristList/tabid/387524/Default.aspx.

There is a LYME DISEASE SUPPORT GROUP the fourth Thursday of the month at the Concord Public Library, 129 Main St., Concord, MA 7-9 pm.  It is open to those who would like to share their experiences and learn more about present legislation and resources, and information on the internet.  The next meeting will be September 25, 2008.  No meeting in August.  For more information call Rose at (978) 369-2396 or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

We had a sprinkler repair company cut a large root (ten inches) right at the base of the tree.  The tree is approx 25 yrs old, and the main trunk is probably 18 inches in diameter.  Will this tree die?  I don’t want to pay the repair company because they cut the root without asking, and we think the tree will be damaged, but it may take 2-4 years to know for sure that there will be damage.

What do you recommend?  Thanks,

Please visit the websites below to learn more about OWBs and the victims they have claimed throughout the U.S.:
http://www.myspace.com/freedomofair
http://www.freewebs.com/freedomofair
http://burningissues.org

The problem is this as quoted by the U.S. EPA: “Current outdoor wood-fired heaters are substantially less efficient and more polluting than other home-heating devices.” That pretty much sums it up. An OWB creates on average 72 g/hr of pm 2.5 particulate matter as compared to other forms of heating (even with wood) of: OWB = 72 g/hr Conventional Wood Stove = 18 g/hr EPA Certified Stove = 6 g/hr Oil Furnace = 0.07 g/hr Gas Furnace = 0.04 g/hr Secondly, these DON’T I repeat DON’T save a person money. These cost around at minimum $10,000 to install and operate before you even throw your first log on the fire? So when someone claims “I can’t afford my bills” well they sure could afford $10,000 to buy on of these monstrosities. I know I don’t have $10,000 to throw down on anything much less, something like this. So don’t believe the “I’m so poor I can’t heat my home” argument because it is all bogus. So in closing would you want this across from your house?

Walter—

I highly recommend the forums at the website http://www.hearth.com. The “Green Room” has many discussions about solar, and the “Boiler Room” has lots about wood gasifying boilers. We are currently installing a wood boiler at our home and already have solar electric and hot water systems in place.

In general, the thinking seems to be that heating a house in New England entirely with solar hot water is not a good way to go. You’d need a very large number of collectors for the winter (8-12, maybe more), and would need to drain/cover/remove all but 2 or 3 of them in the summer to keep the system from boiling. The current thinking is to install enough solar to provide all of your domestic hot water during the non-heating season, then use a wood boiler for both during the heating season.

Good luck!

I’m looking for tips how to install a wood boiler (EKO 40) into my existing oil boiler heating system with 4 heating zones and using the oil boiler as an back up which will automatically jump on if the wood boiler fire goes out.  I was hoping to use my existing thermostat and pump system form the oil boiler.