Site Discussions

Not only are the woods constantly growing and creeping in on us but also they have a tendency to fall down on our houses, power lines, and cars. Definitely a reason to beware the encroaching forest!

Thanks for the info. I’ve always wondered how it works!

This is a very well thought-out article.  I’m doing some research on birds for a Cub Scout project. I found some info in here that will help as I work up an outdoor adventure for the boys!  :-)

Thanks, and good luck with your book.

I have 72 acres in New Brunswick, Canada, which was clearcut about 3 years ago. It is a back lot with a right of way. Thanksgiving last, I had a mulcher cut in a road and clear three acres. Now I would like to convert those acres to grass and pasture so that it stays open as a possible cabin site. The mulcher left some fairly large pieces from the slash that was there. Can you advise me on how best to finish the conversion to pasture? Is what I need a rake machine to pile up the cut brush? What do I plant? How do I plant it? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you,  Jim

Getting back into the fray….Those who make complain that “Outdoor Wood Burners” (OWBs) are smoke and pollution belchers are unfortunately for the most part quite correct. I have one. It produces lots of smoke, sometimes embarassingly so. I can’t wait to replace it with a ‘GASIFYING Wood Burner’.
Andrew in Vermont makes an extremely important discinction. Outdoor Wood Burners versus Gasification Wood Burners.  Huge difference(s).
When one is in the country and sees an out-house looking building belching smoke out its short chimney they are looking at what most would call an Outdoor Wood Burner. Most people (including myself, until I got educated) are inclined to think that all wood burners will produce smoke like that. This jsut isn’t true, and it is embarassing that the makers of the gasifiers have not educated the public on how truly clean their wood burners are.
The smoke-belching units use old technology which could (should?) best be eliminated by legislation——Stop selling this polluting technology, but allow those currently out there to continue to burn until they ‘burn out’.  My wife and I have been using an OWB for 4 years, it saves us about $3K per year by not having to purchase propane to heat our virtually uninsulated 120 y/o farm house. Our unit is a smoke-and-pollution belcher, and I am excitedly awaiting the install of our GARN wood burner (gasifier) for heating our barn-turned-home which is under construction (we will bull-doze the current home once the barn/home is complete).
Our OWB is likely 35% efficient, the Garn is ~85% efficient - efficiency meaning the unit will utilize 35% or 85% of the heat content of the wood to heat the house. One major difference in the two units is the OWBs don’t burn the creosote/smoke, it goes up and out the chimney, whereas the gasifiers BURN the creosote/smoke.
We will no longer be polluters - the GARN wood burner/gasifier (a true gasifier) will meet the EPAs emission standards. In fact, it is apparent that even thirty-year old units will meet the standards the EPA is just now instituting.
A gasifying wood burner has essentially two burn chambers. The first (primary burn) chamber burns the wood essentially as a conventional fireplace does. The second chamber (preferrably lined with some type of ceramic) burns the creosote and gases (smoke) produced by the primary burn, at temperatures in the 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit range.  Once that ceramic secondary burn chamber is up to temperature there is virtually no smoke…..the only thing which comes out of the unit is water vapor.
I have read on various forums where people state that when converted from what most of us would call an OWB to a gasifier (a Garn, a Tarm, a Wood Gun, and many other reputable manufacturers) the ‘smoke’ was so greatly diminished that their neighbors asked them if they had QUIT burning wood!  Quite a testament to how well the gasification process works.
Sincerely,
Hank in SW Wisconsin

All parts of a tree grow relatively slowly, so no, if you trim a tree’s root system, the roots you cut will not grow back in two weeks. I’m not sure i understand the whole scenario here, though. I’d call a different plumber and get his/her take on your mom’s situation.

The trees may hang on for a little while, but they will eventually die (check out all the dead tree stems in a beaver flowage for a real-world example.)

Great article!  Gasification wood boilers are often left out of discussions about OWBs and wood burning regulations.

I have been using a Tarm gasification wood boiler for the last 4 years and constructed my own 1000 gallon heat storage tank two years ago.  I can attest to the clean burning, high efficency, low wood consumption of these gasification wood boilers.  They burn so clean that I can actually heat my storage tank in the summer once per week and get all of my domestic hot water from wood year round.  My home is 100% fossil fuel free.  The high cost of the units and installation are quickly recovered with the savings from no longer needing to pay for high priced fossil fuels.

You can read gasification wood boiler reviews at my website WoodNotOil.com to see what brands and models are on the market.  There are also articles and a discussion forums to help you understand gasification and heat storage.

Question: I want to construct a farm pond and will have to remove some trees. If I left some of the larger trees, 1ft - 3ft in diameter, mainly oaks and maples in the pond area along the shore-line area, would they survive if the water level was 2-4 feet deep around the tree?

Can you give me any info on tree root growth in warmer climates.  My mother had a problem with her sewer line and a plumbing contractor came out and charged her to clear the line.  Two weeks to the day, the line blocked again.  The plumber was going to charge her again to clear the roots from the line.  He told her that they could grow back and block the line every two weeks because of constant growth.  Would this be true?

I’ve been feeding the birds (mostly Eurasian collared doves) for about a year now. Yesterday my neighbor came over and said the birds are “pooping” all over her porch and steps. Of course, they do this to OUR porch and steps also, and she asked us to stop feeding them. I was shocked by this! It has been very cold here this winter, and I feel like I need to feed them. Soon spring will be here, and their babies will be hatching and needing all the nutrition they can get! Do I have any recourse in this matter? What can I do? If anyone has the answer out there I would love to know!  Thanks, Lila

I don’t know of any references off the top of my head, Derek, but i’ve sent a few requests out to others who might be able to help. I’ll update this post if i learn anything.

Thanks for this explanation! I’ve always wanted to know, even though I don’t sugar.

Of course, it raises the question, How do you know it’s time to stop (assuming the holes don’t get plugged)?

Having burned pellets for 3 years now, I can say I will not burn oil again in the future. Oil is more expensive than firewood, which I also use, however my biggest concern is the price fixing of pellets relating to oil. Not a lot of difference between pellet companies…

Thanks for posting this!  I really like your blog!!

Steve
Common Cents
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com

Wendy,
I asked a forester who was familiar with your area about cherry stands and he says that there are several areas of the NYS Forest Preserve where cherry is the predominate species. The Mongaup Mountain ridge, in the Town of Rockland, Sullivan County, North side of Mongaup Pond stretching towards Hodge Pond is fairly close to you and has nice cherry trees.  I guess most ridges over 3000 feet in that area contain a significant percentage of cherry.

Very nice article and blog.

Many thanks Mr. Mance for this article.  Upon my return from Haiti after the earthquake (as part of the CARICOM reconnaissance team), the devastated landscape was obvious from the air, in addition to the many “coal sellers” at the roadside amidst the utter mayhem behind them. Since returning, I have been trying to make the connection behind the deforestation, the coal industry, and the survival of the Haitian people within this environment/landscape. Your article has provided a rather succinct and valuable introduction to my knowledge/research.  Do you have (know of) any references that might include actual photographs of the Haitian landscape pre- and post-deforestation?  I am a Soils/Civil engineer by training.  Thanks again, Derek Gay

Of all my years living in Maine I have never seen more than two Grouse at a time other than a mother hen and her brood. Recently I have noticing two hens and one male together feeding in our back yard on buds and vine berries in the trees. One day this week I notice them coming into the yard and there were six of them. I thought this very uncommon for Grouse.

The carbon cycle that involves forests and trees is more complicated than most understand it to be.  And, while forest growth certainly cannot solve the climate problem, the incremental loss of forest cover and services will make the cost of fighting climate change progressively more expensive for all of us.  As a society we have much to gain by conserving as much of the forested landscape that presently exists as possible.  We should creatively focus our resources directly on the conservation of forest land threatened by conversion to non-forest uses.  Of course, as Mr. Wooster suggests, we also need to focus our resources on the reduction of the use of fossil fuels.  Together, aggressive forest conservation and aggressive fossil fuel replacement will go a long way toward reducing atmospheric concentrations of CO2.