In which we get a chipper after all

In order to backfill the holes more effectively, Phil bailed water with a 5-gallon bucket for a bit. Since the holes were filled with ice, and about as deep as he could reach, he soon gave up. We’ll try to find an inexpensive pump to dry the holes. When Butch brought us some more hay, he said that we should be okay, despite the perched water.

I look at the holes and wonder whether anything will grow; whether the perched water will flood out the young trees, or serve as a helpful subterranean water supply. And I think about all the trees we have yet to plant, and I get discouraged easily. Thankfully, Phil bounces that discouragement off of him, and doesn’t appear to absorb it. If we both thought dour thoughts, what a bad state we’d be in! But we’re not.

After all my talk yesterday about burning, my Dad wondered, quite rightly, if slash-and-burn is all bad. After all, not all the minerals burn up. What’s left is mostly potash, or potassium; of all the minerals we have in our soil, the one that is closest to ideal (we’re only about 2% low, compared to 90% for calcium and some others). So if we burned our wood and added the ashes to the soil, we’d be over-indulging in potash, which would throw the overall ratios out of balance still further. (An ideal phosphorus to potassium, or P:K ratio is 1:1. Ours is .03:1.)

Also, the most important humus-building element, the carbon, would go up in smoke. Over time, the carbon in the wood composts to humus, and humus holds moisture. We want humus! We need carbon!

But I was still not sure if, financially, it made more sense to burn our saplings and buy in mulch. I figured I should probably check out how expensive mulch will really be. To get a decent industrial chipper with motor included costs about the same as 50 cubic yards of mulch. If we lived in suburbia still, fifty cubic yards would be enormous. But as I look at the several acres of orchard that will all need deciduous mulch as a nutrient supply and soil builder, that’s a measly amount of chips.

So, after two years of “planning” to get a chipper, we finally ordered one today. I look at the small piles of saplings we have scattered around our clearing and rejoice that soon they will transform into useful mulch.

Phil spent several hours clearing more overgrown pasture. He wields the axe skillfully, and I think we’ve cleared about 100’ x 80’. Once the area is cleared enough, and the larger downed trees are skidded out and the smaller brush is chipped, we’ll move the pigs in to root it up pre-planting.

We headed to the Bessettes in mid-afternoon. Unfortunately, they must have been delayed at a wrestling tournament, as we didn’t get to see them. But we all bathed and did some laundry, so we are ready for church tomorrow.