Making beaucoup ramial chops without gas or electricity

So if I'm trying to get to total self sufficiency, I assume I can't rely on gas or electric, nor do I want to use carbon-emotions technologies such as these. So if I still want to make copious amounts of wood chips for garden pathways and should that are more fungus-influenced than bacteria-influenced, what are my options?

Had a buddy suggest a shave horse, and indeed I intend to build one for woodworking, but that's going to get me shavings and I don't know if that will be as good as chips. Thoughts?

I think that if you're looking to be totally self sufficient, the expectations of the final product may need to be more flexible to work with your situation.  

While wood chips are a common answer for paths, they are somewhat dependent upon a tree service making them for you.  If you look at the problem from the end and work forward, it sounds like you want a path and you want it to support a fungally dominant soil biome.  Starting from that point, does the answer have to be wood chips or are there other answers?

If the answer does have to be wood chips, and you split wood for heat, the splitting process generates a lot of little chunks you can use on paths.  Draw horse shavings would probably work but they may be a struggle to walk on and unless you're doing draw shaving for another greater purpose, it doesn't seem like the best use of time.  Chop and Dropping green woody branches may be a solution.  If you have (or plant) some high biomass trees to coppice/pollard you could do a lot of mulching with clipped branches with leaves on them.  Especially if you select for trees that have flat branching patterns so they lay down nicely.

If the answer doesn't have to be wood chips and can be any high carbon material, maybe straw or leaves could do the trick.  Harvested on site, of course

If the answer doesn't have to be a woody path, maybe not worrying about the fungal element is fine and just have a living mulch in the path.

Lots of options but it's tricky if you're just trying to duplicate wood chips for the sake of it.

Mike Haasl wrote:I think that if you're looking to be totally self sufficient, the expectations of the final product may need to be more flexible to work with your situation.  

While wood chips are a common answer for paths, they are somewhat dependent upon a tree service making them for you.  If you look at the problem from the end and work forward, it sounds like you want a path and you want it to support a fungally dominant soil biome.  Starting from that point, does the answer have to be wood chips or are there other answers?

If the answer does have to be wood chips, and you split wood for heat, the splitting process generates a lot of little chunks you can use on paths.  Draw horse shavings would probably work but they may be a struggle to walk on and unless you're doing draw shaving for another greater purpose, it doesn't seem like the best use of time.  Chop and Dropping green woody branches may be a solution.  If you have (or plant) some high biomass trees to coppice/pollard you could do a lot of mulching with clipped branches with leaves on them.  Especially if you select for trees that have flat branching patterns so they lay down nicely.

If the answer doesn't have to be wood chips and can be any high carbon material, maybe straw or leaves could do the trick.  Harvested on site, of course

If the answer doesn't have to be a woody path, maybe not worrying about the fungal element is fine and just have a living mulch in the path.

Lots of options but it's tricky if you're just trying to duplicate wood chips for the sake of it.

Flat branching pattern may be a good solution. Definitely planning a coppice wood lot, but I've only got about 4 acres of growable and am trying to grow good for 3 people, so it doesn't leave much space. Still, there's an acre of woods and I likely could fell some stuff there and replant coppice trees. Maybe could even get stumps of trees I fell to grow coppice, don't know how easily that can be started with established trees.

Doesn't have to be wood chips. Might try just ground cover. Doing my best to follow Will Bonsall and Graham Burnett because they have well-established methodology and I'm Virgo as hell.

D.W.

A thought.  If you have room, you could possibly inoculate logs with mushrooms--wine caps or blue oysters excel here--and wait for the fungi to do the work for you.  I suspect that after a year or so the logs will be so thoroughly broken down that you can simply move what is left onto your food plot where they become mulch and soil all at once.  And if you use some broken up sticks as a sort of mulch on top, the fungi will continue to do their magic.  Personally, I am a huge fan of both wood chips and wine caps in the garden.

Eric

a bunch of my crushed rock driveway has been covered by wood chips by just cutting and splitting firewood in the past couple years. this summer all kids of greens are growing in it. just a bit of observation from practical experience

Eric Hanson wrote:D.W.

A thought.  If you have room, you could possibly inoculate logs with mushrooms--wine caps or blue oysters excel here--and wait for the fungi to do the work for you.  I suspect that after a year or so the logs will be so thoroughly broken down that you can simply move what is left onto your food plot where they become mulch and soil all at once.  And if you use some broken up sticks as a sort of mulch on top, the fungi will continue to do their magic.  Personally, I am a huge fan of both wood chips and wine caps in the garden.

Eric

Eric,

This is a thoughtful and useful answer. I do love to grow mushrooms and this would be a fun way to get a twofer out of the process. There's that "Multiple Functions" principle of permaculture. Huzzah!

bruce Fine wrote:a bunch of my crushed rock driveway has been covered by wood chips by just cutting and splitting firewood in the past couple years. this summer all kids of greens are growing in it. just a bit of observation from practical experience

Alas, I have neither a functional fireplace nor a wood-burning heater. That said, I will, in all likelihood, build a rocket stove heater for my outbuilding at some point in the future, whereupon I shall be splitting wood to beat the band. Your commentary is noted and appreciated, Bruce. Thank you very much!

It may take a bit of time, but reducing a pile of brush to smaller pieces with a lopper results in a wood chip like material and a zen state of mind.

Trim branches from trees, haul them to the desired location on the path, and have at it. Really just chop and drop. Just make them small enough that they are not a trip/ankle roller hazard!  

Artie Scott wrote:It may take a bit of time, but reducing a pile of brush to smaller pieces with a lopper results in a wood chip like material and a zen state of mind.

Trim branches from trees, haul them to the desired location on the path, and have at it. Really just chop and drop. Just make them small enough that they are not a trip/ankle roller hazard!  

I can, of course, do this. I was hoping there was a way to rig up a pedal-powered wood chipper or something similarly ridiculous. I suppose with enough pulleys I'd get mechanical advantage such that I could grind brush, but it's likely it would be a grueling, slow process (as that is basically how mechanical advantage works). I'm trying to think of ways to get a product that is on a level with using a gas-powered implement but without using gas power. It sounds like there's no way around having this take a great deal of time, i.e. either lots of meditative chopping, meditative splitting, or meditative waiting for fungi. I think twixt the three, I'd choose the latter as I'd rather meditatively sow and mulch grain crops while the fungi do their thing. Been reading Will Bonsall's Radical Self-Reliant Gardening tome and his discussion of growing grains has me excited! It sounds like with enough shredded leaves you can just about never have to weed a grain plot which is just superb. In fact, that leads me to an idea for another thread!

Oh lads, lasses, and thems what liest betwixt:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Quick-made-hand-cranked-compost-shredder/

Behold! A step-by-step guide to building a hand-cranked wood chipper! Is it labor intense? Yes, yes it is. But is it ridiculous and permie as heck? Yes!

I am still going to go with wine caps and blue oyster shrooms to get some punky wood that I can kick apart, but this will help along storm-damaged twigs and branches that are a little too big to just snap with my hands. Happy day!