Wood Chip Win

I’ve signed up with Chip Drop and not gotten anything, and then later decided I wasn’t sure I wanted to get them that way because I was worried about getting invasive English Ivy in it. But I still wanted wood chips, deep my heart, to mulch the area I am trying to make into a food forest. Unfortunately for my neighbor, she had several trees fall in a recent storm (after the neighbor next to her clear-cut their six acres). Fortunately for me, the tree crew that is cleaning up for her was looking for someone to take a gigantic load of wood chips. I’m kinda giddy, but I know it’s going to be a lot of work to move and spread it all. Just wanted to share my big win.

Congratulations! You should be in mulch for a long while. And don't worry... the more they break down the better they'll serve you. So taking a while to get them spread shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Gluts of anything are sometimes overwhelming though. If you can turn it into a work party and reward your helpers somehow that might help keep your motivation up by giving you a big push forward.

L. Johnson wrote:Congratulations! You should be in mulch for a long while. And don't worry... the more they break down the better they'll serve you. So taking a while to get them spread shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Gluts of anything are sometimes overwhelming though. If you can turn it into a work party and reward your helpers somehow that might help keep your motivation up by giving you a big push forward.

I wish, but I don’t know anyone, much less anyone interested in Permaculture. My young adult/teen kids have no interest, even if I pay them. But I’m grateful for the chips and I do have a tractor with a bucket if that’s what it comes to.

I can commiserate. I often think about having work parties... but I feel bad about inviting people over to do menial labor. I'm hoping to slowly build a permie community in my community and eventually have permie action swarms! Johnny A needs a swale dug, everybody meet up for swales and sushi! Or something like that. Maybe a pipe dream? Maybe just an aspiration that needs nurturing.

Yet the few times I have asked for help because I really couldn't do something on my own, my neighbors came over right away and got me set-up better than I could have ever hoped for.

I may be lucky with neighbors.

permaculture Buddy system is the dream!

I have chips. I’m guessing I have about 200 cubic feet, hopefully there will be more tomorrow. My orchard area is about 6000 square feet. I know the cops won’t be able to cover all of it. What do y’all think? Should I use it closest to the trees, make paths, or just mulch well at one end of the orchard and hope to get more chips later to do another section?

Bethany Brown wrote:I have chips. I’m guessing I have about 200 cubic feet, hopefully there will be more tomorrow. My orchard area is about 6000 square feet. I know the cops won’t be able to cover all of it. What do y’all think? Should I use it closest to the trees, make paths, or just mulch well at one end of the orchard and hope to get more chips later to do another section?

Do it the most energy efficient way possible to get the best effect. That might mean spending another 2 hours considering the location you move the chips to before you start moving them. It's a LOT of hard work.

I don't know what kind of mulch depth you need, so it's hard to answer but deep mulches are often as thick as 8 inches. Geoff Lawton said he liked to just keep piling it up until the volunteers around him said "Isn't that a bit excessive?" And then he'd laugh and say, "Yeah, maybe?" and move on. He says he likes to take things to the edge of extreme and see how it works out.

Bethany Brown wrote:I have chips. I’m guessing I have about 200 cubic feet, hopefully there will be more tomorrow. My orchard area is about 6000 square feet. I know the cops won’t be able to cover all of it. What do y’all think? Should I use it closest to the trees, make paths, or just mulch well at one end of the orchard and hope to get more chips later to do another section?

I would prioritize mulch for the young trees that need to do the most development - about 6" deep in a 2' radius.  Also good to establish some comfrey at the edge of the circle -- it will take over as the living mulch in a few years.

If you want to establish raspberries, shape the chips to the place to grow and plan then 3' apart.  Or if you're tired of hauling chips, just spread the pile into a foot or less and plant into the soil beneath it..

Try to get it done before April to suck up some water and really help this summer!

I always get my wood chips from the same tree service, there headquarters isn't very far from my house. One year I came home from work to a giant pile of wood chips. My family was fit to be tied. I thought it was wonderful, and was amused by there horror.  I sent a family text telling everyone I had an abundance of wood chips, and was willing to share. Ever since then they come get wood chips from my house. That was years ago, and my family has come around. They have seen the benefits and results of using wood chips.
Congratulations on your wood chip win. Maybe talk to the tree guys and let them know you may be interested in more chips if they are in your area.  The company I get my wood chips from will even ask if I have any requests or needs, and I ask for no poison trees, like oleander. Other than that I'm just happy to get what ever they want to give me.

Ha, I love that your family was horrified at first. Same reaction here when I got my first big delivery, the neighbours thought something had gone wrong. Three years on and the soil underneath is completely different, dark and full of worms. I do the same, ring around each tree first and then paths between them. The paths break down slower because of foot traffic which is actually perfect, keeps things tidy longer.

Bethany and others, thanks for sharing your wood chip wins.

I am not so lucky to be able to get wood chips so I am so envious.

Anne It's a bummer you can't get wood chips.
I have a little chipper that works well. It's small (what I could afford) so I can only shred small branches. It's a lot of work for not much wood chips. It might be better than nothing, but I'm not so sure about that.
I have a 15 page paper shredder. I use shredded cardboard for lots of things, It makes a great mulch for my plants. It would be a crummy alternative for paths because it breaks down quite fast.
Anne I wonder if you have a wood worker in your area? I have a planer, and it makes a lot of wood shavings that are larger than sawdust, those would still break down faster than wood chips, but might be an alternative, and the wood worker would probably be happy to get rid of what is a waste product.
Just trying to think out of the box. Good luck.