My wife and I have a homestead on a beautiful piece of property in beautiful Southwest NB. It’s mostly forested, and our homestead is right in the middle of it, made mostly from materials harvested from the forest using principles that will hopefully one day result in the restoration of the
native and threatened Acadian Forest that once covered Atlantic Canada.
The property sits quite far back from any trafficked road, and there are no visible neighbors, and a good size stream runs through it, so it makes the place ideal for nature lovers like us. It is a short 15 min or so drive to towns where you can get everything you need.
After building our small home, and two winter seasons of logging, it became clear that we have far too much
land to make full use of. I would love to pull more value out of these woods as the first batch of pioneer
trees, a good size and species for log buildings or timber framing, are fully mature, ready for harvest, and blowing down faster than I can harvest them and build with them.
It’s a shame of
course, but there is no way I am getting commercial foresters in, because it doesn’t pay, and they will destroy the second growth in the understory, which will harm the restoration to Acadian Forest conditions.
I have a band sawmill mill to help me turn this stuff into valuable buildings, but I have no hope of staying ahead of the blowdowns and making full use of the trees using my light touch techniques.
I have many ideas of what to do with the
wood, and the tools and skills to make it happen, but there just isn’t
enough time.
I wonder if there aren’t other folks in the area keen on some sort of arrangement. With some of the skills, or a keen interest and willingness to learn, and inclination to spend a certain fixed amount of time on this
project to help get ahead of this stand that is blowing down faster than I can cut it.
I would like to turn these dying trees into bunkies, sheds, guest cabins, and other useful things to be sold locally, or to help expand the homestead, and I need help in the woods doing selective forestry, need help in sawmill operations, and in the construction phase as well.
If you have mobile accommodation, like a Vanlifer or RV lifer, you are welcome find a quiet spot in the field by the stream, and we can work out ways in which we can share resources and make things easier for you.
I can’t pay you in money, as I don’t have any income from the operations yet, and it isn’t that lucrative anyways I am sure! But I can offer a beautiful place camp for a while, close to town but a quiet spot deep in the woods to spend some time, and some
experience with
sustainable light touch restorative forestry, saw-milling, and timber framing. You are also welcome to hunt, trap, and forage on the land if you wish. (With some limitations of course) It has lots to offer.
You could also put up a temporary hard camp if you like. Yurt, wall tent with plywood, small log structure, whatever.
Open to ideas, but a fixed length of time is critical as I don’t know how long this stage of the project will take.
Let me know if anyone is interested or has any other proposal they would like me to hear!
