Thanks to everyone commenting in this thread! My family and I are in the process of establishing a farm on a mostly clear cut, poorly drained five acres in western Arkansas. We have a lot of challenges to overcome and given the small size of our property and the relative lack of trees, I was almost certain that sustaining adequate wood supply would be impossible. That is, until I read Mike's comments about the qualities of black locust. Now I've done a 180 from my wood shortage despair.
By far, the most prevalent tree we do have on the property is honey locust. Being annoyed by their uncontrollable growth and dangerously long thorns, I was getting ready to cut all of the younger ones down to keep them from proliferating further and to make room for nursery purchased shade and fruit trees. Now knowing about their remarkable versatility and usefulness, I plan to harvest the pods in May and seed them around the pond berms and in a few clusters throughout my pasture. With luck, they'll be large enough for harvest/coppice and seasoning in 4-5 years and can provide us with a sustainable wood source thereafter. We might even try to make some beer from the sweet seed pods.
Does 4-5 years seem like a reasonable time frame for locust to reach a good diameter for burning? I think we can make the dead wood we cut and split in the initial cleanup of the property last for 2 years. Years 3-5 will require wood to be brought in from my parents' lot until ours is seasoned and ready to go.
