Donna Sawyer

Travis Johnson wrote:A few years ago we lost 3 of our papermills in a single week, in total we are down to six from a high of 145 in 1947. The problem is, those paper mills would consume 2500 cords of wood or more per DAY. That sounds sad, but Maine is a big state, and the most forested in the Nation, and the reality is, we grow a cord per acre, per year, sustainably. Maine will NEVER run out of trees...

But our economy is based upon wood, our second largest export after electricity.

So my idea was, to keep our logging industry going, why not put that wood to good use. Organic Matter in the Midwest is around 1%, but transportation is cheap, and we have so much stinking wood, and now no place to send it.

All it would take is a planter that would deposit wood chips as it was engaged in planting crops. It would not flood the field with wood chips all at once, but over time, every year, more and more wood chips would be added to the fields of the midwest increasing soil fertility. Good gravy, if they can transport wood chips from Sweden to make paper in Maine economically, then they sure can ship wood chips by the trainload (or ship load through the Great Lakes or Mississipi) to increase mid-west soil fertility.

It really makes sense. As it is right now, with the loss of our paper mills, landowners (and Maine is 95% privately owned), is clearing forest to put it into fields because we have to pay our property taxes somehow. Many thought that shutting down paper mills would make our forests better, but it really has just eliminated their value as a forest altogether. I have cleared 100 acres myself, and I am not alone in that endeavor. Wood chips for the mid-west would make forests in Maine viable again.

I haven't tried yet but I think there is a mixture of stuff like garlic and hot peppers blend and put in spray bottles ...im going to try it soon but for now I'm using a deer and rabbit repellent from home depot on my roses because the deer seem to know when the rosebuds are just right and cruise by and eat them all off just before they bloom!   So far its working!

Tank you!  What a great idea they won't come out if there is light!  I'll just have to set them under a light at night.  Thanks for the info. Soooo much to know!   What have I been doing all my life!  I've missed all the fun.

Hello all you worm farmers!  I'm new at worm farming, and I'm watching every you tube video on the subject!  I googled " how many worms should be in a 20 gal. bin?" and found this site, which has so much great info!  I ordered 1,250 worms ( who's counting?)  And used coconut coir, cardboard, egg shells ground up, etc along with kitchen scraps, coffee.  Im wondering if the bin has too many worms!  They are crawling up the walls of the bin and into the crevasses of the lid! But I notice it seems to be the smallest worms doing this! And one...slug!  Im thinking of dividing the worms to another bin.  Does anyone know how to know when there are too many in a bin? And I have no idea yet, how you separate the worms from their poo! Altho I've seen all the ways im a bit nervous about that, or how to even know when there is enough castings to harvest?  It all just look like dirt!  Im dreaming of the most beautiful garden ever, which mine is really pretty to look at here in the PNW im switching from ornamental trees and perennial flowers to stuff we can eat! apparently thats gonna a thing now. Im trying to incorporate vegetables all around everywhere like the food forest idea in the front yard as thats the sunniest.  Like cabbages growing under fruit trees and peas up against a fence. Thanks in advance for any advice!