What would you do with a huge pile of sticks?
In an ideal forest garden I probably wouldn't have a pile of sticks. But I started from an nonideal situation and have a lot of pruned sticks ranging from 1 mm to 25 cm diameter.
This post is now a wiki and I've added the ideas from replies to this list. Let's try to make it 101! Feel free to edit directly or reply below and someone else will add to the list.
Burn
1.
Firewood.
2. Use the fruit woods for smoking meat.
3. Make charcoal.
4.
Biochar.
5. Fuel for
RMH or pizza
oven
6. Gasified
wood
7. Fuel a still to purify
water
8. Campfires
9.
Tie bundles of twigs to dry for kindling
Put them on the ground
10. Leave them where they are and let them rot.
11. Cut them into small pieces and use them as mulch.
12. Use smaller branches mixed with leaves to create air space in a primarily leaf-based mulch.
13. Piled in a carefully planned location for 6 to 12 months until the wood dries
enough to be snapped for
kindling, leaving the smaller branches for surface mulch.
14. Twigs and branches onto muddy paths
15. Wind break for a
chicken coop
16. Tie into bundles to reinforce banks (
fascine)
Put them in the water
17. Put in ponds to manage algae and improve habitat for fish
18. Make chinampas
19. Brush dams
Fencing and borders
20. Make a junkpole
fence
21. Wattle
fence or walls
22.
Deer deterrent by sticking branches into the top of fencing to make the fencing uneven and not create too much shade for growies.
23. Garden gates
24. Use the 1 inch (2.5 cm) diameter straight sticks as stakes. (I'm using stakes to hold up my
raised bed borders and terrace borders).
25. Garden bed edging
26. Snow fencing
27. wikiup fence, or wikiwallup
Bury them
28.
Hugelkultur - especially bigger pieces
29. Soil amendments
30. Create air pockets in
compost piles
31.
stick drains
Give them to animals
32. Fetch/chew toy for dog
33.
Chicken food (limbs with leaves)
34. Give to goats and hogs to chew
35. Twigs and branches as chicken bedding
Use them to attract animals
36. Wildlife habitat
37. Stack as a brush pile to attract birds that will
poop and fertilize the spot
38. Attracting
rabbits ... to eat
39. Use as a bird-feeder - Stick in the ground and hang bird treats from the smaller branches
40. Bug hotel
Use for growing things
41. Propagate as cuttings or graftwood scions.
42. Cut a flat space and use as a garden label to mark recently planted vegetables,
trees, etc.
43. Trellises,
44. Tomato cages
45. As support or
shelter for young trees
46. Growing
mushrooms
47. Place them underneath grow pots for air pruning
roots
Play with them
48. Let the kids at it.
49. Pick-up-sticks game
50. Pooh sticks game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LX5023PmMU
51. Make a toy raft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll7vSVBhYAE
52. Handmade wooden slingshot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9oWGuKypuY
53. Stick bow and arrow
https://artsycraftsymom.com/stick-bow-and-arrow/
54. Tiny toy chairs
http://oneinchworld.com/blog/index.php/2011/08/twig-chair-tutorial/
55. Stick crown
https://www.mamamiss.com/blog/2014/10/09/julia-donaldson-stick-man-stick-crown/
56. Stick garland
https://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/make-an-all-season-twig-pinecone-garland-for-free/
57. Stick mobile
https://happyhooligans.ca/pinecone-mobiles-for-kids-to-make/
58. Stick instruments
https://nurturestore.co.uk/how-to-make-a-percussion-stick-musical-instrument
https://homemadeheather.com/crafting-shaker-sticks/
59. Stick star
https://happyhooligans.ca/summer-twig-ornaments/
60. Stick and yarn God's eyes
https://nurturestore.co.uk/twig-weaving-autumn-craft
61. Stick Tic-Tac-Toe
https://www.firefliesandmudpies.com/nature-inspired-twig-tac-toe/
Build structures
62. Debris huts
63. Wattle and daub structures
64. Ramada
65. Build a firewood shelter
Crafts
66. Carve them into clothespins.
67. Weave the long spindly green ones into a wreath.
68. Carve Harry Potter style wands.
69. Whittling practice
70. Carving
spoons
71. Make a mallet
72. Make baskets
73. Rustic wood furniture
74. Lattice work
75. Marshmallow roasting sticks
76. Collect for school/kids arts and crafts projects
77. Make a whisk -
http://fredkeandfriends.lu/christmas-tree-recycling-homemade-whisk/
78. Make a baseball bat -
https://www.michaelkusugak.com/the-stories/baseball-bats-for-christmas
79. Make curtain rods/rod holders
80. Bathroom towel racks
81. Hook/peg for my bathrobe
82. Hooks/pegs for a coat rack
83. Pegs for a hat rack
84. Door handle
85. Rustic door hardware including a bolt
86. Chop sticks
87. Knitting needles
88. Crochet hooks
89. Datun/miswak/toothbrush
90. Tent pegs and other pegs
91. Cage for pet cockroach
92. Lizard and snake catching stick
93. Fishing pole
94. Make a measuring stick
95. Use as bobbins for macrame, netting, etc.
Other
96. Pile around the base of a house for insulation in winter (especially conifer boughs)
97. Use to tidy up tangled string
98. under give them to animals: fruit tree pruning if given to rabbits will have the bark chewed off and dry up nicely for kindling.
Many ideas from this list have been incorporated from other threads. Here are some links to those other great discussions:
https://permies.com/t/63272/Wood-chipper-advice
http://www.makeitmissoula.com/2012/01/how-to-recycle-wood/
https://permies.com/t/61382/permaculture-upcycling/ungarbage/Repurpose-Real-Christmas-Tree
https://permies.com/t/15706/Managing-flow-wood-brainstorm