Heartwood Podcast

Thinning may be the most controversial and poorly understood aspect of growing trees. Whether for conservation, timber or both, competition between trees may be slowing their growth and reducing the quality of your forest. In this podcast Rowan explains how managing the 'personal space' around each tree can help create a more valuable forest.  He also touches on the risk of believing in a commercial thinning option and why the expectation of a market for small diameter trees has undermined the development of high value forests on farms around the world. Photo: thinning our 22-yr-old English Oak plantation in 2017Links:  Our website: https://www.agroforestry.net.au/Rowan's papers on thinning and pruning:https://agroforestry.net.au/edit/pdfs/pruning%20paper%20afg%20mag.pdfhttps://agroforestry.net.au/edit/pdfs/blackwood%20conference%20paper.pdfOur YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008Music by Mountain Grey.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

We've spent 5 years building our new farmhouse. Almost all the timber (or lumber) came from trees we planted, pruned, harvested and milled on the farm. You could say it took us 38 years to grow our homegrown home!In this podcast I talk about growing and building the timber framing, boardroom concrete fireplace,  stairs, lining, cabinets and flooring using a range of species we've grown on our own farm including Radiata Pine, Eucalypts, Redwood, Oak and Blackwood. To achieve the log size and wood quality I had to carefully manage the trees by pruning and thinning, and the milling on the bandsaw had to focus on quartersawing. Links:  Our website: https://www.agroforestry.net.au/Landline story showing the harvesting and milling of the tree we used for the stairs: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/programs/landline/2023-02-26/forestry-foresight:-reaping-the-rewards-of-agri/102025432Our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008Wood information: https://www.woodsolutions.com.au/wood-speciesMelbourne Books - purchase a digital copy of "Heartwood - the art and science of growing trees for conservation and profit" by Rowan Reid: https://melbournebooks.com.au/products/heartwoodMusic by Mountain Grey.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Can we change forestry to make it attractive to family farmers? In this episode Rowan Reid reflects on the history of forestry on farms in Australia and his involvement over the last 40 years. It's clear that forestry is not working for farmers and we need to change the way we talk about and support forestry in the family farming landscape.Key words: Forestry, Farm Forest, Forester, Trees, Agroforestry, Regenerative Agriculture, Landcare, Timber, Lumber, Farming, PlantationRowan's media:WWW: www.agroforestry.net.au FACEBOOK: @bambraagroforestryLINKED IN: Rowan ReidINSTAGRAM: bambra_agroforestry_farmYOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008  Thanks to our friends at Mountain Grey for the theme music:www.reverbnation.com/mountaingrey/songs  Send us Fan MailSupport the show

My guest to talk about pruning trees for high quality timber is Josquin Tibbits; professional Arborist and Forest Scientist. Josky has been harvesting and milling pruned trees for his own building project. We discuss why, how, when and with what to prune young trees in order to confine branch knots to a central core and increase the proportion of high quality timber that can be recovered from the logs.  On the Bambra Agroforestry Farm we have been pruning more than 70 different tree species for timber and the results are great. Key words: Forestry, Farm Forest, Forester, Trees, Agroforestry, Regenerative Agriculture, Landcare, Timber, Lumber, Sawmilling, Farming, PlantationOnline Pruning Information:  https://www.agroforestry.net.au/ Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008Rowan's media:WWW: www.agroforestry.net.au FACEBOOK: @bambraagroforestryLINKED IN: Rowan ReidINSTAGRAM: bambra_agroforestry_farmYOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008  Thanks to our friends at Mountain Grey for the theme music:www.reverbnation.com/mountaingrey/songs   Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Andrew Stewart is a multi-award winning farmer in the Otways in southern Victoria, Australia. I'm a forest scientist with a small tree farm in the next valley. For more than 35 years we have shared a passion for making multipurpose tree growing attractive to family farmers in our region. With others, we set up the Otway Agroforestry Network in 1993; ran the first Australian Master TreeGrower course in 1996; and, developed a unique Peer Group Mentoring program to support farmers as they explore their tree growing options. The Otway Agroforestry network is now one of the largest farmer-led groups of its kind and the landscape around us has changed dramatically: there is now a diversity of tree planting that I've not seen anywhere in the world. And, we are now producing a range of high quality products, including timber, from the trees we planted for shelter and land protection. In this podcast Andrew and I reflect on the past and imagine what the future may hold for agroforestry in the Otways. For more about the Otway Agroforestry Network check out this series of Podcasts made by the team: https://fortheloveoftrees.buzzsprout.com/Key words: Forestry, Farm Forest, Forester, Trees, Agroforestry, Regenerative Agriculture, Landcare, Timber, Lumber, Sawmilling, Bushfood, Carbon, Biodiversity, Soil Conservation, Farming, Environment, PlantationThanks to our friends at Mountain Grey for the theme music:www.reverbnation.com/mountaingrey/songs  Send us Fan MailSupport the show

David Jenkins grows eucalypt sawlogs and has a 10 inch Lucas Mill on his beef farm near Bridgetown in Western Australia. I have a Hardwood Mills GT40 Horizontal Bandsaw on our Bambra Agroforestry Farm in Victoria. We caught up in David's mill shed to discuss how these two Australian made mills perform and the advantages of each. Keywords: Forestry, Farm Forest, Forester, Trees, Agroforestry, Regenerative Agriculture, Landcare, Timber, Lumber, Sawmilling, Farming, PlantationWatch a video of me using our Hardwood Mills GT40 Bandsaw to quartersaw a large eucalypt at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20LFBxq2btE  Hardwood Mills: www.hardwoodmills.com.au Lucas Mills: www.lucasmill.com  Rowan's media:WWW: www.agroforestry.net.au FACEBOOK: @bambraagroforestryLINKED IN: Rowan ReidINSTAGRAM: bambra_agroforestry_farmYOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008  Thanks to our friends at Mountain Grey for the theme music:www.reverbnation.com/mountaingrey/songs  Send us Fan MailSupport the show