Woods Tree Farm

Order your WTF merch: https://woodstreefarm.square.site Deer, rabbits and extreme heat this summer put a hurting on our flower patch. We're trying to salvage what we can of this season but we'll need to quickly transition over to prepping for Christmas season.

Today I show you how we did a DIY retaining wall that was over 80ft long and up to 4ft tall at its highest point using treated 6x6 timbers from the local home center.

Doing more cleanup around the property and today its raining so we're going to light up one of the several burn piles we have around the farm. Unexpected heavy rains cause erosion and flooding.

Working on converting some sawmill slabs into usable & sellable firewood. Most of this slab wood will get included in firewood bundles that we'll sell for a premium.

We need to do some spot watering and tried a new nozzle that connects to our 2" layflat hose we use for irrigation. Order your nozzle here: https://amzn.to/47LpRD3 As an Amazon associate I'll earn a commission on qualifying purchases.

After months of work, our new farm house is finally progressing toward completion with the installation of water line. Order WTF Merch: https://woodstreefarm.square.site/ In this video we used our Kubota L3901 compact tractor with the 5ft box blade to backfill our 2ft trench that contains our water line. The trench was over 440ft long.

Some of our leyland cypress trees are full size and ready to harvest this year.

After doing some excavation on our property we ended up with a large stack of logs for firewood and other projects. Most of this firewood will get processed into firewood for our growing firewood business, but some of it is nice enough for lumber. With the seasonal timing, I'm focused on splitting soft woods that will dry out this season - especially maple and poplar.

In this video, I wanted to highlight all the kinds of work on the Christmas tree farm that includes planting, fertilizing, weed control, trimming, and scouting/treating pests.

Got the tractor in the woods today to skid out some standing dead firewood logs. These oak trees have been dead at least one season and there is a lot of good firewood here. The Kubota L3901 did a great job skidding the logs out of the woods where we can buck them up and process into firewood.

I have been fortunate enough to double my firewood business each of the past few years, and I'm on pace to do that again this year, but there's one big thing holding me back from increasing my production (which has been my biggest bottleneck in growing my business). To increase firewood production, I feel the time has come to quick stacking firewood to season. The firewood stacks look good, but its a big investment in time and energy which comes at the expense of cutting and splitting.

We've set up a transplant bed for our small tree seedlings. This is the first time we've decided to do this rather than putting the seedlings directly in the field. In the past small tree seedlings die in the field, so we're hoping having the trees in the transplant bed helps improve tree survival rates.

Changing the blade on my sawmill for the first time and cutting some poplar logs into 2x4s for future building projects around the farm.

Today we try the Spanarci Zeta 2000 battery jump starter you can buy on Amazon... BUY YOURS: https://amzn.to/3l3RIdZ We'll try using the jump starter for our zero turn mower as well as the 50hp diesel tractor. I'm confident if it will start the dead tractor, then it can be used to jump start any size car, truck or van. The Zeta2000 battery jump starter is a compact, light-weight batter jump starter that can also be used to power small electronic devices such as laptop computer or cell phones thanks to its onboard USB 2.1 and USB-c ports. It even includes a USB-c to USB-c cable as well as a USB to USB-c cable so you have flexibility to connect a wide range of devices.

This has been years in the making and so many people have said we need a sawmill on the property. We've made the investment in the Woodland Mills HM130 Max portable sawmill so we can supply lumber for personal and farm projects. In this video we'll get the sawmill assembled and use it for the first time.

I was dropping some trees for firewood and things got exciting when one tree leaning out over the field decided to be a little difficult.

Today we pull up the woven ground cover we used in our flower patch. This was primarily where we had zinnias and cosmos growing. While we really liked the lack of weeding necessary with the ground cover, we've found its quite a chore to pull the fabric up at the end of the season.

Our for the first firewood deliveries in the new truck. The 2018 Nissan Titan XD is a big step up from my Nissan Frontier. I'm able to haul more and make more deliveries in one trip than ever before. For 2023, I'm looking to double my firewood business and having a larger, more capable truck is an important piece to help reach that business goal.

This pile of firewood logs needs to move along in their firewood journey. In this video I'll buck up a bunch, move some to the splitter, split some, and keep the firewood production moving.

After less than 2 months I got rid of the F-250 and bought a different truck that will be my work truck AND my daily driver. I've been looking for a heavy duty truck for a while and came across an older F-250 with low mileage and tasteful upgrades. I thought it would be perfect, but as it turned out, I hated driving it. The ride was rough and it was too noisy. After some research, I settled in on the Nissan Titan XD, a heavier duty version of the Nissan Titan full size truck. This Titan XD has a 5.6L Gas V8 engine and 4 wheel drive. I also got rid of my 2016 Nissan Frontier, which has been a great truck, but its just too small for much of the kind of work I want to do.

Out collecting firewood in the woods today. I cut up, split and stacked some of a red oak tree that I cut down last year. After cutting wood with the Husqvarna 455 Rancher, it was loaded on the Kubota L3901 and hauled back up to the Wolfe Ridge Pro 28c compact commercial log splitter.

Over the couple years I've been selling firewood, I've constantly been looking for ways to get more revenue for less work, and here's the latest offering I've had some success with - smoking wood. I've sold cherry, hickory and oak in bags of smoking wood chunks and its a quick and easy product to offer. Log splitter: Wolfe Ridge Pro 28c Chainsaws: Echo CS-590, Husq 455 Rancher, Stihl 181c, Kobalt 40v Tractor: Kubota L3901 ~~A few of my favorite tools~~ Note: Amazon affiliate links don't cost you any extra, but we'll earn a commission on qualifying purchases. Firewood bundle wrap: https://amzn.to/3XgcrsY Chainsaw sharpener: https://amzn.to/3IERcMT Stump Vise https://amzn.to/3oaBwE0 Logging Helmet https://amzn.to/36kdA7G Husqvarna Chainsaw https://amzn.to/2GjAZeO Felling Wedges https://amzn.to/38APw1G Forester Chaps https://amzn.to/2LdKulz SawHaul Chainsaw Holder https://amzn.to/32oubuX Two-Way Radios https://amzn.to/38CtlIf 300ft Measure tape https://amzn.to/2HrHmgB Propane torch https://amzn.to/39sDZSL Cherry wood for BBQ has been in high demand in my area. There aren't that many wild cherry or black cherry trees in our forests and people are willing to pay a premium for cherry smoking wood. I bag up bbq wood chunks in 18x24 mesh bags and sell it for $18.99. Its about 0.5 cubic feet of wood.