Where do you get your raw wood from?

[Brittany]

I have a question for those of you who prepare your own wood. Where do you get the raw wood from? I live in the midwest and I'm trying to find someone with apple trees. I've contacted every orchard within several hours of me, and gotten the same response, they all spray. One guy even went on to explain that organic trees are also sprayed, i've included his email below, so I'm wondering where do you find your raw wood? Is spraying something that is just practiced in this part of the country?

"All trees in a production operation are sprayed even organic apples. Organic doesn’t mean no chemicals were use, but rather only chemicals on an approved organic list were used. Chemicals like dormant oil and Liquid Lime Sulfur, just to name two, are considered organic approved and would be sprayed on an apple tree in an organic operation. Those two chemicals are sprayed directly on the tree bark itself before leaves or apples are formed on the tree. I believe you this is what you are trying to avoid, liquid lime sulfur can be very bad to an animal if it gets to much of it, even though it’s considered organic. You need a tree that’s not sprayed. Sorry I can’t be of more help."

 

[liewwan]

The organic apple orchard I called don't spray at all, this is after making many phone calls.
I was also lucky that the guy even forwarded my email to his partner who has a forest practically for a lawn and back yard. I get my grapevines from him, however I have to harvest it myself. :cry3:
After endless hours of harvesting and preparing 2 bags of 35 gallon bags, I have come to a conclusion that I'll never complain about price of wood and I rather pay Rhonda to prepare it for me :rofl:

 

[Twilight Chinchillas]

I often get my wood from either my own Willow tree, or my neighbors who has a willow and never sprays. We both planted our trees a year apart, so I know they are safe. I have some family that have apple trees and are also organic, and once in awhile will get a friend of a friend who has a tree, but I often ask lots of questions like how long they have lived there, etc to ensure the tree is safe.

 

[Jenn]

I only have one chin, and 2 smaller apple trees which supply plenty of wood for Tinkerbell to demolish. I also have a willow tree. I haven't had to buy wood for years. But before, I had to buy from members here because although I live in Washington State that has an abundance of apple trees, the local orchards spray their trees.

 

[ticklechin]

Customers bring me wood from their unsprayed trees.

 

[Randy-Chin]

I have 1,000's of wild organic apple trees to cut in the U.P. I am waiting till late fall to cut so the branches have taken all the sap before winter.

 

[danilinn]

road trip to Randy's next month!

 

[danilinn]

seriously, i looked up all the orchards in Illinois and came up ambiguous at best. my friend has an apple tree he said i could accost at will, and i considered planting in my mom & dad's backyard, but i'm kinda with Alena on this one--as long as i'm working full-time, no way am i starting myself a chinchilla wood farm. i think it's one of those things you'd have to actually enjoy to keep up with.
and Ronda has got some really nice wood...so very worth the money! i can hear Jonesy crunching on it, and she's been on a cloud since her stuff got here this morning.

 

[mercynursie]

Oh the days when I only had two chins to spoil..... Most wood experience goes like this- you finally find a safe source of wood and decide that you really love your little fuzzbutts and it would be fun and cheaper to fix your own wood.After cutting/trimming/scrubbing/boiling and baking for days while your two legged family fusses about no cooked meals(stove top and oven after all are full of wood) you eagerly watch your fuzzy beavers have their first piece of home made wood.They pick it up and either throw it back at you because they don't like it or quickly devour it much to your joy.Then you realize just how quickly those little beavers run through all of that hard work!Now comes the tough part.Was all the time and energy to prep your own wood worth it,or is the price to buy already prepped wood worth it????I had to come to a middle ground with all of my two legged and four legged critters(2adults,1 college young adult,3 indoor cats,2 indoor dogs,3 texel guinea pigs,6 chinchillas,2 mini donkeys,and now 4 bottle kittens).I get trimmings from my hubby's old homeplace apple trees that are really old heritage varieties that his dad brought down when he moved from his parents home place(yes we dream of going back there and taking some of those trees back to the place where they probably stood over 100 years ago).I prep that wood.I sell some usually only to turn around and buy other wood varieties that someone else prepped,profits go into my critter care fund.BUT I still always buy from other folks too,because I still can't keep up with all my six beavers wood demands!:cry3::wacko:

 

[Brittany]

After cutting/trimming/scrubbing/boiling and baking for days while your two legged family fusses about no cooked meals(stove top and oven after all are full of wood)

Ah see, this is why I enjoy being young and childless ;-) I would never stop buying other people's wood because I love the variety, however if I could find my own source of apple it would greatly cut down on my wood expenses. My chins enjoy other woods, but shred through apple like it's nobody's business.

 

[liewwan]

Lol Brittany I can tell you that for 3 days I've been preping wood before and after work, I had no time to cook. My 7 year old loves it cuz she had fast food. That's when reality kicked in and I stopped preping. Other wood ill deal with, just not much of grape vines :banghead:

 

[mishellyshel]

hey Brittany is there freecycle group in your area??

i posted on freecycle in NJ and got a few responses of residents that were more than happy to have me come and prune their unsprayed apple trees.

i made sure they had not used any pesticides and asked a ridiculous amount of questions both before i arrived and when I got there. Glad I did because one lady told me that they didnt spray and then when i got there said " oh yeah we used this powder stuff from walmart last spring". i just cut a couple branches, thanked her nicely and went home and put them to the curb.

now is a good time to see if anyone needs a pruning!!

as for prepping your own wood. i do it in stages. one day i will trim down a whole bunch of branches, i keep those cut wood pieces in a box. then i bake the wood in batchs. i usually use 2 cookies trays. sort them by size. top tray gets the thinner wood, bottom gets the thicker. bake 1 hour at 185, switch trays, bake another hour. if i am only doing those trays than i leave them in the oven with the oven off and put them in a smaller box the next morning. if i am doing a big batch(meaning I started earlier in the day). than i put them in a box and bake another batch. sometimes when i am doing apple, mulberry & willow....i will start in the afternoon on a nice cool day and let me oven run all day! sometimes i scrub them and do a quick 2 or 3 minute boil and then bake. sometimes i dont scrub them all because i hand select them and drop them in to boil for about 5 minutes and then bake. depends on the branch and when i cut them.
it is a lot of work but i usually crockpot food on those days for the fam. hey they can make their own food, my chinnies can't !!

 

[melbur10]

It def. Helps to have a large property in the country with a variety of apple, willow, poplar and more that been in the family something like 40+ years! But what helps the most? I have one single large apple tree which has never been sprayed however does not grow lichen on it for whatever reason, maybe the variety of apple? I'm not sure. When you don't have to scrub it take that much less time. If I do orders for people I will do a light prewash and scrub but mostly to take off whatever dirt and dust is on there. Still cuts out much of the time!

 

[lauralynne]

I don't have anything around me, but I do have a vendor that I buy from who supplies me with unprepped wood at a cheaper price. I'm sworn to secrecy, though.

 

[cindyv3737]

I don't have anything around me, but I do have a vendor that I buy from who supplies me with unprepped wood at a cheaper price. I'm sworn to secrecy, though.

Prep it and send some to your niece.

 

[Megg09]

I have a question about grape vines, I have some in my back yard that have never been sprayed. How would I go about preparing these for my chin. Would I just cut it and prepare it like the wood or what?

I also have an apple tree that has never been sprayed. Does it matter when you cut the wood to prepare it?