There are still a few places unloading their blueberries.

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I just read my day's emails and it seems the fridge trailers will be pulled out tomorrow.

The last of the berries sold last week and were picked up on Friday. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure when they were going to be picked up and so I had to pay rent on the trailers until I could cancel on Tuesday. They're not cheap.

The berries all sell.

I can sell every berry to the cannery. They pay the least - as a general rule. (I'll write some more about that in a moment. I'm drinking a wee bit.)

But, as I said, they don't pay very well. The goal is to sell the cannery as few berries as we can. The cannary's goal is to buy all our berries at the lowest price they can pay.

I also prefer to sell my berries to people and not nearly-faceless corporations. The cannery company gives zero fucks and they just smash the berries to shit and cram 'em into cans, which they sell to people who produce commercial blueberry products or sell as canned blueberries. Yup... You can buy blueberries in cans.

But, call it my immaturity, I prefer to sell them to people who not just pay more - but will actually be happy with the attention and care we give our crop. In fact, anyone who's local to that area can just come pick blueberries in our fields and, so long as they're for personal use, I'm not even going to charge them.

Blueberries are little bites of pure delicious. They make people smile. I'd rather the blueberries go to someone who smiles than go to someone who shows up in a truck and pisses and moans about the long drive back.

When I say the cannery pays the least, that's not strictly accurate. There are two companies that buy our berries and get a price lower than the cannery. One makes delicious products with Maine wild blueberries - and gives me a ton of their result. The other one is pretty new, as in we just picked them up last year. I give them a discount because they make delicious blueberry wine and they give me some of the wine.

(If anyone knows the legal issues well, I'd be interested in mailing them out to a few of you as holiday gifts. I'm not actually sure how legal it is for me to send alcohol without actually doing some formal ID check - and I'm pretty sure nobody wants to be a part of that.)

Anyhow, the last things remaining are just finishing up pulling any string left over (berries are 'raked' in rows) and putting hay on the field.

Seeing as I'm here...

There are eight fields. Each year, four of those fields are harvested. After the harvest, the fields are covered in hay. This is called 'haying the field' but that just confuses people. Really, we're putting hay on the field.

The hay sits on the field all winter.

Then, spring comes - and we set the fields ablaze - which is every bit as awesome as you might imagine. That's right... We set the mountain on fire. We don't even go to jail for it!

That year, the fields that were burnt will not produce berries. We alternate the fields, so each field is harvested every two years.

Why do we burn the fields? It kills any animal or fungus pests that are in the ground. Blueberry plants survive it just fine. They regrow quickly and the field has fully recovered by the following year. Burning the fields also kills (m)any unwanted plants - such as tree saplings. It basically stops Mother Nature from reclaiming the fields as her own.

But, the blueberry harvest is mostly finished and now you know a bit more about blueberry farming!

Seriously, burning the fields is awesome. You gotta stay sober for it but it's hard work and a good reason to celebrate afterwards. You run around with giant "Indian Pumps" on your back. First, you burn a firebreak and then you just set that fucker on fire. It's done in the spring, while there's still snow in the woods (usually) and the ground is too wet (usually) to be a major problem, but sometimes whole mountains have gone up in flames - burning many acres. So far, that's not been something I've experienced.

Note: I don't usually actually control the burn process personally. The guy I bought these fields from is quite an expert at it and it's a potential forest fire. So, I just happily run around with the pump on my back. It's a good workout and the view is spectacular.

Alright, so now you know a wee bit more about blueberries. They're delicious!

Obvious disclosure: I have a direct financial interest in the Wild Maine Blueberry industry.

I just read my day's emails and it seems the fridge trailers will be pulled out tomorrow. The last of the berries sold last week and were picked up on Friday. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure when they were going to be picked up and so I had to pay rent on the trailers until I could cancel on Tuesday. They're not cheap. The berries all sell. I can sell every berry to the cannery. They pay the least - as a general rule. (I'll write some more about that in a moment. I'm drinking a wee bit.) But, as I said, they don't pay very well. The goal is to sell the cannery as few berries as we can. The cannary's goal is to buy all our berries at the lowest price they can pay. I also prefer to sell my berries to people and not nearly-faceless corporations. The cannery company gives zero fucks and they just smash the berries to shit and cram 'em into cans, which they sell to people who produce commercial blueberry products or sell as canned blueberries. Yup... You can buy blueberries in cans. But, call it my immaturity, I prefer to sell them to people who not just pay more - but will actually be happy with the attention and care we give our crop. In fact, anyone who's local to that area can just come pick blueberries in our fields and, so long as they're for personal use, I'm not even going to charge them. Blueberries are little bites of pure delicious. They make people smile. I'd rather the blueberries go to someone who smiles than go to someone who shows up in a truck and pisses and moans about the long drive back. When I say the cannery pays the least, that's not strictly accurate. There are two companies that buy our berries and get a price lower than the cannery. One makes delicious products with Maine wild blueberries - and gives me a ton of their result. The other one is pretty new, as in we just picked them up last year. I give them a discount because they make delicious blueberry wine and they give me some of the wine. (If anyone knows the legal issues well, I'd be interested in mailing them out to a few of you as holiday gifts. I'm not actually sure how legal it is for me to send alcohol without actually doing some formal ID check - and I'm pretty sure nobody wants to be a part of that.) Anyhow, the last things remaining are just finishing up pulling any string left over (berries are 'raked' in rows) and putting hay on the field. Seeing as I'm here... There are eight fields. Each year, four of those fields are harvested. After the harvest, the fields are covered in hay. This is called 'haying the field' but that just confuses people. Really, we're putting hay on the field. The hay sits on the field all winter. Then, spring comes - and we set the fields ablaze - which is every bit as awesome as you might imagine. That's right... We set the mountain on fire. We don't even go to jail for it! That year, the fields that were burnt will not produce berries. We alternate the fields, so each field is harvested every two years. Why do we burn the fields? It kills any animal or fungus pests that are in the ground. Blueberry plants survive it just fine. They regrow quickly and the field has fully recovered by the following year. Burning the fields also kills (m)any unwanted plants - such as tree saplings. It basically stops Mother Nature from reclaiming the fields as her own. But, the blueberry harvest is mostly finished and now you know a bit more about blueberry farming! Seriously, burning the fields is awesome. You gotta stay sober for it but it's hard work and a good reason to celebrate afterwards. You run around with giant "Indian Pumps" on your back. First, you burn a firebreak and then you just set that fucker on fire. It's done in the spring, while there's still snow in the woods (usually) and the ground is too wet (usually) to be a major problem, but sometimes whole mountains have gone up in flames - burning many acres. So far, that's not been something I've experienced. Note: I don't *usually* actually control the burn process personally. The guy I bought these fields from is quite an expert at it and it's a potential forest fire. So, I just happily run around with the pump on my back. It's a good workout and the view is spectacular. Alright, so now you know a wee bit more about blueberries. They're delicious! Obvious disclosure: I have a direct financial interest in the Wild Maine Blueberry industry.

[–] • 1 pt

Niiiice, I want to play on that!

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[–] • 0 pt

They are every bit as awesome as you might imagine.

A load of trees is called a 'twitch' and the act of hauling them out is called 'twitching.'

Mine is a little different, but it can twitch a load of 18 full-length trees and do so with relative ease.

I don't log personally, but I own some of the equipment. I have a logging company that comes in and does TSI (Timber Stand Improvement, a form of sustainable cutting that actually leaves the woods in better shape than it'd naturally be and actually encourages additional growth as well as providing habitats for animals) and they pay me a percentage of their profits.

Rather than make them pay me a flat rate, because lumber prices and expenses vary significantly, I just have them pay me a percentage of their profit. This keeps them in business because they're paying a percentage of profit and it's not something that comes out as a direct expense - which keeps them in business and able to cut nearly continuously.

For a while, I had another company in (doing specialty harvesting) and they were pretty cool in that they used a team or horses or, sometimes, they brought in a working team of oxen. They did their twitching with animals and sold the lumber at great expense. It was all hardwood of specific types and qualities and they charged a mint for it.

But, I found out they were stealing from the 'dumb city boy.' They thought I wasn't smart enough, or observant enough, to notice the theft. They figured I'd not actually be going out into the lot to check and that I couldn't actually tell how much wood they were bringing out.

I did not press charges. I opted to show them what a 'dumb city boy' does. I ruined their reputation, after firing them. I'm in a very, very rural area - and your reputation is a very important thing in my neck of the woods. They are out of business and the farm I bought actually owns what used to be their oxen! Two of their offspring won some money at this year's pulling events.

Not bad for a 'dumb city boy.' ;-)

They are every bit as awesome as you might imagine. A load of trees is called a 'twitch' and the act of hauling them out is called 'twitching.' Mine is a little different, but it can twitch a load of 18 full-length trees and do so with relative ease. I don't log personally, but I own some of the equipment. I have a logging company that comes in and does TSI (Timber Stand Improvement, a form of sustainable cutting that actually leaves the woods in better shape than it'd naturally be and actually encourages additional growth as well as providing habitats for animals) and they pay me a percentage of their profits. Rather than make them pay me a flat rate, because lumber prices and expenses vary significantly, I just have them pay me a percentage of their profit. This keeps them in business because they're paying a percentage of profit and it's not something that comes out as a direct expense - which keeps them in business and able to cut nearly continuously. For a while, I had another company in (doing specialty harvesting) and they were pretty cool in that they used a team or horses or, sometimes, they brought in a working team of oxen. They did their twitching with animals and sold the lumber at great expense. It was all hardwood of specific types and qualities and they charged a mint for it. But, I found out they were stealing from the 'dumb city boy.' They thought I wasn't smart enough, or observant enough, to notice the theft. They figured I'd not actually be going out into the lot to check and that I couldn't actually tell how much wood they were bringing out. I did not press charges. I opted to show them what a 'dumb city boy' does. I ruined their reputation, after firing them. I'm in a very, very rural area - and your reputation is a very important thing in my neck of the woods. They are out of business and the farm I bought actually owns what used to be their oxen! Two of their offspring won some money at this year's pulling events. Not bad for a 'dumb city boy.' ;-)

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[–] • 1 pt

Hah!

That sounds pretty awesome.

We are looking at cutting some timber on our land, I will have to check into this "tsi" stuff.

Thanks for the story! I love stories. Also I learnt something today, so win/win.

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[–] • 0 pt

TSI - Timber Stand Improvement.

Done properly (and it's not always possible to do it optimally, but it can almost always be done to some extent) will result in the forest being better for it.

It's more than just selective cutting.

There's a fancy name for it, and I smoke pot. But, what you do is you cut 'roads.' Where the road changes the terrain, like the canopy and tree cover, is where animals gather.

For example, you generally don't see many large animals (or even small animals) out in an open field. Instead, they prefer to be near the edge of the field. For safety reasons, they can dart back into the cover the woods provide.

Foodstuffs also grow in those areas. You get new saplings and they have delicious (to things like deer and moose) young shoots and leafy material.

What those roads you cut do, is they provide more of that zone. They provide zones that have a break in them, from one type of vegetation to another.

Then, you don't just take out the logs - but you also cut wood that will go to firewood or pulp.

So, you take out the trees (not all of 'em) that will make good logs - but you also clear the forest up behind you.

It's different than forest management - because it's not just managing it, it's actively improving it.

Done properly, you can make small acreage sustain a pretty decent income. We do zero replanting. I plant no trees. I have no trees planted on my behalf. The trees plant themselves and we leave ample trees.

It's quite interesting and I employ experts - and am not an expert myself.

Let's say you have a tree that's 8 years old and it looks like it's going to (maybe) make a good log - it's good and straight.

Around it, you have a tree that's not going to make good logs - a tree useless for lumber. Even though that tree isn't fully mature, you go ahead and cut that tree, and make room (and give light) to the tree that will someday be a good log.

It's not just about cutting what's there - in the now. It's about cutting what's there AND about what's going to be there next year, in five years, in twenty years, etc...

It's good for the trees (they're a renewable resource) and animals.

The roads you cut? Those get used every few years - as you go back through an area you've cut before. Not only do you harvest the trees that were in those paths, but you don't have to worry about keeping those roads up with a lot of expensive work and it's not hard to maintain them.

It's quite a bit more complicated but here's a very, very light (and incomplete) look:

https://www.maineforestry.net/tsi

If you want something MUCH better:

https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/docs/mn/TSI.pdf

and:

https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/NE/NE666DP.pdf

Oh - it's "riparian." That's the word I was looking for above. I think - riparian my only refer to areas with streams or wetlands?

What kind of acreage are you looking at? Are you familiar with chainsaw operation? Do you have the proper PPE? For what purpose are you cutting the timber?

TSI - Timber Stand Improvement. Done properly (and it's not always possible to do it optimally, but it can almost always be done to some extent) will result in the forest being better for it. It's more than just selective cutting. There's a fancy name for it, and I smoke pot. But, what you do is you cut 'roads.' Where the road changes the terrain, like the canopy and tree cover, is where animals gather. For example, you generally don't see many large animals (or even small animals) out in an open field. Instead, they prefer to be near the edge of the field. For safety reasons, they can dart back into the cover the woods provide. Foodstuffs also grow in those areas. You get new saplings and they have delicious (to things like deer and moose) young shoots and leafy material. What those roads you cut do, is they provide more of that zone. They provide zones that have a break in them, from one type of vegetation to another. Then, you don't just take out the logs - but you also cut wood that will go to firewood or pulp. So, you take out the trees (not all of 'em) that will make good logs - but you also clear the forest up behind you. It's different than forest management - because it's not just managing it, it's actively improving it. Done properly, you can make small acreage sustain a pretty decent income. We do zero replanting. I plant no trees. I have no trees planted on my behalf. The trees plant themselves and we leave ample trees. It's quite interesting and I employ experts - and am not an expert myself. Let's say you have a tree that's 8 years old and it looks like it's going to (maybe) make a good log - it's good and straight. Around it, you have a tree that's not going to make good logs - a tree useless for lumber. Even though that tree isn't fully mature, you go ahead and cut that tree, and make room (and give light) to the tree that will someday be a good log. It's not just about cutting what's there - in the now. It's about cutting what's there AND about what's going to be there next year, in five years, in twenty years, etc... It's good for the trees (they're a renewable resource) and animals. The roads you cut? Those get used every few years - as you go back through an area you've cut before. Not only do you harvest the trees that were in those paths, but you don't have to worry about keeping those roads up with a lot of expensive work and it's not hard to maintain them. It's quite a bit more complicated but here's a very, very light (and incomplete) look: https://www.maineforestry.net/tsi If you want something MUCH better: https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/docs/mn/TSI.pdf and: https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/NE/NE666DP.pdf Oh - it's "riparian." That's the word I was looking for above. I think - riparian my only refer to areas with streams or wetlands? What kind of acreage are you looking at? Are you familiar with chainsaw operation? Do you have the proper PPE? For what purpose are you cutting the timber?

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