Charles_in_Ontario
New Member
Hello Forum Folks,
Had to sign up, because you all seem to offer a lot of experience and insight that I am certainly in need of.
Quick summary: Moved back home to Ontario a couple of years ago (divorce). Had been farming down east. Approached a very successful uncle of mine for some business advice (wanted to start a landscape business, focussed on edibles). Turns out he owns a big tract of land (350 ac+) on the edge of town here. Told me if I wanted to grow food, grow it there, not in peoples yards: go for it - I have carte blanche in the fields and bush: uncle is just happy to give me an opportunity with something he just regards as an investment...
Location is incredible - main road, super close to town. Had almost $0 to get started, got rolling with CSA model (customers pay upfront for weekly boxes of veg) to generate some capital. Had fairly successful season - really nice customers, and got the $ ball rolling at least. Getting geared up for 2015, things are looking good. Have a bit of livestock as well.
Problem: I do not own this land, and will never own it (primo dev. land). Will continue to farm it, but need a more profitable venture to reach my goals. Also, would be nice to make the most of the 5-6 months of winter we get here...
Most of the land is forested, some of it with pretty decent hardwood timber (red+white oak, hickory, maple, ash). Sold cedar posts last year (did so-so), have been focussed on firewood this winter, but haven't really "gone for it". Have my wood piled by the road (lots of interest already, also some theft - now have a gate...)
Anyway, really finding the market gardening rewarding, but not lucrative enough given the labour costs and endless infrastructure needs. I feel like the real money is in the woods - looks that way on paper as well. Doing things very manually, we're felling, yarding, bucking, splitting, hauling and piling the wood at the rate of at least one cord/man/day. A full cord of wood here is worth $300. There are lots of sawlogs out there, and outside of hating to see them burned, I wonder if it wouldn't be more profitable to mill them - does milling lumber instead of firewood pay, in light of the added investment?
I don't really want to get into planing, kilning, etc. Just want to get the most from my logs (as well as supply the farm's need for lumber).
Gear I have:
Stihl 271 (An east coast sized saw, I know I need a more powerful one)
2006 F-250 4wd
Team of horses
Basic bush gear: heavy duty bobsled, chokers, peavy, pulp hooks, etc.
Splitting maul
a 70hp tractor with front end loader is on my list...
I worked quite a bit on a friend's old school rotary mill as an off bearer, so have a fairly decent beginners understanding of breaking logs down. Also, I lease a house backing onto the farm, and have a good site for a mill, with direct access from the forest.
I know (and this goes for farming as well) that there's no point of producing anything without a good marketing strategy... The firewood is a pretty easy sell, the milled products, not so easy...
Had to sign up, because you all seem to offer a lot of experience and insight that I am certainly in need of.
Quick summary: Moved back home to Ontario a couple of years ago (divorce). Had been farming down east. Approached a very successful uncle of mine for some business advice (wanted to start a landscape business, focussed on edibles). Turns out he owns a big tract of land (350 ac+) on the edge of town here. Told me if I wanted to grow food, grow it there, not in peoples yards: go for it - I have carte blanche in the fields and bush: uncle is just happy to give me an opportunity with something he just regards as an investment...
Location is incredible - main road, super close to town. Had almost $0 to get started, got rolling with CSA model (customers pay upfront for weekly boxes of veg) to generate some capital. Had fairly successful season - really nice customers, and got the $ ball rolling at least. Getting geared up for 2015, things are looking good. Have a bit of livestock as well.
Problem: I do not own this land, and will never own it (primo dev. land). Will continue to farm it, but need a more profitable venture to reach my goals. Also, would be nice to make the most of the 5-6 months of winter we get here...
Most of the land is forested, some of it with pretty decent hardwood timber (red+white oak, hickory, maple, ash). Sold cedar posts last year (did so-so), have been focussed on firewood this winter, but haven't really "gone for it". Have my wood piled by the road (lots of interest already, also some theft - now have a gate...)
Anyway, really finding the market gardening rewarding, but not lucrative enough given the labour costs and endless infrastructure needs. I feel like the real money is in the woods - looks that way on paper as well. Doing things very manually, we're felling, yarding, bucking, splitting, hauling and piling the wood at the rate of at least one cord/man/day. A full cord of wood here is worth $300. There are lots of sawlogs out there, and outside of hating to see them burned, I wonder if it wouldn't be more profitable to mill them - does milling lumber instead of firewood pay, in light of the added investment?
I don't really want to get into planing, kilning, etc. Just want to get the most from my logs (as well as supply the farm's need for lumber).
Gear I have:
Stihl 271 (An east coast sized saw, I know I need a more powerful one)
2006 F-250 4wd
Team of horses
Basic bush gear: heavy duty bobsled, chokers, peavy, pulp hooks, etc.
Splitting maul
a 70hp tractor with front end loader is on my list...
I worked quite a bit on a friend's old school rotary mill as an off bearer, so have a fairly decent beginners understanding of breaking logs down. Also, I lease a house backing onto the farm, and have a good site for a mill, with direct access from the forest.
I know (and this goes for farming as well) that there's no point of producing anything without a good marketing strategy... The firewood is a pretty easy sell, the milled products, not so easy...