coppice-farm/outline.html

Description of a Coppice Farm

In an area of about 100 ft x 100 ft (1/4 acre) there are 31 maple tree stumps.

 
Each stump has 8 to 17 new shoots that have grown up out of the existing root system.  
The shoots are about 6" in diameter.  
   

A example shoot provided 113 pounds of wet-weight wood. This dried down to about 67% of that weight, about 70 lbs of wood.

Assuming a wood stove with 45% efficiency,it takes 1.2 lbs of wood per kw-hr.

compare that to

$0.14 per kw hr (average PGE rate)

$0.05 per kw hr if using oil heat in a high efficiency furnace
   

Evaluation:

Cost

amount of time it takes to cut and store wood

can cut and store > 200 lbs per hour

= about $25 worth of electricity

= about $10 worth of oil heat

Sustainability

how long can this patch be harvested?

 

  

Life cycle

tools used - chainsaw vs. hand saw

 

  

tractor vs. animal power