Duvenaud Tree Farms

Grow your own tree

$200 gives you ownership of a specific ash tree growing in Manitoba's Red River Valley. The tree is yours until you harvest it or until it returns naturally to soil. Maximum lumber production takes about 50 years. The tree will exist in some form for probably 130 years.

Each tree provides about 300 board feet of prime, furniture grade ash lumber at 50 years.

The trees are up and growing. They require no commercial inputs. They live on sun, rain, nutrients from the soil and carbon from the atmosphere.

Ash trees are the last to get new leaves in the spring and the first to lose them in the fall. Ash are a tough and hardy tree. The slow growth makes dense, fine-grained hardwood. Ash makes beautiful furniture.

Imagine a dining room suite made out of wood from your own tree. Even better, imagine your granddaughter with her own ash tree, fifty years from now, when she has the time and money to make her own dining room suite. 

Your tree will have enough wood at age 12 for a baseball bat, at 40 a desk and at 50 a dining rom suite.

Individual ash trees, identified by column and row, growing in a nine foot grid on section 10-6-2W, near Sperling, Manitoba, Canada, are available to buyers.

Life of an Ash Tree
Planting height: 6 inches.
Year 1 - establishing roots
Years 2-30 - growth of half a foot to a foot per year.
Years 30-50 - growth slows
Years  50-80 - good health, little additional growth
Years 80-110 - death
Years 90-130 - tree blows over and gradually returns to soil

Photos

Overhead view of Section 10-6-2W	two years old
twelve years old	twelve years old in snow
twelve years old in snow	fifty years old with log cabin
ninety years old	ninety years old with woodpecker holes
This ash tree has been laying on the ground for several years. It is gradually turning back to soil.	Ash firewood. The water bottle is 500 ml. The two big logs are from 50 year old shelterbelt ash. Most of the logs are from ash branches. The flat pice to the right is birch. The log with the cut out V in the lower right is jackpine. The dark log near the top has been dead for decades.
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What You Get
Ash trees on Duvenaud Tree Farms are for sale at Cdn$200 per tree.  The trees are up and growing, and identified by row and column. All trees are about the same. If you do not specify a tree we will allocate the next in sequence. Buyers can switch once to any unowned tree at no charge. Subsequent switches are $50.
Photos are available. The first is free, then $50.
Trees can be harvested at any time. When you want your tree harvested notify us. We'll arrange with a local logger to cut the tree and deliver it to a nearby sawmill. The sawmill will cut and ship to your specifications. Both services will be direct billed to you. Each will cost about $100. Shipping is to your account. Allow six months.
On request, Duvenaud Tree Farms will buy back any standing tree for $200.

To Order
Send payment to Duvenaud Tree Farms for $200 per tree.  Duvenaud Tree Fams will mail you a certificate of ownership and maintain your record of ownership in the Duvenaud Tree Farms database.  
Duvenaud Tree Farms
Box 53
Sperling, MB R0G 2M0, Canada
 Send us an e-mail
1-204-792-1584

PFRA
The best source for ash seedlings on the Canadian prairies is the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration Tree Nursery at Indian Head,  Saskatchewan.  PFRA was established by the  government  of  Canada  in the 1930's when prairie soil was blowing away  in  the duststorms  of the Dirty Thirties. PFRA supplies prairie farmers with tree seedlings for shelterbelts as a soil erosion measure. They also supply seedlings to rural landowners willing to plant them  on  the open prairie. It's part of Canada's Kyoto commitment.

Pruning
Proper pruning is required to maximize the amount and quality  of wood  produced. An unpruned ash is almost a bush,  normally  with two  or  more trunks and lots of big branches. A tree  grown  for furniture wood  has as few branches as possible. You want the wood  in  the trunk.   Proper  pruning  of  an ash tree means  snipping  off  any secondary  trunks and, eventually, all branches within  reach of  the ground. The wood is concentrated in one big  trunk.  It takes fifteen years to finish pruning an ash but most of the work is done with a few snips as the tree starts growing.
Duvenaud  Tree Farms routinely prunes for maximum  lumber production. If you don't want your tree pruned, tell us.

Firewood
Ash makes great firewood. It's a hardwood and burns like coal.
The best firewood comes from dead ash that has been standing for several years.Eventually the bark wears off making smooth, clean firepalce logs. There is zero mess. They are totally dry, hence no sparks.
Harvest your tree for firewood at any time. At ten years there is enough for a campfire, at 50 enough to keep a wood stove burning for 2 months.
Trees typically die between 90 and 110. They will stand for several years and eventually blow over. This is the ideal time to take firewood.
The trunk provides big logs - 10 or 12 inches thick requiring splitting for home fireplaces. Most logs come from branches, ideally sized for fireplaces. Small branches and twigs provide more than ample kindling.
If you take a living tree for firewood allow one summer of seasoning before use.
Notify us when you want your firewood. Duvenaud Tree Farms will hire a local logger to cut and ship to your specifications and account. The cost of cutting will be about $100.

Transplanting
If you want to transplant your tree you will have to take a  root ball. We  don't encourage taking live trees because some soil, the basis  of our  farm, leaves the field permanently. We replace all  the soil that leaves the farm with gardener's bedding soil. Accordingly, there  is a $100 surcharge for a root ball. If  you  do want to transplant your tree, we hire  a  local  tree mover, on your behalf, to dig, package and ship to your specifications.

Visiting
Ownership  does not include visiting rights. Duvenaud Tree  Farms is private property.

Deer
A herd of wild deer live among the trees. From time to time one will eat the bark off a tree. If your tree is girdled, we will notify you and you can switch to any unowned tree at no charge.