We've wrapped up this season's chipping. On Friday I borrowed the chipper from Natural Lands Trust's Idlewild Farm and started chipping brush piles that we'd created over the last few months. We leave plenty of brush for habitat, but we also maintain some temporary piles that we need to chip to make room for more brush. These branches are from trees that fell in farm fields or other places where they could not stay.
The winter's frozen ground was ideal for getting the chipper out to the piles. These chips were distributed right out the chute; there's no moving this material twice—if I can help it. Some were blown directly onto trails and others back into the woods edges.
The chipper, which we share among all of the Natural Lands Trust preserves, has moved on to Gwynedd Wildlife Preserve, where Tom has collected neighborhood Christmas trees to make chips for trails there.
