Edible Wood Farm Journal: 2026 (10)
Storm Austen on Friday 23rd October was the first storm of the season. The storm season officially began in September, but the first storms are expected in November. Most of the tree crowns this year were still green which increased the impact of heavy winds. Many branches broke off and numerous trees that were already weakened by the summer drought succumbed as well.
When I came to work at the Edible Wood Farm the next week, the area looked like giants had been playing a game of pick-up sticks. The ground was strewn higgledy-piggledy with dead branches from the young beech trees. These branches, which had not survived the fight to the light, were the result of an accelerated natural pruning by the sweeping action of crown-to-crown, branch-to-branch, during the storm. It took me a good part of the morning to clean everything up.
Fortunately there was only one row of logs that had been severely affected by the wind. The plank fastened between two standing beech trees had broken in half. The shiitake logs leaning on both sides of this plank had fallen to the ground. No damage, just mess. Some shiitake logs from other sections had also been blown over so it took me a while to sort them all out and put them back in their right place.
As a sort of warped humor, I have a storm discount action in order to stimulate the better use of wood from healthy trees. Spawn plugs can be bought more cheaply during a two-week period after a storm. Usually it is quite hard to find suitable logs to turn into Edible Wood. Although I do regret the loss of the trees due to storm damage, I do like the idea of people scrambling around searching for the best piece of (free) wood they can find. What a good way of making the best out an unfortunate situation.
