# Free wood!



## nottooyoungtosmoke (Nov 9, 2006)

Up a big hill from where I live there are many apple orchards in a land called Julian.  :twisted:
No I'm not going to steal it....
i sent an email to a few orchards asking if I could come up and buy some wood. I got an auto response on one "We're sorry, but we are all out of apples, check back next year!" but for another i got a "Hi Mark,
Yes you can get some apple wood here. Just call in advance to make sure someone is here. I won't charge you anything.
Noel"
woohoo! free apple wood. Another guy said that he doesnt think itll be good for smoking because it is too dry...
isnt dry what we want?


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## gunslinger (Nov 9, 2006)

That's great when you can get smokin' wood for free. Especially one that's in such high demand. 
The answer to your question is, we want seasoned wood. He may have been saying that the wood is dry to the point of having poor flavoring and burning qualities. When wood gets too old, it looses a lot of it's density and and makes for poor fuel. Or he may have been saying it has a dry flavor. I don't know. If he's saying it's anything other than over seasoned, he obviously has never had anything smoked in apple and doesn't know squat about smoking.


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## bwsmith_2000 (Nov 10, 2006)

Sounds like a beautiful arrangement. And, by the way, I'm sure you have thought of it but a slab of ribs or a good "mess" of pulled pork would probably insure a continued supply of the apple wood in the future. Good smoking!!


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## gunslinger (Nov 11, 2006)

This is a great idea! I'm going to smoke a chicken and vacuum pack it for the orchard owner that I got my apple from.


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## mrgrumpy (Nov 11, 2006)

If you want to add a great flavor, add some cut up apple to your fire the next time you do a chicken or turkey.  It will darken the skin and add a nice sweet flavor to it.

Bill


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## deejaydebi (Nov 25, 2006)

I have 11 dwarf fruit trees (Cheeries, apples, apricots, pears and nectarenes)  on my tiny 1/4 acre lot that I am pruning. Can I use the branches I am trimming for smoking or does it have to be seasoned?

No I don't use chemicals of any kind. Not even dish soap.


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## cheech (Dec 3, 2006)

Debi I use the branches that I trim of off my cherry tree and it works great. Nothing like homemade BBq with home grown wood


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## deejaydebi (Dec 3, 2006)

Great! I got a whole pile from last year and didn't even start this year yet. Lots of apples and pears a few cheeries but dwarfs. I wonder what nectarine or apricot wood smells like? Guess I'll find out ...


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## bigarm's smokin (Jun 22, 2007)

*Hey Debi, do you know if your weather is milder than NW MT? I grow everything that you do and I grow great peaches, I planted a nectarine a few years ago and it kicked the bucket that winter. I thought it must be too cold in the winter for them, then I remembered that I have lost plenty of trees over the years that normally do fine here. What do you think, should I try another one? Do I need two for pollenization?  Thanks, Terry*


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## deejaydebi (Jun 22, 2007)

Terry -

They have trees that are self pollenating. Two is always better unless someone close has them too.

My problem the last few years has been that darn March thaw! All my trees bloom out in March, it gets cold again and that's it for the year. One or two fruits and that's it.

This winter killed my Stella cherry! To much ice I guess. No snow just ice.

I'd do it again. I had a great batch a mini kiwis for a few years until the ice killed them. They're not fuzzy and about the size of a big grape tomato. The vines look similar to grapes also.


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## steevieg (Jun 25, 2007)

I just hit the jackpot this past weekend as well...  My wife informed me that she wants to replace two of the peach trees we have in our backyard.  So, all I have to do is cut them down and I'll have smokin' wood for next year and probably the year after that, too..... 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






   I'm trying to get her to let me take down the apple tree as well, but I don't think that's going to happen.  I'll just have to make due with the pruned apple limbs....


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