Orchard removal logistics..

Orchard removal includes felling trees, grinding, stump removal and transportation plus land leveling.

So they put trees into a big chipper or grinder and shredding the wood into small pieces. Any wire in the trees is removed by magnets and a dirt separator is used so they end up with a clean product that is hauled off to a site where it is burned to produce electricity. The old method of pushing the trees into huge burn piles has been phased out by the Air Resources Board.

We see the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has a cost sharing program (EQIP, Environmental Quality Incentives Program) to encourage people to chip rather than burn. For orchard removal they will pay up to $75 per acre.

Fortunately for us, Lane served on the board of directors of the local resource conservation district for 10 years so he has contacts at NRCS and can find out more details. The following link is a two-page description of the program.

ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/CA/programs/EQIP/2007/AQ-Chipping_Fact_Sheet07.pdf

Here's a grinder at work:

And here's a tree removal monster machine:

Wanted: A reliable orchard removal service

So far, Lane has two referrals and Elsa one. I guess we should go ahead and get a quote from each. I will probably let Elsa carry the ball on this since she is already underway.

Based on my research, a frequent problem with orchard removal companies is constant mechanical breakdowns. The other issue is what condition they leave the property in after the removal.

Leaf sample nutrient analysis at Carpenter -- Good news and Not-so-good news!

In our area,  the key nutrients for almonds that can be limiting factors of production are Nitrogen (N), Potassium (K), Boron (B) and Zinc (Zn).

Good new is that, all of our nutrients fall within acceptable ranges except for potassium.

University of California recommended levels are as follows and the results of the two samples at Carpenter are as follows:

N -- 2.72 and 2.58% (Recommended N 2.2 - 2.5% )
K -- 1.26 and 1.29% (Recommended K 1.4%)

B -- 30 and 32 ppm (Recommended 30-65 ppm) 

Zn -- 30 and 30 ppm (Recommended Zb >15 ppm)

Not-so-good news is that the best producing orchards have levels of potassium well above the recommended level of 1.4%.  And potash is not cheap! 

When we were on "Field run", we noticed "Crack out"..

OK. These are just almond industry jargons that are usually found in a huller's receiving report. Huller is the guy who you haul off your shaken almonds to.

"Field run" refers to the product as we harvested it and includes the meats, shells, hulls and any other debris that we might have picked up with the nuts such as sticks or dirt clods. 

"Crack out" is the term used for the percentage of what we delivered that is actual almond meats. The crack out is influenced by how clean the loads are, that is, how much debris is sent out (our loads were fairly clean, no rocks, dirt, etc.). It also varies from year to year due to growing conditions and how thick the hulls are. 

Typically, crack outs run in the 20% to 25% range for Nonpariel. Ours is a little lower than that. 

The cost of replacing the stolen filter pods is several thousand dollars.. Ouch!

We have added razor wire coils inside the lockup area, and a security patrol is inspecting three times a night. So far it is working, it has been more than a month without a theft.  :) 

We will add an alarm to the lockup area and I think we can cut back the patrols after September.

Pre harvest pooja.

Beefing up the security at Carpenter ranch after the theft

Unfortunately the thieves who took the two pods know that they are made of stainless steel, but maybe they are dumb enough to be tricked by the color into thinking we changed to plastic. We are adding two strands of coiled razor wire around the interior of the lockup area. We are installing an alarm that will be motion-activated and will sound a loud siren and start a bright strobe-light flashing. A patrol service will be visiting the site and inspecting the lockup at random intervals three times per night.

A couple pictures showing the missing filter pods and the replacements. I think the black plastic replacements look fine and will be uninteresting to thieves. You can see the pods and the manifold are all made of shiny stainless steel. The pipes into and out of the manifold are dull stainless steel. We plan to paint the remaining shiny pods black to match the replacement pods.