Heartwood Podcast

6 episódios

#6 Thinning to grow fat trees fast(er)
22/02/2026 | 52min
Thinning may be the most controversial and poorly understood aspect of growing trees. Whether for conservation, timber or both, competition between trees may be slowing their growth and reducing the quality of your forest.
In this podcast Rowan explains how managing the 'personal space' around each tree can help create a more valuable forest. He also touches on the risk believing in a commercial thinning options for most farmers and why the expectation of a market for small diameter trees has undermined the development of high value forests on farms around the world.
Photo: thinning our 22-yr-old English Oak plantation in 2017
Links:
Our website: https://www.agroforestry.net.au/
Rowan's papers on thinning and pruning:
https://agroforestry.net.au/edit/pdfs/pruning%20paper%20afg%20mag.pdf
https://agroforestry.net.au/edit/pdfs/blackwood%20conference%20paper.pdf
Our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008
Music by Mountain Grey.

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#5 Building our Home-Grown Home from Farm-Grown Timber
10/10/2025 | 58min
We've spent 5 years building our new farmhouse. Almost all the timber (or lumber) came from trees we planted, pruned, harvested and milled on the farm. You could say it took us 38 years to grow our homegrown home!
In this podcast I talk about growing and building the timber framing, boardroom concrete fireplace, stairs, lining, cabinets and flooring using a range of species we've grown on our own farm including Radiata Pine, Eucalypts, Redwood, Oak and Blackwood.
To achieve the log size and wood quality I had to carefully manage the trees by pruning and thinning, and the milling on the bandsaw had to focus on quartersawing.
Links:
Our website: https://www.agroforestry.net.au/
Landline story showing the harvesting and milling of the tree we used for the stairs: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/programs/landline/2023-02-26/forestry-foresight:-reaping-the-rewards-of-agri/102025432
Our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008
Wood information: https://www.woodsolutions.com.au/wood-species
Melbourne Books - purchase a digital copy of "Heartwood - the art and science of growing trees for conservation and profit" by Rowan Reid: https://melbournebooks.com.au/products/heartwood
Music by Mountain Grey.
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#4 Changing forestry so it works for farmers
26/04/2025 | 1h 3min
Can we change forestry to make it attractive to family farmers? In this episode Rowan Reid reflects on the history of forestry on farms in Australia and his involvement over the last 40 years. It's clear that forestry is not working for farmers and we need to change the way we talk about and support forestry in the family farming landscape.
Key words: Forestry, Farm Forest, Forester, Trees, Agroforestry, Regenerative Agriculture, Landcare, Timber, Lumber, Farming, Plantation
Rowan's media:
WWW: www.agroforestry.net.au
FACEBOOK: @bambraagroforestry
LINKED IN: Rowan Reid
INSTAGRAM: bambra_agroforestry_farm

YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008

Thanks to our friends at Mountain Grey for the theme music:
www.reverbnation.com/mountaingrey/songs
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#3 Pruning Works - for high quality timber
09/12/2024 | 1h 7min
My guest to talk about pruning trees for high quality timber is Josquin Tibbits; professional Arborist and Forest Scientist. Josky has been harvesting and milling pruned trees for his own building project. We discuss why, how, when and with what to prune young trees in order to confine branch knots to a central core and increase the proportion of high quality timber that can be recovered from the logs. On the Bambra Agroforestry Farm we have been pruning more than 70 different tree species for timber and the results are great.
Key words: Forestry, Farm Forest, Forester, Trees, Agroforestry, Regenerative Agriculture, Landcare, Timber, Lumber, Sawmilling, Farming, Plantation

Online Pruning Information: https://www.agroforestry.net.au/
Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008
Rowan's media:
WWW: www.agroforestry.net.au
FACEBOOK: @bambraagroforestry
LINKED IN: Rowan Reid
INSTAGRAM: bambra_agroforestry_farm

YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008

Thanks to our friends at Mountain Grey for the theme music:
www.reverbnation.com/mountaingrey/songs

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#2 The Farmer and the Forester
25/10/2024 | 1h
Andrew Stewart is a multi-award winning farmer in the Otways in southern Victoria, Australia. I'm a forest scientist with a small tree farm in the next valley. For more than 35 years we have shared a passion for making multipurpose tree growing attractive to family farmers in our region. With others, we set up the Otway Agroforestry Network in 1993; ran the first Australian Master TreeGrower course in 1996; and, developed a unique Peer Group Mentoring program to support farmers as they explore their tree growing options.

The Otway Agroforestry network is now one of the largest farmer-led groups of its kind and the landscape around us has changed dramatically: there is now a diversity of tree planting that I've not seen anywhere in the world. And, we are now producing a range of high quality products, including timber, from the trees we planted for shelter and land protection.

In this podcast Andrew and I reflect on the past and imagine what the future may hold for agroforestry in the Otways.

For more about the Otway Agroforestry Network check out this series of Podcasts made by the team: https://fortheloveoftrees.buzzsprout.com/
Key words: Forestry, Farm Forest, Forester, Trees, Agroforestry, Regenerative Agriculture, Landcare, Timber, Lumber, Sawmilling, Bushfood, Carbon, Biodiversity, Soil Conservation, Farming, Environment, Plantation

Thanks to our friends at Mountain Grey for the theme music:
www.reverbnation.com/mountaingrey/songs
Send a text
Support the show

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Sobre Heartwood Podcast

Welcome to our new Podcast series. I'll be sharing my 40 years experience in growing trees on farms for both conservation and profit with stories from our own farm and interviews with some of the many farmers I have worked with around Australia. Key words: Forestry, Farm Forest, Forester, Trees, Agroforestry, Regenerative Agriculture, Landcare, Timber, Lumber, Sawmilling, Bushfood, Carbon, Biodiversity, Soil Conservation, Farming, Environment, PlantationI'm open to suggestions for content and am happy to takes questions.Hope you like it.Rowan I'm a forest scientist (B.For.Sci. & M.For.Sci.), author, educator and a tree grower with a family farm in the Otway Ranges of southern Victoria, Australia. We call it the Bambra Agroforestry Farm and grow more than 70 different species for conservation and profit. After almost 40 years we're now harvesting and milling our own trees, building a house from the timber and selling tree products.I was also a co-founder of one of Australia’s most successful Landcare groups, the Otway Agroforestry Network and the originator of the Australian Master TreeGrower program. I have worked with farmers in many countries including the USA, UK, Europe, Uganda, Kenya, Indonesia, Vanuatu and Timor Leste.I have written many books about tree growing: the latest is "Heartwood - the art and science of growing trees for conservation and profit".WWW: www.agroforestry.net.au EMAIL: [email protected]: @bambraagroforestryLINKED IN: Rowan ReidINSTAGRAM: bambra_agroforestry_farmYOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@bambraagroforestryfarm4008 And, thanks to Mountain Grey for our theme music. They are a local Otway band. Check out their music at: https://www.reverbnation.com/mountaingrey#Trees #Timber #agroforestry #farmforestry #sawmilling #lumber #forestry

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