Here are a couple of recent videos I did on the stuff I do around here. One is a short update on labeling and protecting fruit that was pollinated earlier this year as part of my apple breeding project. I talk a little about the breeding parents and related stuff, but it's pretty straightforward and short, with a quick visit to my new pig. The second is a follow along while I cut down, cut up, and peel the bark off of a tan oak tree that is infected with the organism involved in sudden oak death. I use the bark for tanning skins. I'm working on a book right now on tanning with plant materials like bark, various leaves and pods and stuff like that. Writing, research and experiments around that project now consume most ofmy time, energy and thought. In the video I show a few pieces of leather tanned with oak bark, peel the bark, split the wood and clean it all up. There are few things I'd rather do with my time than that type of forestry work. Splitting wood, playing with wood, using my axe, burning brush to make charcoal, etc.. is all my idea of a good time! woo hoo! It's really hard for me to cut these videos down and focus them in. There are so many satellite topics I want to talk about! Definitely some stuff coming on axe use, wood splitting tutorials, forestry and forest ecology, and lots of tanning and skin working stuff.
How to breed apples at home: It's July, and it's time to label all the apples I pollinated in the spring, so that if they fall off the tree, I know what they are. Also, birds are starting to do a lot of damage, so I'm covering the fruit to prevent losses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNFZiu4mSts
In this video, I cut down a diseased tan oak tree to harvest the bark and process the wood for charcoal and firewood. I briefly introduce bark tanned leather and talk about my upcoming book on that subject. Tan oak, Notholithocarpus densiflorus, is called tan bark oak because it was so widely used in tanning leather.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX8g0Yt0ZmI
