We are big fans of sustainable living. One aspect of sustainability is to use natural resources that replenish themselves naturally.

We have been experimenting with using wood that grows on our property for a while now. Living on the North Central Texas Prairie we only have a few high quality trees. But we have a lot of ashe junipers (Juniperus ashei).

Ashe junipers are usually considered junk trees over here. They have a reputation of sucking up a lot of water. Many farmers 'improve' their property by clearing the ash junipers and burning them in winter.

Ash junipers have two properties that we really like: they are rot resistant and they make great bonsai.

In this video we 'harvest' ashe juniper branches that we use to construct our duck coop and garden trellises. We harvest the branches by thinning out the dense growth and turning the junipers into natural bonsai. We use your little Harbor Freight mulcher to turn the cutoffs into mulch for the garden.

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