My father planted a lot of Poplar here in the UK in 1960s, when there was a grant from the government to help the match industry Bryant and May. He told me that when the Millenium came round I would be a rich man.
When it did come round most people had packed up smoking and those that still did used butane lighters.
So I had a lot of trees looking for a home. A chance meeting with a guy from Oregon came up with a story of a Church there made of poplar that was 120 years old and still going strong, built in log cabin style.
I contacted Dan Franklin from Woodenways and went on a course and the result is shown in two pictures here, number one and number three with the swans on the lake.
https://www.woodenways.com/log-cabinsThe cabin was built in 2001 and we put the base a couple of feet off the ground set on six large sandstone boulders as poplar on the ground rots in no time. So twenty years later and no sign of rot. Cut the floor and rafters with a Lucas Mill but the 40 poplar logs were put together with the old full scribe method, using old tools, mainly axes and draw knives and scribers.
Not a nail in the walls.
My father was always thinking of my future bless him and the other things he planted were a load of pine trees for pit props in the coal mining industry, of which the was still a fair amount in the `1950s, but come the Millenium,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,!!
I do not think that there is one pit left here today. But planning for the future with tree planting is very fickle.
