Thanks Firewood Bandit sounds like he is misinformed. It could also be that these people did indeed get sick but perhaps they got food poisoning or an unrelated sickness and then blamed the wood because they couldnt come up with any reason why they felt the way they did.
One the list of things to worry about, that is somewhere near the bottom for me. Cutting the wood with a chainsaw is exponentially more hazardous to your health.
Many things in todays media is skewed by really bad science. Case in point is people no longer vaccinating their kids. Polio is no joke.
Perhaps, it is a lot more dangerous for some that others though. Some folks are just down right scary. I like the ATV helmet Watch the guy at 5:30
I had a hard time pulling away from watching these! Wow its hard to believe someone didnt get killed!
I'm an absolute sucker for the Husky 3xx series saws. I recently bought my boy a 365 special for $300. So for me, that saw isn't worth over $300 knowing what I can get for that money. What is in the rest of your saw fleet? Do you have any experience with a ported saw?
I put a lot of faith in what Firewood bandit say's! , His orchards are beautiful and he's been at this a long time! My two cent's are this; I've been smoking things for many years with all kinds of wood. I go back to the simple thought my mother told me, "wash your apple or fruit before eating it" Well, before I/we use any wood, don't we leave it out and it get's rained on etc... Some soak there wood in water first. My point here is none of us take it right after the pesticide is sprayed on the tree and cut it to smoke, That would be nut's. Also non of us eat the leaves "where most" of the pesticide lands.. I leave my wood out for over a year in the weather so "in my opinion" I think it's safe to say that 99.9% of any pesticide is most likely gone, washed off, dissipated by the time I use it.
My apples will have spray residue on them at harvest, and since I sell them as "orchard run" which means not washed, sorted or polished, I tell everyone to just wash them off. They polish up nice very easily. These Firesides were monsters. These are being replaced with Wolf River which should have some pretty good sized apples.
I like the bigger apples and so do most of my customers. However a smaller apple in wholesale quantities is more saleable. Last year Royal Corts were going .8 - .85 #s each and Honey crisp were .7 - .75#s each. Almost the size of a hard softball.
Chrissy and her Dad went out to Baurer's in LaCresent and bought Sweet tango, braeburn and Honey crisp when we were out there last time.
The Swee Tango are a club apple and are unobtainum due to the Co op owning the distribution rights. My neighbor across the street owns one of the apple stands on the highway down the road from Bauers. He is going to introduce me to some of the retailers in a couple years when my production warrants it.