Restoration First.
Lumber Second.
We work to offer local, high-quality cedar boards and posts. Our ultimate mission is to help restore the Black Belt Prairie. Here’s our process of taking cedar logs to lumber.
Reviving Land
Circle V Farm & Lumber works in conjunction with our land mangament business, Land Revival, LLC. We offer many land management services, but Land Revival is know for its methods in Black Belt Prairie restoration.
One key factor in Black Belt Prairie restoration is removing encroached Eastern Red Cedar trees. Due to lack of fire and overuse of the land for the last few centuries, Eastern Red Cedars have taken over many previous prairie sites. Removal of these trees allows for sun to touch a dormant seed bank that has been covered up by the canopy that these cedars place over the ground.
However, even the method in which these trees are removed must be carefully done. We don’t log these trees with heavy machinary. And we don’t log them quickly. Black Belt Prairie sites have extremely fertile yet sensitive soil. Heavy machinary, even ran slowly, can cause irreparable damage. Therefore, our logging process is done by “old fashion” hand and chainsaw. This method allows minimal disturbance to the soil while being able to harvest these beautiful trees.
Lumber Orders
With continued support from our customers and community, we are working towards having a standing cut of lumber at Circle V Farm. Currently, as we are still a young business, farm, and family, we mill orders as they come in. For the time being, this allows us to minimize risk of waste and time as we grow children and work our land managment business.
Cutting to fill orders also allows us to offer something that your “run of the mill” lumber in your big box stores can’t- trees cut specifically for you. We don’t want to just know your dimensions (though that’s kind of a big piece of ordering). We also like to get to know your project, and of course, you. In doing so, this helps us pick the right trees to mill for your order. Getting to know the project informs us of what tree characteristics we can or can’t use for milling your lumber.
Obviously, since we cut the tree that is used to cut your lumber, we like to have some control of the process. But there’s one thing we can’t control- and that’s the weather. We know that in milling lumber in this way, sometimes fulfilling orders can take longer. And sadly, when the weather conditions like rain hits, all work comes to a halt. Working on wet prairie soil is the equivalent of using big heavy machinary, fast. Therefore when the rain falls, our work stalls. Trust us, we don’t like it either. But with restoration always being first, we have to do this to ensure that we can continue to work and provide high-quality services.
Logs to Lumber
After we have logged and collected the right trees for your project, we transport the logs to our farm in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama by our 30 year old log truck. (Fun fact: there’s not much age difference between our log truck and Hunter). Here, we use our Woodmizer sawmill to mill according to the specifications that you need.
Another aspect of our milling that we pride ourselves in is that we fulfill lumber orders in the order which they were placed. We want to continue to be trusted by the people that have put their trust in us. This means that every person and order gets treated with respect. Therefore, regardless of the order size, we fulfill orders as they come in.
Once your lumber is ready, we look forward to meeing you, or seeing you again. We also LOVE when our customers send us pictures of their projects. Each one is genuinely so special to us. From standing tree to final project, we love getting to see it all and know that your order helped us restore a little more of the Black Belt Prairie region.
If you’re ready to place your cedar order, click on order form link below. If you’d just like to chat, click on the general form link or email us at circlevfarmal@gmail.com.