5. Eat it!

Fir Bark – yum. Well if you are lost in the woods you can make soup. Apparently, an entire fir tree is edible. Adding some bark (the inner whitish part called cambium) to boiling water and letting it soften will theoretically keep you alive for quite a while.

Here are some helpful hints for eating bark.

http://wildfoodsandmedicines.c...

4. Eat it, For Dessert

Ok, the recipe is for douglas fir tips, but…it’s actually pretty good.

http://rickandrob.com/dougfir_sorbet.htm

There are quite a few other things that can be done with parts of fir trees. Check it out.

3. Burn it in Your Kiln

Marks Lumber runs our dry kiln from mill residue products. It is a mixture of bark from our saw logs and ground wood. We work really hard to completely use every log we buy--and burning the bark dust for heat energy is great way to get some value back from an otherwise worthless wood fiber.

2. Mulch Your Garden

Mulch is amazing! Mulch decreases evaporation, meaning plants require less irrigation. It helps prevent weeds. As bark decomposes it releases nitrogen, and the remaining humus material can be mixed with your soil to improve soil quality.

1. Amend Your Soil

Marks Lumber manufactures soil conditioner that is 100% aged Douglas Fir bark. This slightly acidic soil amendment is a great humus addition that also provides a little nitrogen as it decomposes. In the North Helena Valley this is magic with our alkaline and heavy clay soil.