Source: Beth Beasley, BLUERIDGE NOW, 6/15/20


One tree at a time, draft horses named “Bliss” and “Roy” haul ash logs to the ridge for sawing at Banks Mountain Forest Farm, up in the higher elevations of Edneyville. The process is part of a long-range plan by farm owners Bob and Stuart Richens that includes utilizing wood from ash trees on the property, doomed by the invasive effects of the Emerald Ash Borer. “Getting firewood out of the forest is something we do all year long,” Bob Richens said. “Now we’ll be marketing other forest products.”

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