I suppose you have already picked up your Paulownia lumber, but thought I'd chime in with some information for any and all that might be interested in Paulownia. I built a couple of kayaks back in early 2000's and attended a couple of events, one being up in Washington. Met many awesome people and saw a ton of great boats. Later built a canoe ( more my speed ) and it was about that time that I got interested in Paulownia as an alternative light wood. Did my research and found that the area where I live was suitable for growing the trees. Financial issues took me away from boat building for a few years, but, I found two other fellas locally that had interest in growing them for cheap pallet lumber and bio-mass (fuel). We are all in the San Joaquin Valley of California. I haven't gotten over the boat bug, but, we decided to grow our own trees.
We started Western Region Paulownia Growers and put in 3 plantation in the area. We've sold many trees to folks for land-scapes, but our intention has been towards Agro-Forestry. It has been a 10 yr long venture with mostly negative results. Trying to convince farmers to take out a known crop for something unknown and with no market at this time has been very frustrating. However, we have a few trees that are now harvestable and we've found two sources that are willing to put our lumber in their facility and market it at woodworking shows and see what feedback they get. We can not sell directly to the public at this time, but, if you would contact Steve Jackel @ Jackel Enterprises, in Watsonville, Calif. you could talk to him and see what he has available. We dropped off 10 small logs for him to play with and take to a Wood Workers show coming to the bay area in Oct. Unfortunately one of our partners has some health issues and it letting his plantation go, and he has the oldest, harvestable trees. Most of our current material is 14' and under, but we have started grooming our trees to get 18' to 20' logs. Those trees are only 2 to 3 years old, so it will be a while before those are ready.
I have decided to start building again, with my G-kids, and our first project will be a strip-built version of the Sairy Gamp, of Nessmuk fame, to, hopefully, be hung in the showroom at Jackel Enterprises, to demonstrate the light weight Paulownia. After that, we've got a couple of Prospector Canoes to build.
Besides being part of Western Region Paulownia Growers, one of my partners and i are working a 20 acre ranch under the name of B & K Farms in Chowchilla, Calif. We have a plantation in Dinuba, Calif and are working with two others in Fresno/Sanger, Calif. and Paso Robles, Calif. Most of our trees are under 4 years old, but the harvestable trees are from 7 to 10 years. Kayaks, canoes and paddle/surf boards is just a niche market for us and we are trying to get into a much larger market, such as plywood and building material. At some point in the future, depending on how our wholesaler does with promoting the wood, or not.. We may start selling out of our ranch.
Sorry for the long winded post, but anyone from the early 2000's would know, that's the way I was/am. :)
If anyone would like to chat about Paulownia and the like, drop me an email. Rehd ( that's pronounced Red - Just because there are too many RED's in the world and we in Calif. are fond of the silent letters ) Brown at comcast dot net.
Have a great day..!!