Filed under: July 2020 | Tags: BTUs, fables, firewood, log splitter, Sugarwood
July 14, 2020
It’s that time of year when I try to get the woodshed all fill up. I am currently about 3/4 full. We spent part of Saturday splitting some big chunks of wood. I enlisted the help of three of my buddy’s sons. We made great progress.
The large trunk sections of wood, some four feet thick, make a lot of firewood. There is plenty of work in them, but they do yield well. We used the skid steer at times to lift the large sections onto the log splitter. It was a good day made easy, thanks to lots of help. It is surely true that many hands make light work.
I still have plenty more waiting , but the biggest pieces have been conquered! This smaller stuff, I hope to have worked up by next weekend. This will launch me ahead enough that by fall, I may be a whole year ahead. In other words, 2021 wood will be all stacked and waiting in the woodshed. 2022 wood will be stacked and drying in neat stacks next to the woodshed.
I like cutting and splitting wood. It is a satisfying job. You can see your progress and it makes you feel good to be prepared. My grandma used to tell us the story of the ant and the grasshopper. The ant worked steady and was prepared when “winter” came. I think all of us should follow the example of the ant and be prepared for when our “winter” comes.
The heat that well seasoned, dry wood makes is wonderful. It really makes the sap boil! Getting ahead makes good sense. It also takes the pressure off. I will continue to work on wood even when I get ahead.
We use 11-12 cords a season for the maple syrup making. The last thing I want to happen, would be to have a longer than normal season and run out of wood to boil. Trying to cut wood and gather sap at the same time is rough. The wood made that way, even from dead trees, does not have the BTU’s that good seasoned wood puts out.
Its a heat thing! They say firewood warms you twice, once when you cut it and a second time when you burn it. I know wrestling big chunks through a log splitter in July will dang sure warm you! Seeing the large piles actually warms my heart too… no matter what the weather!
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RicelandMeadows 
If you would like more wood I have over 20 cords of cut but not split wood that I have no use for. I have lost hundreds if not thousands of trees on my place in Montville. I ran a commercial chipper for 10 hours and created 30 yards of mulch from whole trees.
Comment by Jeff Wilkes July 14, 2020 @ 6:30 pmWow! Thank you for the offer Jeff. Currently we have plenty, but thanks again.
Comment by ricelandmeadows November 3, 2020 @ 1:25 pm