The Woodpile

It may seem a little odd to be talking about firewood when temperatures still hover in the mid - 90's and sweat quickly moistens your shirt by merely walking outside. Preparing for the future must be done, regardless of the season.  Goofy television shows have been produced that show 'preppers' in a kooky and unfavorable light, but truthfully, being prepared is just old fashioned wisdom.  That wood isn't going to split itself!

Be Prepared has been the Boy Scout Motto since 1907, but the idea of preparing is one that began many, many years before.  People had to prepare in order to survive. Survival is a great motivator. Despite relatively mild winters in south Louisiana, we still put up firewood to get us through the winters.  Putting up firewood is not a fun task, but one that must be done.  If one works in the summer, he can enjoy the warmth in the winter.

Our Woodpile (and a fat hen and rooster)

Speaking of warmth, Henry David Thoreau is credited as saying:

"Wood warms you twice, once when you cut it and again when you burn it!"

Last summer we had some water oak trees that were attacked by beetles and consequently died.  A friend of mine offered use of his chain saw and we carefully felled the oak trees, cut them up and stacked the logs in a nice stack.  There they sat for months, mocking me - "Stop procrastinating," they said.  "Come split us," they remarked.  Finally a month ago, I got out my ax, splitting wedge and sledge hammer and split all the oak logs up.  Mr. Thoreau was right - I was "warmed" splitting the firewood in July!

If you'll notice in the photo above, the wood is a grey color.  This color suggests that the wood has weathered or seasoned over the past year.  This wood will burn nicely. I tried to split the logs when the trees were initially cut, and the ax head bounced off of the green, uncured wood like a kid on a trampoline.  Once the wood dried it was much easier to split it up - except around the knots in the wood.  I kept my eyes on the prize as I worked, thinking about how nice it would be when the temperatures are 65 degrees colder and this wood would keep us warm and entertained while sitting in front of a roaring fireplace.

As I was splitting the logs, the chickens surrounded me, getting in my way and causing me to continuously shoo them away.  You see, a woodpile becomes a habitat for all sorts of insects, worms, and critters.  As soon as I would move a log, the ground was teeming with delicious morsels for the happy hens to devour.  I stacked the split firewood atop pipes to keep them from contacting the ground to avoid rotting.  The pipes that the wood is stacked on are re-purposed support poles from the kids' childhood swing set that I dismantled this summer, evidencing the fact that there's no such thing as retirement - even for a swing set!

Finally, I topped the wood pile with a blue tarpaulin to protect the wood (somewhat) from the rains that will come between now and when we finally light up the fireplace around Thanksgiving.  We'll likely go through this stack of wood this winter and then next summer, we'll start all over again.