Fire and Firewood

Labor Day was a restful day. Phil began a general clean-up of our land, so my family will not be too horrified when they come to visit. He picked up saplings he'd chopped down back when we were planting the orchard and chipped them; he burned a LOT of cardboard boxes and feedbags, and burned some ugly large roots that had been clustered in the orchard for almost a year. He had the fire going most of the day.

I decided to take down the unsightly fence that keeps the chickens out of my garden. After an hour's hard labor, I gave up for the day, half done: weeds had grown up through the netting, and I could release the netting inch by inch. No fun.

A second chick died. We have now the 50 we ordered, plus Tux.

We noticed lamb BB had an enormous swollen jaw. I wondered if it was a toothache, but he didn't appear to be in pain, and he was eating normally. Thankfully, today the swelling is much reduced. Maybe a histamine reaction to a bee sting?

Today we had a delightful visit from Berenice, an older woman who attended Bible study with us at the Doug Bush's house. I had run into her at the post office, and mentioned that we had questions about how to make firewood. Her husband Reggie has a small business selling firewood, and since we have about 40 acres that need to be cleared, I am interested in any method of income we can get from all that land.

Reggie lives in the house he was born in, the house his grandparents built at the turn of the last century. He remembers when they got electricity in the 50s, and when they got indoor plumbing. He said that last year's winter was more in keeping with the severity of winters several decades ago: maybe more snowfall, but the extremely cold weather was more normal.

Anyway, he said that he seasons his wood for two years. He doesn't bother to stack it as a cord (8'x8'x4'), but loads up his truck with firewood and sells the whole thing, at a price about 25% lower than the competitors. It's about a cord, but not stacking it saves him time.

On the production end, he will get a call for some downed trees. He cuts the tree into sections 16 to 18 inches apart, loads the rounds into his truck, backs the truck next to the hydraulic splitter, and splits them as he unloads them. So simple! Brilliant.

He thinks this is his last year, though. He retired from his job 11 years ago, and started the firewood business on the side. The work is catching up to him. (I would guess so, being in his 70s!)

So I will not expect income from a firewood business this year, but it probably makes sense to purchase a splitter at some point. Not yet, but someday.