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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

Rob, when you post messages such as this one, I'm amazed that you can find 
the energy or the hours necessary to do all of this stuff alone.  It's 9:30 
p.m. here , so it's just after midnight there and you are typing messages and 
stacking wood.  I have to go see an accountant and a business acquaintance 
tomorrow, and if I accomplish anything else other than watering the vegetable 
plants, I will be lucky.  It isn't because it will take that much time.  I 
probably will not be away from the house more than a couple of hours, It is 
the stress, it really wears me down .....bobf



----- Original Message ----
From: Robert Walton <waltonrp AT gmail.com>
To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2008 9:10:22 PM
Subject: [Homestead] Firewood

I'm an insomniac tonight. Hope that changes soon!

I got the last of my firewood up out of the woods yesterday. There's
still a little out there, but probably always will be. Today I got it
all stacked, etc. Just a few big sweet gum logs to split, my back
says, "Another day!".

I really like arranging firewood in a stack. It's one of those
necessary things that you do, but you can make it pleasing to the eye
at the same time. Arranging the garden is like that also. I like this
year's arrangement of the firewood. It's in 5 different stacks,
according to dryness, mostly. They're not all lined up, they're
convenient, but out of the way, they block wind where it needs
blocked.

I took a pile of pine logs from a tree that needed to go so another
could fall and chopped it into kindling today. Stacked it really loose
so it will finish drying quick. Also have a big pile of little 1 to 2"
stuff that I cut for kindling. It's all out where the air and sun gets
it, but once I get that under a roof, I'll have a good amount of
kindling ready to go. The pine is great when you're the one that gets
up at 3 am and there is just a little bit of coals in the stove.
Couple of those and a few nice pieces of wood and your good to go.

My wood is a mix of Black Cherry, Oak, Maple, Elm, Sweet Gum, Poplar
and a bit of Pine. I've got a bunch of Cherry to cut, but will
probably drop those after the leaves fall since they are in the goat
pasture. They'll be for next year.

The other good feeling I get from this chore is that I'm bettering the
areas I cut in. I'm taking out diseased trees, ones that need thinning
and leaving species that are more valuable. What's left ought to grow
a lot faster. I'm preferring any nut trees, maples, birch and cedars
where they are already up and good sized. Unfortunately, that means
cutting out more gum trees than I'd like, the wood is not that great
for firewood and tough to split. I'm trying to take them small enough
that they don't need splitting.

Maybe it's because I've only been on this place 3 years, but it's nice
to get a (at least one) chore done. There is always room for
improvement. I intend to cut wood and get it out of the woods before
the leaves come out next spring. Forget about cutting after the trees
leaf out in spring and remember the ticks!

The gnashing and gnawing of insect teeth in that pine in the first
stack is close to being identified. They leave a stringy wood litter
behind. When I was splitting the pine today, I found lots of big white
grubs and little white bugs. I have yet to see these little buggers
working for their food, but think I might go sit in the seat by the
wood pile and listen to them gnaw before I hit the hay.

Rob - Va
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