The rain has set in, I have a warm, cheery fire in my woodstove, and my woodshed is piled with neatly stacked wood. Now, I love wood heat, and tend to really thrive on it in the wintertime, so these things are pretty exciting to me all on their own. This year it is much more exciting because it is not only the heat supply for a winter in my home, but I gathered, cut, split, and stacked that wood all on my own. When I moved into this farm cottage last Winter, I was able to get some short mill-end rounds from my ex-husband who had found them too short and awkward to stack, but for my mini-sized Jotul woodstove, these were perfect. It got me through the winter, but I knew I was going to have to figure out firewood for the coming heat season.
One day, this last Spring, a city tree crew was felling oak, cherry and maple trees across the road from my friend’s house, and leaving sections of cut logs behind. My friend suggested I get on it, so I began hauling logs over into a good sized pile off the edge of the driveway. There the pile sat, through Spring showers and Summer heat, until August when I learned how to use a chainsaw.
Now, I grew up in the country and was around chainsaws a good bit, but had never operated one myself. Honestly they have always made me nervous. I was even on the Timber Sports Team in college, but I did axe throwing and double-bucking, and never got to some of those other adventurous activities like pole climbing, burling, or power sawing. I figured at this point in my life, If I was going to be a single lady with a woodstove from here on out, I really needed to learn how to do this myself.
After a lesson on safety, how to fill it, how to run it and how to properly hold it, I was cutting through those logs like they were butter in no time. It took me a while to get the hang of starting it, but once I did, I flew through that log pile. Now I had another stack of short log rounds all ready for splitting.
I rented a splitter one Sunday afternoon and had a friend haul it over with his truck. I had watched my ex-husband run a log splitter twice, and helped a little, but really knew nothing about how to use it. This piece of equipment made me far more nervous than the chainsaw and truthfully I was on the edge of terrified when I went out that afternoon to start it up and split my wood pile. It turned out my worries were for naught, as it started up easily and ran smoothly and slowly. As long as I was careful, I was not going to lose any appendages. This was good, because they really are useful and I would prefer to keep them.
I spent the afternoon splitting logs, with a little help the last hour from my friend and his daughter that I much appreciated by the end. It was an interesting afternoon, because it was Logan’s birthday that day, and I took a break at one point from splitting wood to take her vintage dress shopping at a local vintage clothing resale store, then back to splitting, and then out to a birthday sushi dinner when it was finished. I changed outfits a lot that day.
Now I had myself a pile of firewood and a truck filled with the first load to haul home and stack.
I had been fretting about how to build a lean-to woodshed for a while, when my landlords generously gave me use of a metal shed with a concrete floor. It was full of old farm debris that needed hauling off, and the roof leaked and needed tarping, but these were easily done, and I had myself a woodshed to call my own. With two mornings of stacking, and reconnoitering after a partial firewood avalanche, I had my woodshed filled, and I was ready for winter.
So now I am enjoying the fruits of my labor in the form of a warm, toasty house every morning with a bright, cheerful flame to drive off the Winter gloom. I feel a whole new relationship to my heat this year, and have gained a whole new understanding of the process. Never again will I be able to take for granted turning on a thermostat and having instant heat. I am very pleased to know it only cost me my own labor, a can of chainsaw gas, a jug of blade oil, a one-day splitter rental, and a tarp. Much like the other things in my life that I deeply appreciate, I enjoy knowing that I was responsible for this and did it for myself. And if I can do this, I can do most anything. It’s a good feeling.
🙂 "And if I can do this, I can do most anything."
Thank you!! 🙂
Wow, what an epic mission! I really do understand how much work is involved – and I am totally in awe of your grrrl power! You so deserve a toasty home, and your special new-found sense of relationship with the warmth.
Good on ya!
that would bring a great deal of self satisfaction! nothing has ever lifted my self esteem like doing large scale physical jobs by myself.If you can take care of your own heating then there isn't much you can't tackle! good for you!