It's that time of year when the weather has turned chilly. Soon the snow will fall. Winter garments come out, summer sheets are exchanged for flannel sheets and furnaces get turned on. But not at our house. Yes, yes we get the old woollies out but it's the furnace that does not come on. Not yet. We hold off as long as we can until the cold eventually seeps into the cracks of the house and this monstrosity in my kitchen begins to loose the battle against it.
It is the other woodstove in the house that helps to keep the house warm. It has a cook-top, oven and two propane burners. If I lived in the backwoods it would be perfect. But I don't, so it's excessive. But the woodstove does keep the kitchen and dining room warm. Our house is old so there is a door practically to every room so we are able to trap the heat and keep it contained. The room I mentioned here is off the kitchen so is also kept fairly warm as well. But this means that we need to stock up on wood. And unlike when we lived in town and had cords of wood ordered and delivered to us, out here we are more resourceful.
Believe it or not, we do not chop any tree down. We only take what Mother Nature has already provided. These woods are what my hubby refers to as the mother load. There are so many downed trees in here. Some branches have been down far too long and have started decomposing, but there are many that are rightly aged.
There are thick branches, skinny branches, short branches and long branches.
So far we have not had to enter the interior of the woods as there is plenty around the perimeters, otherwise it could get tricky cause the fallen trees and branches have created a web-like pass through. Until us, the woods have lied untouched in this state as there is no road back here.
We've barely touched a quarter of a hectare, but can be out there for half a day and come home with a truckload.
One days haul equals one months worth of heat.
Tomorrow will be a day of chopping and then we'll be back out there refueling for more cold months ahead.