Firewood Season

We heat our home in winter using a wood burning stove (we have two woodstoves going when it is really cold). Winter is also when we cut, split and stack firewood for the next heating season. I’ve been cutting firewood in a several locations, most recently on the point south of our garden and home. I’ve always loved the point. The trees are second growth hardwood and the forest is mature so it is open rather than densely filled with saplings. There are still understory trees like dogwoods.

The spot where I’ve been working is where 4 trees had fallen in a cluster, a decent sized white oak, a large red oak, and two smaller red oaks.

The split pieces of the white oak are in the foreground. The large red oak splits are in the background. I was still working on splitting pieces of this tree when the photo was taken.

Since this is winter there is sometimes snow on the ground when I’m working. This photo is taken looking south across a large hollow. Some of the large red oak’s top limbs can be seen in the left foreground of the photo.

Sometimes when I split wood I come upon exceptionally beautiful pieces, usually at crotches or where there are limbs. The colors are bright on a freshly split piece of green wood, they quickly dim as the surface moisture dries. There is also that special aroma when firewood is cut and split.

The white oak is stacked in the right of the photo. I still have some to stack for the large red oak. The other two oaks are cut, and one is split ready to stack.

February 3, 2021