We’ve got a fireplace and even though we live in a warm climate, we’ll be getting plenty of use from it; it gets quite chilly here in the winter. So far, all our fires have been from wood gathered from our own yard! I used a hand saw and cut lengths from long limbs that had fallen around my yard and in my garden. I used pine cones and needles for kindling and have come to realize that I only need a little bit of kindling to get the fire going! All the fires I’ve made have burned beautifully and lasted at least 3 or 4 hours with no stoking. Nice!
I saw some longer limbs a few blocks away and assumed that they’d been picked up last trash day but yesterday happened to see that they were still there! I walked over and tried to move them and could see that they were too heavy for me to drag home. So I hitched each one to my car’s bumper and, in separate trips, drove them home. My husband grumbles when this side of me comes out: the very resourceful and powerful side. He dragged his feet at first and it looked like I was on my own, but soon he had dragged the smaller limb into our front yard while I got to work sawing the larger one, which turned out to be cedar, into small pieces.
He was great; he stacked all the pieces by size and we got the whole thing done in a few hours. I wasn’t sure how long I could really sit there and saw by hand, but when the neighbor came out and offered the use of his chain saw, I realized I preferred to keep the association with the peaceful, quiet and honest work I was doing. If I get ten fires out of that tree, I’ll have earned those fires! I’m not sure if that makes any sense, but it is what I need! If I’d used the chain saw, every time I made a fire, I’d remember that horrible noise and it would ruin the feeling of peace for me.
I haven’t started on the second tree yet but it’s out of the way so I don’t feel too worried about it bothering anyone or getting picked up on pickup day. I know that whenever I want, I can cut a little bit. Yeah. Right. Who am I kidding! Once I get started, I am sure to finish unlesss someone drags me away kicking and screaming!
That might actually be most of the firewood we need this winter. Perhaps we’ll gather a bit more if we see suitable limbs tossed outside for pickup.
It’s great to know that this wonderful free wood is always so readily available!
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