In this unusual winter, things are a little different in the garden. I can still harvest some winter greens as they have stubbornly held on to life and moisture. The ground is often not like a brick but rather can be easily dug and worked. And the typical cover of snow is nowhere to be found leaving a mat of old hosta leaves looking like decayed tissue paper covering large swaths of the back yard by the fence. Trimming the hostas was not the only chore that I was unable to finish the fall: splitting the wood was another.
In past years I would typically have between two and three cords of wood split, ready for the winter ahead. It is rarely a good idea in Connecticut to wait much past Thanksgiving to have your wood stove-ready as we have had over three foot of snow on the ground by Christmas. Last year in January we had nearly five. This anticipation is in stark contract to Long Island, only 40 miles south of Ridgefield, where we would rarely have more than a few inches of snow on the ground. Wood splitting was a winter activity when I lived on Long Island.
But with a hurricane in late August and Snowtober taking power out for more than a week each, wood splitting was placed on the back burner of chores as it took us weeks to merely clean the property and repair storm damage. Without power, Snowtober kept the wood stove running 24×7 keeping the house warm and cooking meals for me during the day. In that one week I probably burned at least 1/4 a cord of wood. So this Thanksgiving I was not prepared for winter.
In December I manically looked for an hour a few times a week where it would be pleasant to split wood. While it was cool, it was not always dry. And when it was dry it was not cool. After a while I needed to just get on with it regardless of the conditions. Putting on my Carharrt jacket and leather work gloves I went out to the shed and picked up a splitting wedge and my 6-lb. maul.
It was a good crisp day for splitting wood it being in the mid 20s with bright sun and little wind. The first log was easy to split as it was only 8 inches across with no knots. Other logs were not so cooperative. While a well-branched tree is a beautiful thing to behold, it is a challenge to split. Logs that have been long laying on the soil often develop an obstinacy to being moved. They require a gentle reminder in the form of a smack with the blunt end of your maul.
Even though some friends have recommended against it, I enjoy splitting wood. It is one of the few things you can do on a winter’s day and not be cold. In fact, when it is much above 40 degrees, it is too hot to split wood as the layers peel off with each successive stroke or two.
So now is perfect for splitting as it is quiet with the only noise being the simple thwack of my maul against a log. As it is below freezing, the logs split readily after being coaxed. These logs are a few years old so there is none of the sweet smell of sap or moisture coming from the log. Some logs have become ant hotels and eviction is fast and absolute. Others have corrals of grey woodlice being rounded up by iridescent green centipedes between their bark and the soil.
One log that had been split a while ago was stuck to the ground. A kick with my boot dislodged it revealing a tapestry of leaves, cobwebs, detritus and a fern stuck to a yellowish vein that followed the grain of the wood. The log had become an abstract canvas of nature. I threw it on to the stack but later took it off, putting it back on the ground to see if an unseen artist will lay in another coat of paint.
