It is late in the season to be stacking wood next to the house. We typically do it in early rather than mid Fall. But this year’s spate of warm and active days has let us delay this task.
Every year we burn at least a cord and a half of wood so it is a lot to stack. Most of the logs that are split sit 150 feet away from the back of the garage, which means I have many wheelbarrows to fill and push. A few logs left over from last season are stacked nearby, hidden by a compost bin, forsythia and a seasonal bench.
Juana and I start the stacking by collecting all the oldest logs first as they will be the first to fire. This collection of maple, cherry, oak and ash have been sitting around for few years and show signs of decay. Some of the logs that have rested on the soil have separated from their bark while others have taken on new growth in the form of mushrooms and lichen. More than a few large black and green spotted slugs have taken up residence in the cracks of this fuel.
These weathered, dirty looking logs are dry as a bone and have little scent in contrast to the newer, cleanly split pieces of oak in the back. These logs still have the fresh scent of oak emanating from them. Tossing them into the wheelbarrow and then putting them on the pile, we marvel as how some have been reformed almost perfectly into board-sized pieces.
Juana separates the longer logs, that will only fit into our fireplace, from those that will fit into our wood stove. Her forearm is the exact measure needed.
After a few hours our pile, that is nearly 30 feet long, curving around the garage, is stacked and covered ready to burn. Ironically, the last few days have been too warm for a fire but we don’t think this condition will last much longer.
