January has arrived (sort of). The temperatures are falling and nightly fires in the wood stove have become common. The kindling has nearly run out as has the wood bin in the garage. I enlist Juana to help me in both areas.
About 10 trips with the log carrier gets the bin filled. It looks like we have burned through about half the wood we stacked months ago. Now it time to get kindling.
Juana enjoys this task the most. “It’s my job,” she says. The sun is peaking out and we both scour the yard for sticks and twigs. After the last month of storms, there are plenty to pick up. Most can be broken by hand though a few of the thicker ones require a hand saw.
Juana spots a few puffball mushrooms that rest between leaves adjacent to the shed. They are one of the few mushrooms I have seen this season most likely due to our dry summer and early fall.
We fill our kindling bin up quickly and put extra sticks into a garbage can that I use for gardening. Everything is fairly grey in color except for some bright patches of green moss the pop from the stumps of ashes that were cut down long ago.
