Bob and I have an additional chore, besides getting hay, making art, doing laundry, taking care of the garden, etc etc etc. We go to secure our heating supply for the winter, otherwise known as "doing firewood". That huge tree, above is the source of this winter's heat.
Our gracious friend Tina has offered us all the wood from trees that have fallen on her property in Bridgewater. The soil is stony and there is a lot of ledge, so trees tend to topple over and leave these weird root monsters:
That's the underside of the above tree. (See all the rocks to the left? Not much soil for those roots to grasp onto.) I walk around scouting and musing while Bob cuts up the branches. (And try not to worry as it's dangerous work. Those sideways limbs are way overhead and sometimes crack and split in unintended ways. I'm always relieved when the branches are felled and the wood is safely on the ground.)
That's also where I come in: I help Bob pick up the cut logs and load them onto the truck. This is probably why Bob and I are in pretty okay shape physically. We spend so much time hauling things like hay bales and wood and compost around. Who needs a gym?
Here's another uprooted tree. There are so many of them!
There is enough downed trees for several years worth of fire wood. And it's way less dangerous than felling an entire tree, so I'm glad of that. If you've never been in the are when a large tree hits the ground, you have no idea how traumatic it can be. They really fall hard. But even in a downed tree, there's spring and tension in the weight of the limbs and it's not easy work. Bob loves it and has been doing firewood since his teens but it still makes me a bit nervous... But it's good exercise and way cheaper than buying gas or oil from some corporation that exploits people for living in a cold environment! And besides, the field looks so much better cleaned up when these fallen trees are cleared.
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