I rely on the wood stove to keep me warm all winter. This requires that I have a lot of wood to supply the stove. I have run low many times and have always managed to scrounge up some wood one way or another, but is not ideal. When the wood pile runs low I tend to light shorter fires, less often and obviously am cold a lot more.
This year I was determined to not run low so I could relax and just light a fire whenever the thermometer read under 65 degrees. Friends chipped in and helped me gather about a cord together. Some came from trees that had been removed along roads. Some came from a dead fig tree that I had on the property that needed to be taken down since I moved here 2 years ago.
But for the first time this year I am actually buying a cord of white oak. I feel a bit like a sell-out but I am willing to risk that title to be warm!
All the oak came split and dumped in my driveway from an outfit in Santa Rosa. All I had to do was stack the pieces, which feels a bit like playing a puzzle.
Luckily the only wood I had to split was some of the fig, but it was so dry it made me feel wonderfully strong and empowered! It will be so nice to just enjoy the winter in a warm cozy house. Sometimes it can be 80 degrees inside when the wood stove really gets cranking. Makes it feel like a whole other season altogether.
