Pile it Up

With all that’s going on these days, it’s easy to let the wood pile fall into neglect, which exactly what has happened, not unlike every year in the past. This is not a great plan, however, because the cold weather can creep up on you and before you know it, it’s fall and dipping below 40 degrees. Until about a month ago, the pile was about 85% complete, and only because we had to dip into it last year. I figured it would be a piece of cake to split about a cord and fill it in, but I let it slide, and now I feel like I have to complete the pile and give it at least some time to dry before winter. We are currently at about 97% completion, so it’s not all bad.

It helps that the cut blocks have been drying for a year, and there should be more than enough to complete the pile. Then we’ll be set in the short term, though I’d love to have next year’s cut, split, and drying as well, but we don’t even have the log length, yet. Our man TB has been behind schedule, and who knows when we’ll get it.

One new development that has been helpful is that I can split wood while cooking falafels and french fries for the market. This is cool because not only am I being productive, or rather doubly productive, but I don’t have to sit there and stare at the cooking food, which can get a little monotonous, if not downright boring.

Another issue I have run into is the need to obtain a wood splitter. There are several logs from the current pile and from years past that I could not for the life of me split. They are either way too big or too darn knotty. Naturally I don’t want to drop $1000 and buy a splitter, though I think you can rent them. This brings up the logistical issue of transporting it, and highlights one of the shortcomings of driving a fuel efficient import. I know in a heartbeat I could ask our neighbor EB and he’d be over in a flash with his splitter helping me out, but I don’t want to take advantage of the guy. He does so much for us. I made some inquiries and our neighbor JP said he has one and that we could even borrow it if we could find a way to transport it. He said it needs a 2 inch ball hitch, whatever that means. At least I found a splitter, and he’s close by. Now all I need to do is find a vehicle with a hitch, though I think they may be easier to find that I imagine. The search continues.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to ppro for the pic.