Heating with wood is the topic for a post I published on our tiny homes geniuses blog. It has not got much to do with overcoming adversity, perseverance, resilience, contrarian thinking or any of the usual topics I write about. Or perhaps it has. However, it’s a subject I am familiar with and the finding, cutting and splitting of enough wood to heat a large old farmhouse provides many metaphors for life.
I wrote in detail about the challenges and costs of heating an old farmhouse with wood for an entire Canadian winter in this post on the Tiny Homes Geniuses blog. So I am not going to repeat all that here, go to the article if you want the details.
You may have noticed that it’s almost a month since my previous post, after a regular weekly post for most of 2018 before the cold weather set in. I am going to blame it on the wood.
To help my younger son Bryan and his family escape the chaos and insecurity of Zimbabwe by moving to Canada, we set up a corporation to grow field and greenhouse vegetables. From April 2017, for two summers, I took my eye off my other business activities and delayed preparing enough wood for the winter.
The Assumption Trap
I fell into the classic trap of assuming there would be enough time “later.” It was not too serious in 2017 as in the fall Bryan helped me cut and transport trees to the yard, cut them into usable lengths and split them. We started the winter with a big pile of firewood ready to use. I was able to add to it during winter so we got through to Spring without any difficulty.
2018 was a different story. In October, Bryan and his family became disenchanted with the frustration of the Canadian Immigration process. By then they had spent a huge amount of money on paying cash for a house, immigration lawyers, setting up the business and living here for two years. They decided to cut their losses and move back to Zimbabwe.
It was a severe setback for me. After neglecting my own speaking and writing business activities for 18 months, I had to get going again. There was also a lot of loose ends from the vegetable business to tie up, equipment and vehicles to sell, accounts to close. However, the biggest problem was not having enough wood prepared.
I still thought that I would have plenty of time before Christmas to cut enough dead Ash trees – which could be burned immediately. The warm fall soon changed that. After the crops were taken off the field, it stayed too warm for the ground to freeze. I could get to our bush to cut trees, but could not get my tractor close enough to pick them up without getting stuck in the mud. And I no longer had Bryan to help.
The Big Freeze
Earlier in the year, we had cut and split enough wood to get through to the end of February – I thought. The bitter cold -25C for 3 days in a row meant that we burned more wood than expected. By late February, we were almost out of wood, I had to start cutting up old beams from a barn we had pulled down earlier. I was also forced to deal with some huge, five-foot diameter Maple logs that a neighbour had left because they were too big for him to handle.
Fortunately, in the first week of March, the ground was frozen, there was not too much snow or ice on the ground and I was able to get enough dead trees cut and pulled back to the yard.
Heating With Wood is Hard Work
Since early February, I have been cutting and splitting wood two or three times a week just to keep the furnace supplied. In the detailed article at the link above, I calculated that I need to spend between one and a half to two hours on wood for every day that the furnace needs to run. Although with Spring around the corner it is getting warmer, the furnace is still running all day. So I am spending between 10 and 14 hours every week cutting and splitting wood. That’s without beginning to accumulate stocks for next year.
I am fortunate that at 68, I am still fit and healthy enough to use large chain saws pick up logs and get up and down into the tractor many times a day. Having the equipment helps but it is still hard work. Tree felling requires some skill and is dangerous work.
The old timers around here say that heating with wood warms you up twice, when you cut it and when you burn it. I would add splitting, stacking and loading in the basement to make that at least 4 times.
Heating with wood as I have done for 14 winters, certainly takes, perseverance, commitment and resilience. When it has been -15C with a wind chill of -29 as it has been a few times this winter, it’s not fun for this old African farmer more accustomed to working in shorts than insulated coveralls. But when it’s a choice between getting the wood done or the cats (and us) freezing it has to be done.
Conclusions
- Never assume the weather or other conditions will be favourable
- Remember things often take longer than you think they will
- Nothing stays the same for ever – I thought Bryan would stay in Canada permanently.
- Heating with wood is not cheap
- Being active all our lives enables us to still do hard physical work at an age most are taking it easy
- There are consequences for putting things off
- I will be cutting wood every weekend through summer this year
- Life is an adventure.
Leave a comment about your experiences with heating with wood or other arduous chores.
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