‘And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the self-same day Noah said, “Well dang, it’s fall in Southeast Alaska.”’ Genesis 7 (mostly), King James Version. Lots of firewood seasoning articles tell you never to burn anything that’s more than 20% moisture and to stay […]
Woodshed Kings
13 posts
Remember a few years ago when one of the local chain stores in Juneau tried selling Atlantic farmed salmon from down south? Oh, the hue and cry of public outrage. So they stopped. We should marshal that activism to put the brakes on firewood that comes from Outside. Forests all […]
A cord of wood is a quiet winter comfort representing centuries worth of stored solar energy from ninety-one million miles away. Woodshed Nation releases that energy gradually knowing that whatever happens in the world outside, a home with a few cords won’t freeze for lack of fuel. It’s February, we’re […]
Wealth is different things to different people. When September rolls around two of the best things in the world are a freezer full of fish and enough seasoned firewood for two winters. All told it’s around a thousand dollars for what you need to go on wood safari: chainsaw, […]
The old timers say to split a little every day And stack it away to season well, but from March to November I rarely do remember December will find me in a rut… traditional folk song* A couple from down south gives me a lesson at the wood pile: […]
A few weeks ago my neighbor and I were talking firewood. Specifically, we were talking about whether to stack with the bark up or the bark down. He’s a rugged, quiet, mid-western Norwegian type. “Well, you know,” he said. “The most popular show in Norway was about stacking firewood. […]
In Alaska running a chainsaw is a social skill. You go out with the gang, buck up some downed trees, bring them somewhere, pitch them off. It’s a good day. The thing is, with a few exceptions,* if you don’t know how to use a chain saw standardized how-to […]
The junk mail du jour was one of those women’s sportswear catalogs where trim, angular-jawed yuppies peer intently into the distance as they trot on a beach in eighty dollar jog bras made by poor women in the third world. On the cover, rear end facing the camera, was one […]
Stoves are meant to take the heat. Chimneys aren’t. That’s why flammable creosote in a chimney is problematic. As the Chimney Safety Institue of America (yes, there is one) points out, clean chimneys don’t burn. It’s spring. Trees are leafing out. Rhubarb and garlic are up in the garden. Finches […]
Why this is a great idea Forty percent of humanity still cooks and heats with solid fuel (wood, dung, agricultural waste, coal, etc) over open fires or leaky stoves. Deforestation ruins the land. Pollution inside the home kills over 4 million people per year; the majority of them women and […]
First thing: Where are you going to put it? A pile of rounds and chunks that you’ll be splitting later always takes longer to knock down than you think it will. It’s convenient to drop the wood as close as possible to where you’ll eventually stack it but it’s more […]
On my way down the hall to shave the wife asked if I was going to shave. To maintain balance of power in the castle, shaving at that point was out of the question, so I said, “Well honey, I think I might just grow out the beard and be […]