Friday, December 28, 2012

It's All About the Wood


Winter has decided to visit this year, 
we don't have the mild conditions that we did last season
so it was time to prepare.

It's all about the wood.
Taylor, Queen of Mulch,
surveys the area from atop the pile.


We were fortunate enough to run into the highway 
tree trimmers who liked nothing better
than to deposit trimmings at our place
rather than drive miles and miles to the
appointed drop off place.
This was almost two years ago and we let it sit
and break down until it would be ready to use
in the garden.  You can see how the top is rough still. 


Underneath, it is breaking down nicely and will be used
in the beds this season along with some of the 
compost pile.
Perfect.
Free and no work.


Not that there isn't work to be done.
Tom's now able to get back to wood cutting, 
something I'm concerned about with his being on 
warfarin; however, he doesn't seem to have any
problems so we're good to cut.
A bit behind though.


The woodpile was getting pretty low.
This weekend he will be splitting what is too large
to simply cut.

We've had a fire in the wood burner since Mom arrived,
keeping the living room temperatures around 72.
 It's a bit more comfortable while we had holiday visitors 
who are not used to our normal 65!

Hope your holiday is happy, safe and warm!







15 comments:

Faith said...

What a bargain...and your garden will be benefit..That's a whole lot of wood. How long does that much wood last in the wintertime? Do you ever use regular heat source, or just wood?
A cozy fire sounds lovely, and warms you from the inside out..it must have been lovely at the holidays..:)

Sunnybrook Farm said...

We keep our house cool and we roast when we go to the mother in law's place, not much chance of the food getting cold over there. I am cutting wood for next year as I was full up for this year, lots of trees down so that makes it easy.

Kristi said...

I love the feeling that comes from being prepared. The free wood chips are a great resource, too!

LindaG said...

Wow. That is great about the compost.
We have wood to split, too. It's so wet right now though.
Enjoy the last weekend of the old year and have a Blessed New Year!

Gorges Smythe said...

I'd still be heating with wood if it weren't for my wife; she says it makes too much dirt. My first gas bill after switching over many years ago was $400!

Michelle said...

We keep ours at 67. Which is good when the heater is on. For some reason it always want to go back to the timer which was set to start at 6 am then go down to 62 till we get home around 5. But I am not working anymore,so it does cause a problem.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

We have a geothermal system under our driveway for regular heat when we don't need a fire but it's still cool. It is less expensive to heat/cool our big house than it was to heat/cool the little tiny one we used to have which used a regular heat pump. We set the furnace to kick on if it falls below 65 but using the wood insert in our fireplace keeps the downstairs cozy. It also flows right up the steps and helps to heat the upstairs, which is only bedrooms.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

My father in law, who lives next to us, keeps the house very, very warm. He only wears short sleeved shirts so you can imagine how hot it is when we go there. He about froze at our place on Christmas Eve- in his short sleeved pullover.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

It was super!

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Thank you, you too!

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

It gets a little dusty when he opens the door to the wood burner or cleans out the ashes but since we have no carpet, it's easy to dust and clean everything. We also have no curtains, living in the woods, just some mini blinds.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Electronics! I'm at a loss when it comes to the programming.

Our Neck of the Woods said...

Awesome! I'd be cold at your house haha. My husband likes it to be warm, so I've gotten used to that. Usually we are at 72!

Candy C. said...

We keep our house at 71 during the day and turn it down to 69 at night. We have been making a fire every night too, it has actually been pretty chilly (for us) here recently! ;)
We have been thinking about getting a wood insert for our fireplace but, dang, they are pretty expensive!

Farmgirl Heidi said...

Hi Kathy. Our only heat source right now is a wood stove and I am really enjoying how it dries out the whole house. It's been very wet lately and a fire wicks away that bone chilling dampness. I sure like the sight of your freebie wood chips. What a great deal. I hope your hubby stays safe while finishing his wood chores. Have a Happy New Year.