What a difference a few weeks makes. In my last post I discussed our efforts to store potatoes and carrots in our riot cellar.
Well, it wasn't a week later and we got a heavy rain and suddenly I found the cellar flooded. Most of our buckets were full of water and half of them had floated and tipped over, dumping potatoes in the water. The barrel with carrots is completely swamped. So, in the dark one Saturday night, I lifted the whole works back out if the cistern and spread them out in a shed to dry. A couple days later we took them to an old house my parents own that is kept just above freezing. Fortunately I think I caught them in time that they'll store properly over the winter.
It was shortly after that that we got our first snowfall and severe cold snap, which prevented me from getting the balance of the carrots covered with mulch in the garden. I also was unable to get my onions out of the garden and the garlic has not sprouted.
Because of the early onset of very cold weather, I decided I needed to cut more firewood. I've heard reports that the almanacs are calling for a long, cold winter. Judging from the past few weeks, this might not be far off.
We have about 8-9 acres if woods. Most of it is mixed hardwoods of oak, cherry, maple, and elm. Because we're dealing with Dutch elm disease, most of our elm trees ultimately die at some point, so they are an obvious candidate for firewood.
We also scour the woods for blow downs and other limbs that have broken or fallen. It's also a great way to clean up the forest floor.
On the edges of the woods, where the land was once farmed or grazed, we have box elder trees, which are a nuisance in many ways. When you cut one down, the stumps sprout hundreds of suckers and it is almost impossible to kill them.
Because I'm attempting to reclaim our tillable ground, I've been cutting back a lot of the box elders. Surprisingly, it makes pretty decent firewood. It splits easily and while not particularly dense or having a lot of BTUs, it is perfect for the spring and fall when you need just a little heat and don't want to burn your hardwood.
In addition to cutting our own wood, we've been bringing in slabs from the Amish sawmills. When they cut logs--generally red oak--they square up the sides. They then cut the waste (slabs) into chunks from 12-24 inches. They once simply burned these on a pile. I can buy these for $25 per wagon load. I don't think cutting wood on my own timber is any more cost effective when you factor in time, has and oil, and wear and tear on your equipment.
Here are some recent pics.
