Our future wood...

Following on from yesterdays post and Tim's comment about the types of wood and their calorific values etc.

M. Bourreau has been felling and neatly stacking what probably will be our future firewood.

On one of our regular walks past this area we photographed the tree rings on this log.

If you feel so inclined please count the rings and tell us how many years it has taken to get to this diameter...

If you compare this with the willow we cut down... A greater  diameter...

It has taken three years to produce this...

It is not surprising you don't get the same heat out of it,,,

Re pollarding the willow...

The willow tree nearest the house was first pollarded in March 2012 by M. Bourreau, our wood supplier. We are  this year burning the logs it produced,

It is incredible how much growth it has put on in three years... This was taken in September 2014

Last week it was time for the chainsaw on a stick and the big chainsaw!!!

A few logs, if it ever dries up enough to cut them up!!

So now it's back to as it was in March 2012,,,

I look forward to doing it again in three years time,,,

Winter Fuel...

Our winter fuel supply arrived on Saturday, courtesy of the multi-talented Monsieur Bourreau...

Interestingly it was three weeks later than we have received it for the last two years and had increased in price slightly. BUT...

When you think M Bourreau, who is in his eighties, has cut down, sawn up, transported and matured the wood. He has then re-cut it into 50cm lengths and split where necessary and then loaded the trailer and driven it to our house... All on his own!!! He certainly has earned his money.

We get the same trailer load of six steres, which generally sees us through the winter. We are fortunate that the house is well insulated and maintains its heat for long periods. 

All the remains now is to stack it up. Elizabeth!!!!

At least it keeps you fit and works up an appetite. I like to think we will still be doing it into our eighties!!!

All completed and sheeted in about an hour and a half...

With a brew in between of course.

To see a comparison follow the links to - Wood 2011 and Wood 2012

Note... Elizabeth begs to differ about wood stacking in her eighties... Ahhh Well.