"The Wood Shed" a poem by Mary Oliver

"For weeks, the center of the Universe is the woodshed, which I keep filling,

which I keep emptying and filling, working every morning.

in the light-soaked yard among the heaps of pink oak, yellow birch, red pine.

Sometimes, I rest a little.

Then, I gaze out from the yard into the world, or I gaze into myself.

But mostly I give attention to what I am doing...

cutting, chopping, stacking. I have a good time.

This is how it is, year after year... everything put by, nothing kept,

everything used up.

And that, as much as anything, is the wonder of it, I say philosophically...

how it all gathers and vanishes,

how it all goes up into smoke."

Homemade Wood Rack

New wood rack ready to be filled

Our old pallets are getting weaker with age, so Drew crafted a new wood rack out of 26 year old pressure-treated lumber that came off of our front deck when it was replaced in 2012. 

Bricks and pressure treated cross pieces

Waste not, want not, is his motto. Never throw anything that could be useful away (as far as building materials are concerned.) 

A separate cross piece was later also screwed above the lumber in the center for more stabiity.

The first new wood rack is filled. It is a somewhat low stack for stability purposes

Drew was wondering when that wood would become useful. He has just enough to construct two more racks to stack the wood.

And, here is Drew's trusty foreman keeping track of the building of his new home! He is waiting for the add-on stack to make a longhouse. He gave the rack a bushy tail's up of approval!

Wood Delivery!

Gee, I know what we'll be doing for quite some time. Got some wood stacking to do! We got a delivery of 3 cords of wood that now needs to dry for a year.

Stack, Unstack, Haul, Stack again - Wood that is...

'Tis the season of moving wood from the wood pile to the wood shed. Such a lot of work it is. And, you can see that the blackflies have arrived and necessitate the wearing of a head net!

Spring is here...finally!

Well, spring has truly sprung. All the snow is gone from the front yard.

And, there is just a bit of snow in the backyard!

The first violets have bloomed next to the house.

The magnolia tree has flower buds that look like they are close to opening!

The rhododendron took a hard hit from the winter weather, although the leaves below the snow line stayed fresh looking. Rhododendrons are resilient and it should bounce back! I hope;-)

The wood shed has wood left over from the season. So we'll be more than set for next year once Drew starts moving wood over from the wood pile.

And, the crocuses are in bloom!

Three cords of wood, but who's counting?

Only Drew was counting the cords as he spent several days stacking wood...

The wood pile is not as tall as in the past, but is quite long.

Drew left space through the center for good air circulation. And, the sides only lean on each other right at the end. There are also support sticks poking through, from side to side, all along the length of the stack. The top is uneven so that a tarp can be draped over the stack to keep the wood dry. This wood will be here for 1.5 years before it is needed for the winter of 2018-2019. Three cords is generally all we use to heat the house each winter. 

We always stay a few years ahead of what we'll need. There are some trees that will need to be felled soon, so we'll have more wood drying on the back stack (which is currently filled, and will be emptied beforehand into the wood shed for next winter.)

Wood delivery

We received our wood delivery on Wednesday. Drew has three cords of mixed hardwoods to stack for drying.

Just a tiny bit of the wood has been stacked. I photograph the process and let Drew do the hard work. Because, for those of you who know me...my wood stacking abilities leave a lot to be desired. We'll use this wood in two year's time.

Tree Felling and Chainsawing day

Such a busy day we had. We both raked parts of our little acre; I raked and trimmed the gardens and Drew raked the backyard. 

Drew processes the wood

Then, Drew took down two trees whose tops had snapped off during some heavy snowfall this winter.

Logs

The trees were between 18 and 20 years old. And, one of them had started to rot in the middle.

Here is a close-up of one of the logs. Can you count the rings?

Small logs and parts of branches from the felled trees

Where are we going to put this new wood? Hmmm...probably into the garage. Then, we'll deal with it after Drew fills the wood shed with wood, from a wood pile out back, that we have had drying for a few years.

For now, the wood shed is empty (we used every scrap this winter). We'll have more wood delivered soon and will stack that on the side yard for drying. There is lots to do, and we are enjoying every minute of it (at least I am, as I do the photography while Drew does the heavy work;-)