[OT] Stacking Firewood and Putting the Garden to Bed

[Todd]

It seems pretty strange to be stacking firewood when we've had temps in the middle 80's for a week but it's that time of year. We usually stack about 3 cords of wood for the wood heater so we never run out and a half cord for the wood cookstove.

In the garden, we've pulled most of the tomatoes, melons, canteloupes, etc. The potatoes are still in the ground (they store better there then in our house since we don't have a cold cellar). The main things we are waiting on are the late apples, grapes (which the bear got into last night leaving us a blue poop as a reminder), the last of the pole beans and the "perpetual beet chard" [I'll post something about this in a thread about this year's crops].

I've been working on next year's firewood. The tree I'm working on was 60+' high, 3'+ at the butt, tan oak with a ton of branches (good for the cookstove but a pain to buck up) and a bigger pain to split even with our hydraulic splitter. Plus, because of the branches, the butt started off over five feet off the ground. Bummer.

I'm pretty ready for winter and our usual rains...I'm pooped out. But I still have a new roof to put on our rental house but it's been too damn hot for a month or more. Oh, well.

Todd

 

[Dinghy]

I just mentioned something to my husband today about getting a little firewood put aside. We don't have a woodburner, but we do have a fire pit in our backyard. If the power goes out and our propane is gone, I want to be able to cook without going in the woods to find wood at the last minute. It's a very steep uphill treck to try and make during the winter.
We still have some things in the garden, so I won't be cleaning that out for a few weeks yet, but there is a lot that needs done around the house. It's been too rainy to do any painting or any other projects most of the summer. We went up to start closing up our camp today. We only got up there 3 times this summer, and only overnight once. I'm going to go through withdrawl this winter!!! It's so sad to see winter coming when we haven't even really had a summer!

 

[Deena in GA]

Hey, Todd! Good to see you back! Looks like you've been busy! My husband and sons have us up to almost three years worth of wood stored now. They feel as good about that as I do after canning! I'm thankful too! Our fear was that Frances would still have strong enough winds to have sent our wood flying but, fortunately, that didn't happen.

 

[gardia]

Yes, it does feel a bit warm.....at least until yesterday to be stacking wood, but we have been also. We needed to do some clearing to put in a new orchard and we now have about 3 years worth of wood cut, but splitting and stacking is still being done and will be all fall. Sure not ready to put the garden to bed yet.....just getting tomatoes at more than 1/day, but it is time to start doing some of that though.

 

[ejagno]

I too have been stocking my wood pile. I don't have a woodburning stove but I do have a woodburning fireplace that saves alot on electricity during the winter. I'm saving to buy the cooking grill insert that fits into the fireplace to use during power outages. We just planted most of our fall garden(the rest goes in on Sept. 15th) so I still have a long ways to go. Yes, I do feel very blessed for year round gardening.

Deena;
You just mentioned something that has been on my mind for a couple of days.

strong enough winds to have sent our wood flying

From the looks of things forecasters are widely differing on WHERE along the Gulf Coast Ivan will take up residency therefore I'm doing as much as I can now to get my family, home and yard ready. My firewood is stacked on the north side of my garage about 6' high and 10' wide on metal racks.

Do you are anyone else here know what would be the best way to secure this in the event of hurricaine force winds short of bringing all of it into my garage? I thought of wrapping the whole thing with a large tarp and using tie downs and eye bolts and securing it to the garage wall as well as anchor bolts in the ground.
All suggestions and advice are needed. I'm far enough from the gulf to miss the view but close enough to be impacted by tidal waves and winds.

 

[Todd]

Hi Deena,

Ya, long time, no post. The darn ugrade screwed everything up for me. First, it lost my passowrd and it took a while to get it back. Then I couldn't post anyhow - probably because of my old version of Netscape. But al least I could read the posts on the main board and SIGs. Then Dennis got cute on the SIGS and Netscape would go into failure mode with the pictures and wallpaper.

I finally thought I'd see what I could do with my wife's computer. Trouble is we both have separate home offices and it's not convenient. She uses IE and keeps it updated. Anyway, it worked so I posted a few tentative replys.

One day I thought, what the heck and tried IE (never updated in five years) on my computer - IT WORKED - so I'm back being the old crumudgeon.

It's a pain to switch back and forth on browsers but all my bookmarks are on Netscape. But, at least, I can be part of the family again.

How are things going in your garden? By the way, I got some thornless red raspberries from a friend and don't have any idea what variety they are. I'll probably have some extras in a year or two if you want to try them.

Todd

 

[Brooks]

I'm still working on wood that was fully aged a couple of seasons ago. I don't need it full time any more, but it has been great to supplement the natural gas heat on weekends. Sort of like free wood since I need to use it up. A bunch will be stacked inside my garage in October.

Last weekend I declared an end to watering certain parts of my veggie garden and started bringing things in. Tomatoes are still hanging on but they only have a couple decent weeks left. I haven't been rotating the tomatoes/potatoes enough and soil disease is starting to catch up with me. I may forego potatoes for a couple years and cut back on the tomato plants and try to find some place new for them next year. Really a nuisance to see the fruit blighted with things like anthracnose.

 

[Deena in GA]

You know me, Todd. I never turn down a plant, lol. Btw, the grapes you sent are doing wonderfully! Thanks! I only have one raspberry plant left alive, but it's doing great too! Overall we were blessed with lots of food from our garden, berries and trees this year. I am very thankful!

 

[Deena in GA]

ejagno, that sounds like a good plan for your wood. I can't think of a better way of securing it short of bringing it inside. We have a large shed for wood, but it's already full. The rest of the wood is stacked along the edges of the yard serving as a fence almost. We have no way of securing it all. At least it's slightly shielded by the other trees and brush.

 

[ShepInTheValley]

Ejagno, we use T-posts and wood pallets as sides (and also as bottoms) to stack our woodpiles and keep them from falling over. We get some high winds where our wood is piled, but of course, nothing like the hurricanes may produce. We put tarps over these piles and tie them down, but they get pulled loose and rip when the winds are high. Our main reason for using the tarps is to keep the wood dry and keep the snow off in the winter.

I don't know if that might help you, but it's a cheap way of storing our wood and keeping it from rolling off the pile.

We used a LOT of wood last year, as I was home all the time and able to keep feeding the fire. So our wood piles are severely depleted and we still haven't gotten out to cut more firewood. We have a lot of heavy timber ground so we have downed trees that only need to be cut up and split.

 

[ejagno]

Thanks Shep but we cannot put wood to ground here due to termites. That is why everything is on metal or concrete. With our extremely warm temps and high humidity we consistently lose alot of beautiful homes and trees to those darn formosan termites annually. That is also the same reason I was wanting to keep the wood outdoors and away from my home but still be able to keep it dry.

I doubt that we go through 3 cords per winter. We don't get but one or two hard freezes, very short lived, this far south. The fireplace is mainly for athestics and to get the chill out. We use more mesquite wood in the grill for cookouts. LOL

Well, it looks like the furthest this storm is predicted to hit is well east of us so at least FOR NOW the hurricaine force winds won't be a problem. That is unless tropical storm #10, following behind Ivan, decides to pay us a visit and leave poor Florida alone.