I offer the following as a helpful instruction (pinched from Lorraine):
A "Woodcutter's Song."
Oak logs will warm you well
That are old and dry
Logs of pine will sweetly smell,
But the sparks will fly
Birch logs will burn too fast,
Chestnut's scarce at all, sir
And hawthorn logs are known to last
That are cut down in the fall, sir
Surely you will find
There's none compare with the hardwood logs
That are cut in winter time, sir
Holly logs will burn like wax
You can burn them green
Elm logs burn like smoldering flax
With no flame to be seen
Beech logs for winter time,
Yew logs as well, sir
Green alder logs it is a crime
For any man to sell, sir
Surely you will find
There's none compare with the hardwood logs
That are cut in winter time, sir
Pear logs and apple logs,
They will scent your room
Cherry logs across the dogs
Smell like flowers in bloom
But ash logs, smooth and grey,
Buy them green or old, sir
And buy up all that come your way,
For they're worth their weight in gold, sir
Surely you will find
There's none compare with the hardwood logs
That are cut in winter time, sir
From the time I was ten until shuffling off to University (and then at home until my mom and stepdad had the poor sense to sell the farm), I lived in houses which, while they had central heat, were primarily heated by woodstoves.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to explain to people who've never experienced it just how pleasant wood heat is. Central "heating" just never makes me feel warm unless it's set ridiculously high.
Someday, When I Have Land™, there shall be a woodlot and a woodstove.
peace,
At three o'clock today, I'd had enough of the grey and dismal November day glowering back at me through the window. I pulled the curtains and took out the oak log I had collected and set to dry in the shed and cut it into neat bits. The fire, in which I include a few pieces of coal, is just going down now at nearly eleven o'clock and it has been a warm and lovely evening.
ReplyDeleteAll that is troublesome, irksome, worrying, frightening or unwelcome is outside. Everything inside is just fine.