A Gift of Warmth and Love
Hi there,
‘If I pop my clogs over the next eight years or so, the hard labour I have completed in the back garden should ensure Ruth will have a warm stove or hearth: she might think of the split wood as my parting gift of warmth and love for any cold nights she might endure,’ I journaled at 4.30am on Sunday 3 December.
My back was sore, stiff and tender; my movement restricted. ‘Yesterday—Halleluia!—I finished all wood splitting in the back garden; while simultaneously stacking and storing them in the frame of what was once the trampoline.’
Crafting 'The Igloo' for Storing Wood
With its plastic conical cover and round base, we now call one wood store ‘The Igloo’. If there’s anybody reading this who knows about wood storage, I’d welcome any advice on whether this design allows enough air to get at the split logs to prevent them going mouldy.
The Transformation of Trees
Video shows scale of the task I faced on the first day (Saturday 4 November) of eleven that I used ‘The Beast’, my nickname for the wood splitter.
At the start of the tenth day working with The Beast—Sunday 3 December—I journaled: ‘I felt immense satisfaction at completing the splitting of the “mountain range” of wood that had been in the back garden. For much of the day, and all of the final hours, I found myself humming or singing “The Parting Glass” with gusto. It arose from within me—the inside coming out. I think it was reenacting a great truth of life—that nothing lasts forever.
‘Those five felled trees grew for decades, probably from before I was born. The disease crept up on them, ash dieback evident in all five. Having completed their lives as trees, they became the potential for heating our home.
‘Just as they grew from seed to sapling to young to mature trees, so now they’ve been felled, sawn into wood rings, split, stacked and stored. They have transformed from canopies gifting maturity, beauty and privacy to our home, into firewood, offering warmth for years to come.’
The Final Push and Completion
At 10.20am, Tuesday 5 December, I journaled: ‘I split the wood rings—some of them enormous—in the front garden in two days.
But the second day, yesterday, I worked from 8.30am until 10pm. I left back The Beast—for the last time!—this morning. I was determined to finish the splitting last night rather than having to book out The Beast for another day.’
A Collaborative Effort and Christmas Cheer
Later on Tuesday, I stacked and covered the remainder of the split logs and I closed up a gap in a ditch. Meanwhile, Ruth—who has been doing my domestic chores as well as her own—put up the Christmas tree. She did a great job.
Embracing the Warmth and Joy
There is a profound satisfaction in completing any major project, whether it’s writing a book or the transformation of trees to firewood. It might just have been the greatest physical project I’ve ever done.
I look forward to the warmth and memories that the wood may bring.
Video showing fire blazing in open fire in sitting room, with Christmas lights and family photos on the mantlepiece, with camera panning to Christmas tree in hallway.
Please remember to rate and review my memoirs on Amazon, Goodreads.com or, for the first memoir, on Audible. And, as Maureen Potter used to say, if you didn’t like them: ‘Keep you breath to cool your porridge!’
Thanks for reading and happy days,
Joe