Buying firewood is a sin

June 27, 2010
Gumboots at the back door

Gumboots and firewood

Podcast available.

Back in March, just as the fall weather was setting in, Rick and I were talking with our neighbors at a dinner party about getting firewood for the coming winter.

When you heat your home with a woodburner, getting wood in for the winter becomes an annual event, like the changing of the leaves and the onset of shorter, cooler days. Rick and I have been living in the country for over 3 years, and every year we’ve picked up the phone to have firewood delivered.

When I admitted to this, I received some strange looks from around the table that night. I didn’t understand. Had I said something wrong?

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38 Comments | Country dinner parties, Neighbors, New Zealand, Podcasts, Woodburner | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough

Saturday morning fire

November 7, 2009
Fire

Rick and Uncle Oscar went away on a trip and I woke up alone on a very cold Saturday morning, so I decided to build a fire.

I had no idea that it would end in a moral dilemma and a nightmare.

Before moving to Martinborough, I had never relied on fire to heat my home. Growing up in suburban Detroit, our fireplace was for decoration. Heat came at the touch of a button.

Now heating our home involves touching trees – chopping, stacking, piling and lighting.

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14 Comments | Death, New Zealand, Woodburner | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough

Stacking wood for winter

May 8, 2009

Last weekend Rick and I began stacking wood. Since our house is heated with a woodburner, we’ve come to associate a nicely stacked wood pile with security and comfort. So it’s satisfying work.

What keeps us warm

The woodburner that keeps us warm

We’re like two bears, hunkering down at the end of autumn.

John, our neighbor, once told me, “Wood makes you warm three times. Once when you cut it, once when you stack it, and once when you burn it.”

Winters here are nowhere near as cold as the winters I grew up with in Michigan and Minnesota. There’s no snow in Martinborough.

Even so, these winters are damp and wet and at night the temperatures plummet. Mornings can be frosty. It’s not unusual that we make a fire in the evening and again first thing in the morning, but by noon we’re often opening the doors and windows and eating lunch out on the deck. It’s not a bad winter life, really.

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5 Comments | New Zealand, Woodburner | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Moon Over Martinborough