It's an ill wind...

[British Red]

Those high winds of Winter caused our tree surgeon friend a lot of work. We talked the other day and told me he was extracting a large blue cedar that had dropped two large limbs and was threatening a neighbour's house in the winds. He asked if I wanted the wood - well of course with fuel prices as they are! Anyway today he rocked up and dropped this lot

Blue Cedar first load by English Countrylife, on Flickr

I said " nice wood, thanks!"

"You've got two hours to shift it" he said " that's the small stuff, I'm coming back with more"

So we stacked up the cord wood in the woodyard with some other that we are waiting to process

Cordwood in woodyard by English Countrylife, on Flickr

The rounds got stacked prior to splitting

Blue cedar small rounds by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Then the second load was dropped

Second load of blue cedar by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Again cordwood was stacked. We find it much easier to sort the woodyard so that we can process all the cordwood then split all the sections. So the rounds are lined up. I didn't stack these - one attempt at lifting them was enough

Blue Cedar trunk by English Countrylife, on Flickr

I'm hoping to process these in about a month, but unfortunately we are at the awkward stage where we need to use the seasoned wood at the back of the wood shed first! From the odd few needles, it must have been a lovely tree

Blue Cedar needles by English Countrylife, on Flickr

 

[Nice65]

Good haul!

What I like about your bloke is he’s taking the time to sned even the smaller stuff for home burning. A lot of people would just chuck that in the chipper.

We’ve just had a few weeks of roadside Ash removal, night work with an absolute monster harvester grabbing out all the tops, then the stems. The tops going through the chipper were laid on the verges, most of it was about 6” or more at the cut. The chip will get used, but such a waste for most of us here, nearly everyone has a wood stove and could have used some for heating.

 

[British Red]

Good haul!

What I like about your bloke is he’s taking the time to sned even the smaller stuff for home burning. A lot of people would just chuck that in the chipper.

We’ve just had a few weeks of roadside Ash removal, night work with an absolute monster harvester grabbing out all the tops, then the stems. The tops going through the chipper were laid on the verges, most of it was about 6” or more at the cut. The chip will get used, but such a waste for most of us here, nearly everyone has a wood stove and could have used some for heating.

Such a shame to waste ash - it's my absolute favourite firewood! Our friend is very kind & has been brilliant this Winter, dropping lots of lorry loads and a huge amount of broadleaf wood chip too. I've said to him that anything over a couple of inches is great - as you know a supply of smaller stuff to warm the flue up is very useful!

 

[Tony]

Excellent stuff and what a great mate to have.
So many trees have been cut down around here, I keep trying to find out why but people just say they're Ash so they've got to come out, the roadsides look so barren now.

I hear you on the making space, my woodshed is nearly ready for new wood to go in one side, I've got a stack to split. I could do with a mate like yours though!

 

[British Red]

I truly don't understand removing ash unless it's already suffering from dieback? Whilst I know that's out there, I've only known of one suspect local tree and our ash are fine.

You are spot on about our tree surgeon mate - he doesn't see it as generous as we do (he was previously giving it to a local nursery for use in biomass) but we are so profoundly grateful - it will make a huge difference to our bills and our sustainability. Our woodshed is falling down so next year's project is a new one - I'm thinking of a series of bays to help with rotation.

 

[Nice65]

I don’t like it, but I can understand the mass removal of roadside trees from a financial point of view. To keep closing a road for individual tree removal is going to get expensive and disruptive. Not to mention the ongoing tree inspection programme. But The Tree Council highlighted this quote:

“For as long as possible, where safe to do so, retain ash trees. Favour prime, unstressed specimens, but consider that even moderately tolerant trees may have something to offer genetically to the future. Keep as many female (seed- producing) trees as possible. DON’T GIVE UP ON ASH!”
Part of a presentation by
Joe Alsop, Senior Reserves Manager, Natural England in Lancashire to the North West Tree Health Group in June 2019

PDF of the action plan here:

https://treecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Tree-Council-Ash-Dieback-Toolkit-2.0.pdf

Asian Ash trees have built a natural immunity to the disease from long exposure. Why our large country estates are taking out whole plantations I have no idea.

 

[Dogoak]

Asian Ash trees have built a natural immunity to the disease from long exposure. Why our large country estates are taking out whole plantations I have no idea.

Probably grants available?

A landowner I know of, whose surname is Grant is known as Grant by name and grant by nature

 

[Robson Valley]

"While you're up, would you get me a Grant's?"
A modest whiskey on ice.

 

[British Red]

Just a small load this week - most pruning stuff but it's still firewood

Mixed logs by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Next week he's clearing an overgrown site with multiple trees to remove so I need to clear this lot to be ready. So thankful that this stuff is coming in, in time for Summer seasoning

 

[VaughnT]

Just a small load this week...

That crotch in the front would be a dandy of a chopping block for small work. It even has a built in brake that's just the right size for so many things! Add a third leg and it would be topple-free no matter its orientation!

 

[British Red]

That crotch in the front would be a dandy of a chopping block for small work. It even has a built in brake that's just the right size for so many things! Add a third leg and it would be topple-free no matter its orientation!

We do get some monster stuff - got some huge Willow on the go at the moment. So large the tree surgeon had to cut up the rounds to be able to lift them !

Unfortunately it has taken it's toll on our log splitter

Back to hand splitting until the new one arrives

Bent log splitter ram by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Broken log splitter by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Got quite the backlog building up

Logs by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Cordwood by English Countrylife, on Flickr

 

[Tony]

ouch on the splitter!

 

[British Red]

ouch on the splitter!

In fairness we've had our money's worth out of it - but it's always annoying when useful equipment wears out. Still the new one is a bigger, vertical type which will be easier on my back!

 

[Tony]

yeah, vertical splitters ae nice

 

[SaraR]

We do get some monster stuff - got some huge Willow on the go at the moment. So large the tree surgeon had to cut up the rounds to be able to lift them !

Unfortunately it has taken it's toll on our log splitter

Back to hand splitting until the new one arrives

Bent log splitter ram by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Broken log splitter by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Got quite the backlog building up

Logs by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Cordwood by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Looks like you're getting loads at the moment! Any risk of you getting too much, or will you just create more and more storage areas? Out of interest, how much firewood do you use in a year?

 

[British Red]

Looks like you're getting loads at the moment! Any risk of you getting too much, or will you just create more and more storage areas? Out of interest, how much firewood do you use in a year?

We use around 12 to 15 cubic metres in a year. Each crate that you can see holds 2 cubic metres. Given that we need to season wood for two years, there's always 30 cubic metres or so drying plus, by the end of the year, 15 ready to burn. That said I would like to have an extra year's buffer so let's say a total of 50 to 60 cubic metres. If I get more than that, there are plenty of retired folk with open fires

 

[swyn]

I was using a similar amount each year for the past fourteen years. Every now and then a delivery of cordwood arrived to be processed and stored.
You may have seen my post about re-building my dairy barn and using copious amounts of rigid insulation.
Well, right now I have no demand for CH. With solar gain and coming to winters end, I can safely say that my total firewood use this winter (my first in this new-re-build) was 1.5 m3. Electricity use remains a constant and apart from the recent abrupt price rise this will not change. Heating the solar hot water for legionella prevention, lighting, x2 towel rails and the airing cupboard use electricity but this heat is still contained within the building so the temperature remains at a constant 21 degrees.
S

 

[British Red]

I was using a similar amount each year for the past fourteen years. Every now and then a delivery of cordwood arrived to be processed and stored.
You may have seen my post about re-building my dairy barn and using copious amounts of rigid insulation.
Well, right now I have no demand for CH. With solar gain and coming to winters end, I can safely say that my total firewood use this winter (my first in this new-re-build) was 1.5 m3. Electricity use remains a constant and apart from the recent abrupt price rise this will not change. Heating the solar hot water for legionella prevention, lighting, x2 towel rails and the airing cupboard use electricity but this heat is still contained within the building so the temperature remains at a constant 21 degrees.
S

We are hoping to convert one of our barns soon - but being in the grounds of our listed cottage, that is not without its challenges

 

[swyn]

We are hoping to convert one of our barns soon - but being in the grounds of our listed cottage, that is not without its challenges

Ha! Yes, challenges. Ask. I may be able to offer some advice/help. You never know
I deliberately avoided buying anything ‘listed’ but here the planners were only brought on side when we expressed a desire to treat this project as if it was a listed building…..Not sure how you raise the bar when it is already listed.
Build a sample piece in Flemish bond using reclaimed bricks bedded in white mortar perhaps.
You may have gathered that I was incapacitated recently for a while with health problems.
On the back of this I was relieved that we had already moved into the barn and in consequence my wife had no worries over heating (read firewood supplies) that she may have had when we were living in the 1859 house.
My farming neighbours wife echoed this sentiment when they had a massive straw burning boiler which she could never operate and her husband was taken into hospital with cancer.
S

 

[slowworm]

We're getting to that sort of amount now, we'll use about 10 cubic meters (stacked) of mainly ash for a year of heating and a bit of cooking.

This is all our own wood and if I can sort out a sensible way of extracting it we could easily end up with 50 cube or more stored. Then seasoning will not be a problem but keeping the firewood in good condition will be more important.

Currently mulling over some designs for decent wood stores.