by Toepopper » 02 Oct 2013 15:48
So here I am, living in a huge forested area where firewood was plentiful and cheap, until this year. The state managed forestland, BLM and U.S. Forest Service lands were closed to the public due to last summers forest fires and they remain closed to the public even though the recent rains have extinguished the fires. Without access to public lands all the firewood cutters have been put out of business. Last year a cord of oak or madrone cost $180 delivered to your home, this year (if you can find any) madrone is going for $220 per cord. I was lucky enough to get one and a half cords delivered here to my firewood shed for $250 which was a deal. I have had to cut and split another 2 cords of Douglas Fir here on my land to get some more firewood stockpiled in the shed. This has consumed much time and physical energy as I ain't gettin any younger and what was once just another chore is now a monumental burden but it must be done in order to stay warm this winter, on top of all the other chores like picking apples, digging up potato's etc. I have also found some small diameter madrone on the very top of my property which was dead on the stick and have cut it down and dragged long pieces of it down the hillside to be cut into firewood sized pieces. At least I won't have to split it because its already the right size and nice and dry. We have had our woodstove going since Sept 18th, one full month earlier than normal. It literally switched from summer to winter in one day.
So here I am, living in a huge forested area where firewood was plentiful and cheap, until this year. The state managed forestland, BLM and U.S. Forest Service lands were closed to the public due to last summers forest fires and they remain closed to the public even though the recent rains have extinguished the fires. Without access to public lands all the firewood cutters have been put out of business. Last year a cord of oak or madrone cost $180 delivered to your home, this year (if you can find any) madrone is going for $220 per cord. I was lucky enough to get one and a half cords delivered here to my firewood shed for $250 which was a deal. I have had to cut and split another 2 cords of Douglas Fir here on my land to get some more firewood stockpiled in the shed. This has consumed much time and physical energy as I ain't gettin any younger and what was once just another chore is now a monumental burden but it must be done in order to stay warm this winter, on top of all the other chores like picking apples, digging up potato's etc. I have also found some small diameter madrone on the very top of my property which was dead on the stick and have cut it down and dragged long pieces of it down the hillside to be cut into firewood sized pieces. At least I won't have to split it because its already the right size and nice and dry. We have had our woodstove going since Sept 18th, one full month earlier than normal. It literally switched from summer to winter in one day.
