Thursday 24 November 2016

Free firewood thanks to storm Angus

In the storm on Monday night a tree outside our field blew down.  It was only last night the farmer told me about it as I hadn’t been over there in the light on Tuesday.  He said it was a large one and asked if we wanted the wood for our log burners.  We jumped at the chance so this morning before we left for work, I dashed over with my old phone to get a couple of photos.  He said it was big but I didn’t realise how big.  It’s massive!  We’ll have our work cut out on this one.  The chainsaw won’t fit through its width, so it will have to be chopped from each side.  Just think how much wood we will get from it which is free heating for winters to come.  The chopped up wood can stay in the wood store and season until we’re ready to use it.  Combined with the wood we’re going to have from trees we’re taking down next year (and will replace with fruit etc trees elsewhere), we’ll have enough wood for the next few winters easily.  That’s a great feeling, as even if the price of oil rockets, we’ll still be warm.  Our boiler can run the water off the electricity instead of the oil if needed, so we’re covered for hot water and heat.

Grace included for sizing


It was just getting light as I took this, so not a great photo but you can make the length and girth of it
The fact the tree has fell so close to our buildings and animals however is a bit worrying, so we will be sure to check what other things could fall or break and injure something or someone in the event of another storm.
When we get round to chopping this up, I'll do a blog post on it as I think it'll be a full weekend's work!

12 comments:

  1. Oh isn't it great to get free wood? AS soon as we get a suitable vehicle we have a lot of trees in our field which will mean we are also stocked for a couple of winters, too. We are also very lucky being able to get wood from the saw mill in exchange for extra jobs Jon does for his boss. Look forward to seeing your ever growing woodpile and Steve had better get his muscles on!

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    1. Haha he's good at that. I love the idea of working for swaps like Jon does. I think having wood in stock is a very comforting feeling!

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  2. Lovely free gift, we have trees being brought down all around the place at the moment, enough to keep us in wood for several years, its surprising how much you get from one tree.

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    1. I would love to know how many trees we would need to fill our log area. I have no idea how much this tree will give us.

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  3. Lucky you :D Never look a (wooden) gift in the mouth... ;)

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  4. Serendipity. Meant to be. Keeping yourself nice and warm for a few winters to come and also the ability to collect whatever else you can lay your hands on in between. That's why I want a log burner and an Aga/Rayburn because no matter what you have heat for the house, hot water and the ability to have hot meals without breaking the bank. What a money saver and a generous neighbour. Don't forget next year if you have some woods near you go collecting fir cones as they make super room scenters and also excellent fire lighters especially if wax from the ends of candles etc is dribbled all over them. Another frugal way of getting the fire going. Well pleased for you. Pattypanxx

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    1. Absolutely. We will keep on collecting the wood over the years too, so that it's more of a top up process rather than starting from scratch again. We're going looking for pine cones soon, I hope there will be some out there. Great tip as always, thanks again, Tracy x

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  5. Waste not want not. You don't get any more sustainable that windfall!

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  7. Thanks for sharing the blog post! I have bookmarked this blog for future reference.It is really helpful for those who are looking for firewood supplier all around Hampshire, Kent, Lancashire, Norfolk, Oxfordshire, Surrey, West Yorkshire.

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