Making Wood
The wild summer storms blew down some big old trees behind the Red Barn. Fortunately, they didn’t hit any structures, though it took a while to cut the trail free. Amongst the fallen were basswood and red oak—good burning woods for our outdoor brick oven at Farmstead Creamery. Basswood works great for starting fires, while the oak burns hot and long. We cut up as much as we could in the fall, hauling the logs into the barnyard before the snows began in earnest. Some of the oak logs were so big, Kara had to come and lift them with the scoop of the skid steer!
But you can’t go from a fallen tree to the fireplace, as anyone who burns wood knows. There’s a process in between—a process that seems to never have an end on the farm. It’s a process Steve calls “making wood.”
There’s always more wood needing to be stored up for next year…and the year after that…and the year after that. I think about all the wood my ancestors have made for keeping warm and cooking, and the tradition seems to stretch back in my mind endlessly. If you heat or cook with wood, then making wood is an integral part of your winter routine and fitness program. Through the process, as the old saying goes, you are “twice-warmed.”
I’m chuckling thinking about the folk song about making wood that goes:
“There ain’t a stove in the world that gonna do you any good
Without wood (yes wood), you should (we could) be out cutting more wood.”
And why winter for wood-making? In the cold, wood splits easier, popping apart under the blade. The cool temperatures also make the grunt work more tolerable rather than sweating away on a warmer day. It gives us a reason to be outside, enjoying the day, biting off the enormous task into two-hour-a-day segments. Splitting and stacking wood in the winter is part of our family’s farm “gym membership” as we like to call it. And, with fresh air and exercise an integral part of hygge (hoo-ga), it offers plenty of both.
Twenty minutes of being outside in nature has been shown to create as much energy boost as a cup of coffee. Being outside doing chores or making wood is equally invigorating because of the activity level. Shoveling, prying and rolling logs, squatting to use the hydraulic splitter, bending, lifting, cross-stacking, scrambling over snow piles—all these complex movements create what is called “muscle confusion,” which burns significantly more calories than repetitive motions on an exercise machine.
Studies have shown that folks who exercise naturally in the outdoors are more likely to stay at it longer than folks who exercise inside. I can understand—once you get all geared up to work outside, you feel rather committed! Time to go and get something done, like making wood.
Plus, you get some vitamin D while you’re at it. Known as the “sunshine vitamin,” vitamin D has been strongly linked to increased mental health, from depression to Alzheimer’s disease. A recent Scottish study found patients had 50% more mental health benefits from the same amount of exercise outdoors than those who had exercised indoors. Of course, you want to take appropriate safety measures while working outside with equipment like chain saws or hydraulic splitters. We always like to have at least two people working on a making-wood job, so no one is out alone with the powerful and dangerous tools, like having a buddy system, so stay safe out there.
And, as you’re out wood-making, take breaks to warm up and rest your back. Enjoy a fika break and stoke the stove, enjoying the fruits of your labors. Work at a pace that is comfortable for you. You’ll likely have a much more enjoyable and healthy experience with an hour or two of wood-making several days a week than one big wood-marathon with a sore back for days.
So, making wood offers an all-around hygge activity—you’re outside in nature, you’re exercising and getting some good vitamin D, but also you’re putting away fuel for warmth and food for another year of cozy nights by the woodstove. We have the extra pleasure of knowing that some of our stack will also be making delicious meals in our wood-fired oven and stove all summer long! Time to head out to the woodpile. See you down on the farm sometime.
