The time has come to admit that the woodpile is effectively depleted.
I’m one of those people who looks for patterns in life a little too often. The woodpile is a classic example of this. We had the woodshed fully loaded by the end of May last year. I’d stuffed it completely, so I was anxious to see how long the pile would last.
This immediately led to complications. After all these years I still forget from time to time that the wood stove is not a luxury, an auxiliary home heating option, as it was in Juneau. It’s our only heat source. That means that every time the house gets too cold, I need to give up some of my precious wood to heat it.
Last autumn, that meant making a few fires in August, and the Drawing Down of the Woodpile officially commenced. With it began my monitoring. I watched as the pile inevitably, inexhorably diminished over autumn, winter, and early spring.
This is what was left on March 1. 14 days later, it was gone (Photo: Mark Zeiger).
