Another cold, grey weekend has meant that the fire has been going most of the time.  This is a timely reminder to prepare some more firewood.

This is a pile of large logs near the woodshed.  They are pieces which The Duke had cut from large limbs that had dropped from the eucaplypt tree at the bottom of the garden.  We moved several loads in the wheelbarrow to a spot which is closer to the house.

The Duke split them into pieces of a more manageable size.

I loaded them into the wheelbarrow and then stacked them under the house.

This is the result of less than 2 hours work spread over both days of the weekend.  We now have a substantial pile of split wood which will dry out completely since it is out of the weather.  We have achieved this through collecting wood from our own property, allowing it to weather for a couple of years and finally, splitting and stacking it.

Like many other activities of self-reliance we have a real sense of achievement and satisfaction in knowing that we have done what is required to maintain a warm, comfortable home through the winter.

We plan to continue splitting and stockpiling firewood until all of the current piles of logs are prepared for use.

Finally, a big thank to everyone who has commented this week.  I have responded to them all (I think).  Come back tomorrow for the next instalment of Project Streamline.

The cold, wet weather of the past couple of weeks forced me to do some outdoor organising.  Our only form of heating is the wood-burning heater and this is fueled entirely by wood collected from our own land.

We have an area next to the chicken coop which we use as a woodshed, however, this was mostly small branches suitable for kindling.

There are several piles of large pieces of wood that are out in the weather to season before being split into pieces that are suitable for the fireplace.  They have been there for at least a couple of years so are well and truly ready for use.

One of the problems with our wood storage system – if you can call it a system – is that it is stored directly on the ground and over a period of time this will degrade into soil.

After much thought over the years I was finally galvanised into action.

Most of the medium-sized pieces had been used last week to keep us warm and to dry the clothes so there was space cleared on the right-hand side of the shed.  I raked up the remnants of kindling and then used a couple of offcuts of corrugated iron to make a ‘floor’ and stacked some pieces from the outdoor pile against the side wall of the woodshed.  Now that the wood is undercover they will be able to dry out and be split ready for use.

We have a spare half-size wheelie rubbish bin which I filled  with small pieces of kindling.  That is now in the workshop and there are also 4 black tubs in the shed stacked with small to medium wood.

This definitely a work in progress but I am determined that the pile of large, wet  and well-seasoned logs in the backyard will be a a stack of dry,split firewood that is ready to use and easily accessible from the house.

The first step of the process has been taken towards this goal.  That is often the most difficult.

Do you have an overwhelming jobs that you do not  know where or how to start?