Preparation and thrift

      One of our farmer neighbours has been out busying himself doing a little hedging and tidying but in his usual thrifty manner the brash has been sorted out and separated and the larger burnable wood is to be cut up for kindling and the smaller pieces put to one side for fire-starting wood. A sensible move altogether, I hate any kind of waste too.
      There are all kinds of timber in this comparatively small heap in the orchard: elder, hawthorn, alder, privet and goodness knows what other wood is in there but it's all good wood. The next stage is to cut the cords of wood into shorter lengths, split any that may need a pass through the splitter and get them stacked up in dry and draughty covered area out of the wet weather and just let all the timber dry out and season to a stage of pyrotechnic perfection.
      I'm getting excited now.
      Until next winter then wood because by then you'll be good to go, as in burn.