Meanwhile, Back at the Farm…
Posted on 12. Aug, 2008 by Laura-Jane - Whimfield in Outdoors
In my spare time I can be found writing: tapping my keyboard and scrunching my face up in deep thought.
Cameron, on the other hand, seems to accomplish much more tangible results with his limited spare time.
Our home is heated by wood-stove only, and, let me tell you, the Winters can get cold here on Prince Edward Island.
As is our way, we seem to be half-tackling thirteen to-dos at once, a glaring to-do being “cut all wood needed for Winter heat.” We recognize that we should have all our wood cut, stacked, and seasoning by now, but we could say the same for a thousand other things, as well; there are only so many hours in the day, and we’re doing the best that we can.
We recently bought an Echo CS370 chain saw, which we’ll be using to cut our wood from our own land. This afternoon, Cameron took a monumental first step; he broke in the chainsaw and cut a few pieces from a downed tree close to the house. I love this picture; I see pride and happiness and beauty and the outdoors and, oh yes, warmth!
Once we’ve finished re-shingling our steep roof (by the way, have I mentioned that that’s our latest project???!!), we’ll spend a week or two cutting and hauling mountains of wood. I’m actually looking forward to cutting wood, as I seem to enjoy simple projects that require little finesse and can’t be done incorrectly: one piece of stacked wood means one more morsel of warmth–no matter which way you look at it.
For now, though, we’re happy to have christened our chainsaw and to have cut the first few logs.
I am now referring to chainsaw christenings; I really have become a woman of the woods. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
After much consideration, since I seemed to have become such a woman anyway, I might as well embrace it.
Love,
Laura-Jane
Woman of the Woods
Anonymous
Aug 14th, 2008
Laura-Jane, I am so enamoured with your blog! I love all your pioneer tales! And I love the picturesque-ness of your surroundings! You really have an ability to be able to transport me to lovely PEI! But back to reality … dingy downtown streets and 7.5 hours of sitting at my desk, probably further developing my potential carpal tunnel. How dismal.
Good luck with the firewood & all the other to-do’s!
Megan
Aug 14th, 2008
PS – that was me!
Chris
Aug 16th, 2008
LOL…you rightly see pride and happiness in Cam’s face, I see a guy who’s thrilled to smell gasoline and cut stuff, fast! Awesome.
Pamela
Aug 16th, 2008
Love your blog. It is inspiring to me.
We have been living on our 176 year old farm since we got married 16 years ago, and live partly off the land. We farm with horses, collect eggs from chickens, raise a pig, heat with wood. Of course we are in north Mississippi, so “heat” has somewhat of a different meaning here than where you are! But seeing the stars without city lights, learning to live without the daily grind, learning how to do things our grandparents did as a matter of survival many years ago, I can relate.
We have renovated a1913 farm house, grown and preserved lots of vegetables, other food. We don’t have television, but we do have four kids – not actually a causal relationship, but that sentence looks like it! Rather, we have lots of entertainment.
Good luck, and, as my dear husband says – you better drop everything and cut wood to put up for winter, because soon it will be your dearest priority! I can’t imagine how much more you are going to need than us!
Oh, yes – your rag rug technique appeared on my Mississippi Quilt Association chat list. Figured you might wonder how I found you.
Pamela
Laura-Jane
Aug 27th, 2008
Thanks for your comments!
Megan, great to hear from you!!!!
Chris, yes, he was thrilled. I only took one photo and that was how he looked. There is great satisfaction in doing something so important as to contribute to your heat, and great satisfaction in doing something that is tied to what people have been doing for thousands of years. (Albeit not with chainsaws, though!)
Pamela! Thank you for sharing your story! I’ve just visited your wonderful blog and added you to my blogroll. Thanks for taking the time to write a comment. I was wondering why I was getting so many page views on my rag rug page…. It was crazy for a few days there!