Today I cut up the wooden palette upon which one of our deliveries of wood came. To break the palette into planks, remove the nails and then size these with a chain saw takes a couple of hours. The sized pieces can then be turned into kindling with a hatchet. This saves something like £25. Time is something I have a fair bit of for now.
If you would have told me that I would be changing the cain on a chain saw when I lived in Surrey, I would not have believed you. The thermal cut out on the battery chain saw kicked in this afternoon. The chain was blunt. So, I stripped the saw back and fitted a new chain doing some maintenance cleaning at the same time. Then wearing my authentic Canadian lumberjack shirt, I got back to work. The planks sliced more easily and I estimate we now have 10 weeks of kindling.
Did you know there is a right way and a wrong way to fit a chainsaw chain?
This morning, we had 770 kg of propane delivered. That is about 17,500 moles or about 1 x 1028 molecules. That is a lot of molecules. It is around 11,000kWh. It is going to be expensive.
We have also had 2 cubic metres of logs delivered by a nice chap from the nearby town.
So, we have gathered enough winter fuel to see us to April. This might be our last winter here or it might not.
Next winter the wood we harvested after Tempest Ciaran should be ready to burn, so our fuel bill will be lower. We have about 10 cubic metres stored.
I am considering getting a tarpaulin and making a makeshift log store so that I can harvest some for winter 2026….
Gathering winter fuel…
Dreamyoga 