Gathering wood

I wrote the other day about the rain of Oregon (and it's resulting green-ness). Something else Oregon has a lot of is trees. We are known primarily for our beautiful Douglas Fir forests, but we have a lot of other types of trees, too. One of the benefits to living on a wooded piece of property in Oregon is the easy access to firewood. Now, before you start thinking that I'm cutting down all my pretty trees to burn in my cozy fireplace, let me tell you that this is not at all the case.

While the previous owner of our house told us that once a year he'd cut down a tree and use that for his year's supply of firewood, taking walks around our property now, it's clear that there is already so much wood in the form of fallen branches:

...random piles of wood:

...brush piles (please note donkey- chewed loved bark):

...and previously felled trees:

that we won't have to be doing any tree cutting of our own for a long time.

Our current wood pile is all from scavenging just what we've found on the ground:

Of course, everyone knows that kindling is an important part of any good fire, so the other day, taking advantage of a momentary break in the rain, I went out in search of small sticks and branches.

I had helpers:

Brownie and Ian were highly suspicious of the red bucket that was standing in the middle of their yard all of a sudden:

Brownie-the-brave decided cautious and thorough investigation was required:

Every angle needed to be checked out:

Every piece sniffed:

Once Brownie gave his two "hooves up" approval, Ian-the-timid decided it was safe to check out:

Even Pistol eventually moved his big butt down the hill to take a little look-see:

If there's one thing I never feel when I'm out in the woods these days, it's lonely:

At the end of our time, we had filled three containers full.

Thanks for the help, boys!