Labor of the Season

September twenty-first has come and gone and it is time to prepare for the arrival of another winter. The aspen trees have all but shed their mantle of yellow and the evenings are filled with the sound of migrating swans and geese coming down for a pit stop at the south end of the lake.

The crispy mornings, the unsettled winds and the visible passage of summer trigger the hunting and foraging instincts that involuntary prompt us to actions dealing with survival during the months ahead.  For some, going hunting and thrashing about the wilderness for wild meat satisfies this primeval instinct. For many of the lesser mammals it means foraging for and putting by a large supply of edibles and for many of our feathered friends this means winging south to warmer surroundings.

My ongoing chore for the past several weeks has been laying in a supply of firewood.  Our woodshed is just over forty feet long and four feet deep. It is a lean-to structure that is anchored at one end by a solidly constructed tool shed. The lean-to follows the contour of the land and averages about seven feet in height. This measures about ten cords of wood - give or take a few sticks.

Going out for firewood is my favorite activity at this time of the year. There is nothing better than getting up on a crispy morning, climbing onto the ATV and heading out into the woods for the day. The dogs know what’s up and are ready to go before I even reach for the chainsaw. They love to roam, root about and cavort as only dogs can and they fully enjoy the freedom and camaraderie of a picnic lunch, a swim in the lake and coming home happily expended.

The fierce Laberge winds of the previous seasons result in a goodly amount of windfalls that are a great source of firewood. In my younger years I used to stack the wood in the round-log format and split it as needed during the burning season but lately the elbows and other body joints have started to complain at the constant thumping.  To preserve the way of life I invested in a lighter chainsaw and a mechanical log splitter. The former is less tiresome than the old heavy saw and the latter means that the round log pieces are now split to stove size before they are stacked.  I still get to go out on the land but the maul and wedges now rest forlornly on the wall of the tool shed and have not seen service for a number of years.

As of mid-September the woodshed is full – an impressive sight. The aches and pains suffered during the harvesting process are salved with the sight of a seemingly endless row of orderly billets waiting to provide for our winter comfort.  The sight is also very photogenic and each year as the process is repeated I cannot help but get out the camera and take a photo for posterity.