Even the best laid plans can go awry and this year gives us a painful example of that. We had laid in a larger supply of firewood this year than ever before but the continuing cold weather has caused us to burn it all with more freezing weather ahead of us.
It is still a long time to spring and our wood stove will be running 24/7 for several more months unless we get a reprieve.
I put a backup plan (Plan B) into action several weeks ago in which a number of dead trees were cut down so I could attack them with a chainsaw and split them up into firewood. Unfortunately this backup plan was stymied by the fact that 16 inches of snow fell and we cannot get to the trees to work on them.
So, we went to plan C in which we called our neighbor who had offered to deliver logs which we can cut up into firewood. He would have been be happy to deliver, but he couldn't get to the logs because his tractor could not handle the deep snow.
Now we were down to one day's worth of firewood and things were looking grim. I start calling around and found that nearby firewood dealers cannot get to their woodlots because of the deep snow. The phone book was not much help as firewood is a seasonal thing and is often a sideline activity so it is not widely advertised.
We persisted and I got a partial load from Pete Hall, who lives just down the road from us. He had a little left over from another delivery and the wood he delivered would hold us for a week if all went well.
It' was time for Plan D and I was looking for firewood everywhere. I was driving home and I saw a large load of oak firewood being driven down the road ahead of me. I followed the truck for quite a while until the driver saw me and pulled off the road so we could talk. I arranged for him to deliver a truckload of firewood as soon as possible
As soon as I got home, I secured a load of pallets from my neighbor to dump the firewood on so that it will stay dry until we can store it away. That is what you see in the image at the top of this post.
The truckload of firewood arrived two days later and looked like this before we covered it all up with a tarpaulin.
I think it will hold us until Spring, but I am going to keep an eye on our consumption and will reorder if necessary.
If you live in Floyd County, VA, here are a few people who can supply you with firewood:
Bob Backlund, Sawbrier Farm 3182 Webbs Mill Rd 540-391-8999
Frank Griffith, Mountain Top Logging, 386 Silverleaf Lane 276-692-5806
Pete Hall, Franklin Pike, 540-745-7228
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