How You Stack Your Firewood Says Something About You

Did you know that? We didn’t until we lived here.

Because we have wall heaters, we don’t have to heat our house with wood. Our neighbor down the way only has a fireplace, so they start burning wood in October. We don’t have a wood stove sitting out in the middle of the living room, so I contend that most of the heat our fire does produce stays in the fireplace or goes right up.

Having wood is essential nevertheless. It really helps on the extra-cold days and is life-saving when the power goes out.

Our first stack of wood lasted many years but never seemed to dry out enough to burn fast and hot. In fact, keeping it burning was a challenge at times unless we used a few coveted sticks of fatwood that an acquaintance kindly left in our driveway one winter. Fatwood, if you look on Wikipedia, is referred to as “resin-impregnated heartwood” and it holds onto fire like a lit match but never goes out. It’s amazing stuff. I still have one stick of it that I keep for some future icy day.

Then we realized that there is a way to stack wood. My husband Googled it, watched YouTube videos about it, then got his chance to go for it after we had some of our trees thinned. After a lot of manly chopping, he set to work on his art. You have to intersperse the types and sizes of wood so that you grab a smattering when you’re about to build a fire. You also place it in a certain pattern and cover only the top for good drying and ventilation.

A few days ago a man came over to give us an estimate on something and looked over at our woodpile. He complimented my husband on his placement and care in building, and commented that he knows what kind of man my husband is. Thank you, husband. You make us proud.