My 11yo has turned into a big helper with the firewood. He has always helped me in whatever I'm working on but this last weekend I put him on stacking the firewood by himself while I was splitting. He hauled and stacked two cords of Digger pine over Saturday and Sunday. I'm so proud!
It's always great working with my sons. We have to teach the next generation how to work and to love to work. In this case it didn't hurt that he got to drive the lawn tractor/trailer from where I was splitting to the wood stacks. Brad
That's the way to go!!! I started taking my son to work with me by the time he was 1yr old, he's accomplished more at 22 than most people of 40. Seems people think kids will be destroyed if they ever do anything productive before they are 18, (at which time they are expected to work 40 hours a week). Kids love to have something to show for their day just like adults do. I think we can give our kids a real boost in life by teaching them skills and a good work ethic. I've known too many "highly educated" guys that have almost zero practical skills. Keep up the good work!
Rejoicing with you Dok. In the same boat here, except ours has headed off to school. One of his first dates; taking the GF to the splitting yard he has accees to at college. Hoping you and the boys have many good years of ptoductive time together. Besides your approval, they also crave your love and attention. Sca
That is awesome. Fewer and fewer kids these days that are his age wouldn't even think of doing work like that. You have taught him well. Be proud and enjoy the time together.
You have a right to be proud! It is so good to see father and son working together. Looks nice also seeing green grass!
You should be super proud dad! I love when my son is out there helping me but between him playing 3 sports and having a lot of friends/sleepovers, it's not as often as it once was.
I'd like to say it was one day but it took us about 12hrs over Sat and Sun to finish. The Digger Pine was still green and wet. Very stringy and tough. Normally I'd let it dry out for a few months but it is in front of our house and welp I'm married. I had to split to split hydraulic then pull them apart by hand as much as I could then hack the strings with a Fiskars hatchet to get them apart. It was slow going! Beautiful 63F day for working. This- exactly this. Your son is going to have a huge advantage in life. Knowing how to work and how to suck it up and get it done when things aren't going great is an important skill to learn. Brad
Not only did you teach him right but it looks like he's also on the way to finding the right one. I can't think of anything better than a date at the wood pile to sort out the bad apples. Nice job there dad! Brad
Hey all, just curious. This Digger Pine was the toughest wood I've ever split. Super stringy and full of knots. The splitter would split it apart but I would have to attack it with a hatchet to break the pieces apart. Is this just this species? I used to cut Lodge Pole when I wanted pine but this was available. We like to have some pine on hand to get the fires going, for kindling and for milder weather. Thanks! Brad
Nice! The smell of fresh split wood, wonderful. Looks like it's starting to green up there, a couple months away for that here in Minnesota. Where in Northern California are you?
You should be proud! And my least favorite part of firewooding too! Just waitll he starts swinging the maul
Great quality time making firewood. Fond memories of working with my dad as a kid. If he feels like stacking more wood, you could send him over here. A few mounds of splits awaiting stacking.
