So maybe 3 weeks ago I was at a meeting and after it was over, 3 of us were visiting. I don’t know how the topic came up or who started it, but I found myself engaged in a conversation about firewood with a Native American. Apparently the last couple times he has gotten wood he has been shorted on quantity and once or twice it was rather freshly cut. He told me he has always wanted cedar and would actually like to get a full cord of wood for a change, instead of buying it by the pickup load. He seemed to know more about firewood than most people I’ve talked with ( present company excluded) so I told him I would try to help him out. I asked why cedar and it seems to be a cultural and ( tonight after the delivery, it’s apparently a sentimental thing also) I kinda had to shoot from the hip when he asked for a price. He seemed to balk a bit, and I thought I shot lower than I should have. But he agreed and we exchanged phone numbers. Now my problem was how to come up with that much dry cedar in a relatively short time! I stopped by my neighbor Darren’s house ( he does a lot of cedar clearing in pastures) to see if he would have any ideas . Turns out he was in the middle of a job about 10 miles out of town and there was a handful of standing dead ones he would be taking out. He said he would set them aside for me and we could coordinate to get them limbed and he would load them up in log from with his skid steer. I bucked them to 16” on the trailer which was parked right next to the splitter which was directly behind my dump truck. Pretty efficient for processing. Had to extend the side boards on the truck. I did the measurements and the math. 1 stacked cord will fit comfortably but not much room to spare. Pictures not necessarily in order. The one with 2 guys beside a trailer, they were there getting logs for the ones sawmill. And he really would have liked to got a couple of the trees Darren had promised me. The price I gave him was delivered and dumped. But his yard had a 3’ chain link fence, so I backed as close as I could and hand tossed it in a heap. He had a helper there so it went pretty quick. It definitely wasn’t Nashville priced. But when I counted it there was a little more than the agreed price. While I was taking the last picture, the customer was standing and admiring the full cord pile of cedar that he had been wanting for quite a while, he also had a little tear in his eye! And that was worth at least 1 Benjamin to me!
Oh …! And he already has placed another order with me. A bit different this time. Wants 2 full cords of wood in rounds cut 24” long from about 3” to 8” diameter. Species don’t matter as long as it’s not cottonwood or pine. Just needs to be dry and ready by late May. It’s for their Sundance ceremony/celebration in June
Thats quite a story. Good on you for taking care of him. A great representation of the FHC. A happy customer is a repeat customer. Cant say I've seen that much cedar split like that at once.
That's a lot of smalls to buck, but the longer length will make it easier. Gonna be able to fill the order? Enough dead elm around?
Nice work, my friend. That's great that you could fulfill his dream. And a bigger order next time is great
I've got a soft spot for Native Americans. Sounds like it was a good "meeting after the meeting". That's great you were able to procure and sell him a full cord. Awesome story and I can definitely believe he had a tear of gratitude
That's really cool, glad you could source enough. I have maybe 2 face cords in rounds that I just cut from a small job, but I really don't know how to approach selling it. Maybe I'll have to find a guy like yours, that wants only cedar. Looks like you had a sweet setup for processing too, well done!
I'm sitting on two full cords of redcedar at the moment. There is some disease that has gone through my land and is in the process of killing 100% of my cedars. I've gone from hundreds to just a small handful here and there and within a few years they'll all be a distant memory. Kinda weird. I sorta hate them though so it's all good. Absolute misery to process and you end up with cuts and scrapes everywhere handling them. The one good thing I can say is that it seasons FAST. I've seen it happen in two weeks.
Any idea what the blight is? What area of the country are we talking about? I know what you mean with quick seasoning even with the live stuff when it splits it feels like it would burn that day!
Central KY. I have no clue what's going on. The trees don't seem to show any signs other than the fact that they die bottom up with the branches just dying off. Then, they tip over in a stiff breeze and that's all she wrote. I've seriously lost like 200 in the last three years, it's wild. Also lost all my ash. Fortunately I have about a billion maples and a healthy blend of black walnut, osage, mullberry. The forest, always changing.
Are they getting shaded out by taller trees? Eastern red cedar is a pioneering species and needs full sun to thrive.
Could be. The woods here is extremely extremely dense. I've been working on thinning trees out but it's a ten year project.
That's probably it then. If you want to save a few, do some release work around any individuals that still have foliage up top. Hopefully they'll slowly start to recover, expanding their crowns, reaching out to grab the extra sunlight.
I did not know that. BL is more or less the same IMO. One of my BL honey holes has smaller sized trees blown over and the is a few dead cedars among them. Well they both have a long shelf life!
Tuesday June 10 was the day for them to come get the 2 cords of 24” long wood ( 24”, is that a long round? Or a short log?) that my friend had ordered for the “Sundance” ceremony. They had a borrowed pickup and flatbed trailer. Didn’t load much wood in the pickup box, maybe, maybe a 1/3 full. And then used a pile of ratchet straps to hold the rest on the flatbed trailer. Not exactly an ideal plan for what was probably a 100 mile haul. I had to return home from a week long camping trip to accommodate this. I also passed them on my way back to my camp, all the tires were still up and I didn’t see any loose pieces of firewood laying alongside the road. I’m guessing they were only running 50-55mph. He has already contacted me to book another order for next year. The only real issue with the whole endeavor was trying to find a time for him to come get the wood that would work for both of us. Next year I hope to do something a bit different, but have a whole year to sort it out.
Great job helping him out. Yes it can be a PITA accommodating a customer, but you made a threepeat customer. At least they weren't 16" long rounds and he picked it up.
