I hope you did not think I was being harsh on you as I would never do that. To me this is like hay. I have a bunny for a pet and at the pet store they have TINY bales of alfalfa hay that is like $3 for a 9 square inches. Myself, I have bales of hay 4x5 feet in diameter and breadth worth $40...that the fanny pack man! But how much hay would a bunny really eat? Would someone from the city buy a big round bale even though it is .09 a pound instead of $12...probably not. Same for firewood. I think that is the hardest part, realizing how well we do have it. Then the next part is even harder...how can we use what we are blessed with to help others? I am not talking to the point where we are cold from lack of wood, but where we can help others NOT be cold either.
I think this is always a reasonable discussion that food and non food items are priced as whatever based on market or just based on people saying “I wanna sell it at this so I can profit”. I’d rather give my wood away than create a market for it as long as people who I get it for do not sell it in the turn over. This isn’t a volatile market but it definitely has some implications that prices can change within reason yet still be surprising. It also separates who values labor over others.... your hard work or do greenbacks speak? Value of the dollar? Thats relative when there are some things money can’t buy.
I typically sell my excess firewood a bit later in the winter than this, maybe in mid-Februaury-ish. I have a computer program that carefully charts how much wood I have used, and how based on previous winter's, when my heating season typically stops. From that I can put up an add and typically sell my excess firewood almost instantly. People tend to run out of firewood at that time of year and need just a little to go the rest of the season. They are desperate, and I am not, so the system works well. And, there is something to be said for firewood sitting in a persons firewood shed. But while I sell, and do not give it away, I draw the line at gouging. I can already tell you this; in a month or two, because of the cold snap we had, and the last few years of mild winters, people will be really low on firewood and those of us with seasoned firewood can sell it at gouge-the-buyer prices. I will NOT do that. In fact I typically take money off the going price of wood. That gives me a quick sale, some cash for my efforts at getting it out, but allow who ever buys it to be warm the rest of the winter without gouging them. Should they have planned better? Yes...but I have I have made planning mistakes in my life too, so to extend some grace is always a good policy.
Katie and I thought about making a few tree stump tables, but in a different way; real stumps uprooted from the soil with the bulldozer. We have made several farm tables and thought making the bases out of stumps would look great. I washed as much dirt and mud out of the stump as I could, but after trying to cut the stump straight, I kept hitting an embedded rock. I am talking 3 seconds of cutting and the saw chain was junk. It took us about 1 day to realize our efforts at making a stump table would not be worth it. Now that "stump" table...I guess my definition of a stump is different from theirs, I like to see roots and such sticking out before I call it a stump.
A tree root stump table would be very cool. I guess the rock issue is why they aren't in stores. I once had a couple of coffee tables made from pine slab cut on the bias for the top, and a gnarly bit of stump for the bottom. All highly polyurethaned. I got them at an estate sale, there was also a whole dining room set with pine slab chairs. I sold my coffee tables to someone furnishing a camp; didn't keep a picture.
