Looking forward to trying my first ash next year. Looks as if there’s more on the way. EAB just hit the neighborhood. Good score, get crackin.
Once the EAB hits, the amount of ash trees that will need to come down will be staggering. Everywhere I go I see dead ash trees in yards and just wild that are all dead. They get dangerous as well as the dead branches fall off and the trees can fall over. That's a good score, although it looks like there's a lot of shorties.
The good thing is that it takes several years before those branches start falling. But once they do, I would not trust to climb one of those trees for sure because the roots rot underground where you can't see then the whole tree comes down. Yet, our woods became infested in 2002 or 2003 and we still have just a few still standing and several that are down but not cut up. We may end up leaving most of what is left though as it is getting a bit too far along for good firewood.
I have a buddy in eastern PA who tells me his area is loaded with dead ash from EAB. Says there piles of rounds all over the place. I’d love to get my hands on some but don’t want to transport the bug. My first expience burning ash was just this past winter. I had a load of shorties that fit perfectly in my stove when stacked front to back. Burns beautifully and seasons quickly!.. pretty decent BTU’s especially when u consider the short drying time... great firewood.
Nice score. We love working and burning ash. Since we are real near ground zero where the EAB started, there are no large ones left anymore.
You are right there Gark. It is sad but we have to live with it. And to me, ash is one of the best firewoods available. We don't have lots of oak here so for years ash and elm were our best firewood and we got along just fine and even burned lots of soft maple.
