I don't have a shed per se, but some of my cords have makeshift roofs and this one is almost empty. Hoping not to need more this year. But there is a 4 or 5 year seasoned white oak cord next to it.
I was looking at your poplar and thinking it looked a little bit birchy until I looked closer. Our poplar is white like that around here as well and many mistake it for birch.
Oh. We have a little bit of white poplar here but it's more often called big tooth aspen, and looking a bit more closely ... Seeing the back of the shed means Spring, right ?
I suppose it does, just not sure if it's me! No, I think winter broke and we're on our way to better weather. I don't mind if we have a few somewhat chilly nights once the snow melts. Then I can still get into my wood cutting areas in the morning before it turns to real muck.
Here's the actual situation I find myself in outside the shed. Who doesn't like pics, even if it's peasant wood?
I am well aware of the heating needs this year compared to a "typical" year. Anyone who is running out of wood this year needs to evaluate how much they should expect to burn in a normal year. Their estimate of needs is way too low in my opinion. This year has been a real gift for those who are completely unprepared so if you are still coming up short, decide right now to set aside a lot more seasoned wood for next year. You are very likely to need it. I am not trying to be a duck but this year has been very mild.
The southern part of the country had warmer than usual. Other parts of the country did not. The AVERAGE was mild. There may be 57 states, none are called Average, USA.
Yes, some folks had a hard winter but that seems normal. Every year some will be average, some above and some below. I feel for the folks in ND who had a real hard winter this year both with snowfall and extreme cold.
Are you sure you read posts 1, 16, 17, 18, 20, 27, and 28 before coming to this conclusion? Here's the cheat sheet if you missed it. A post referencing how empty the wood shed is, although there is lots of wood outside the shed, it still has that "gonna run out " feeling. Another post speculating that it must have started with enough wood, as 7 weeks into the burning season, I have a deer hanging, and a wall of wood 7-8 feet high behind it. If I had more wood in the shed, I wouldn't have had room to hang my deer. Another post showing two wood piles dated last year. Later pictures showing the same piles with more wood around, but you can reference how much more wood by comparing photos. The first photo in post 27 is a stack 3 rows wide, 16 feet long, and about 4 foot on the high side sloping towards the other end to shed snow and rain. The second photo in post 27 shows a 1/2? cord stack of dry deadfall, a generous 1/3 cord of split n stacked half arsed 2 row pile, and notice the pallet standing beside a stack? Look back at post 20, and see that it's a split n stacked cord to the right of it. Now find that pallet in relation to everything else in the third pic of post 27. Then there's the wood stacked to the right of that, another stack of deadfall, and the obvious stack of poplar. So, I'm not trying to be a duck, but if I go buck all my wood up, and my chainsaw grenades, or I throw it in the ditch/toss it in the rhubarb, I'm probably going to run out of wood after the next two winters.
As for the weather... it's been a strange year. We had the snow come down and stay/was colder a month early. Then it disappeared. It's been cold and warm and all over the place. But, there's this neat thing called heat degree days, which is kind of a yardstick for how cold or not your location is. Very easy to compare this place to others. I'll find a yearly one for my city and post it. A warm winter in Sask. is probably different than what you think. Prince Albert Historical Heating Degree Days If you check the graphs at the link, you'll find yearly heat degree days. As you can see from the bottom graph, last year was about the warmest year here since 1991, and we ring the bell at a yearly total of 4,777 heat degree days in celsius, which converted to F is 8,598 heat degree days. Go have a look here oldman, and tell me your numbers. Climate Data, Illinois State Water Survey
This has been us this year. We are first year burners and did not have enough to make it through the winter. Each weekend I was scrounging dead stuff to buy us another one to two weeks of warmth. Hopefully through this summer I will get 1.5 to 2 years CSS.
Definitely speaking for your area, Still in the mid 20°s at night here, mid 40°s daytime (this is April, Right? ), Nights below 0° thru March Been a colder than average winter here. But my wood reserves are holding up . You burn what you got, seasoned or not
I have a lot of pine the same size. Understory pines that didn't make it through the drought last year. I'm cutting and stacking some. Hey it's free and it makes heat.
I'm also looking at bare pallets, at least in the softwood section (3.25 cords) of the woodshed. The oak department (1.25 cords) has barely been touched, so now I'm burning oak when I shouldn't be burning at all. I still have about 3 cords 2-3 year dry oak and 1 cord dry pine in the covered stacks and I'm already putting in green oak and doug fir to keep the pipeline full. I'll have to load up on lodgepole pine (ready to burn when it hits the ground) this year to recover on the softwood. That empty shed feeling is like an empty wallet, even though there's money in the bank.
