Before we could mow the grass on the acreage for the first time this year we had to pick up the wood debris that had been blown down by the fierce winter winds. The majority of the trees here are white willows, a beautiful tree that sways in the wind, until it breaks. We are nearing the end of this chore, begun several weeks ago, and totaling dozens of large garbage cans and totes full of twigs and sticks, while the larger branches and limbs are tossed onto the brick foundation where a corn crib used to be, to be cut down to size with a miter saw or a chainsaw. We have been having fires in our outdoor hearth and our stone campfire ring to get rid of the excess wood. Once the containers are empty we fill them back up in the next couple of days from a different section of the yard and have another fire. And another. When we lived in the city I carefully maintained several boxes of dry kindling in our small garage for our fires in the hearth on our deck, never dreaming that we would someday have such a surplus of wood we could have roaring fires several times a week. An embarrassment of riches, but I have followed my old habits and put up many totes of wood in the shed, and stacked wood close to the fire ring for future use. There is nothing else to do with the rest, so we have been enjoying more spring campfires than I think we ever have before.
Off The Back Porch 