Getting the Most from Your Woodlot:Firewood Harvesting

摘要

As the nights have gotten longer, and the days chillier, those of us in the Northeast turn to the age old question of how to stay warm for the winter. Today, many heat with fossil fuels or geothermal sources, but as many of our New York Tree Farm (NYTF) members know, nothing can beat the charm of an old fashioned wood fire. Stories of fire for warmth are as old as humanity itself. Whether it was a gift from the gods as with Prometheus in Greece, or a precious item stolen by humans from the grasp of monsters high up on a mountainside, as the tale goes with the Abenaki, an Algonquin tribe native to the Adirondack region. TheAbenaki tale says that a young boy, with the help of fox, swipes the precious fire away from three terrible monsters in order to save his village from freezing during the first winter that had ever happened in the world. Along the way, fox hid embers inside the hearts of all of the trees, so that human beings would always have a way to stay warm.