This is our kindling bin. For some reason, I didn't get it filled up this summer. Sigh.I gathered the few sticks of kindling left in the bottom today and then Papa Pea cleaned out all the miscellaneous debris. Looks nice and clean, doesn't it? And E.M.P.T.Y.
Now I need to get busy and get it filled to the tippy-top. I have lots of dry slabwood cut into kindling length pieces that just need to be split by me and my trusty little hand ax.
Well, it's a start anyway.I quit earlier than I would have liked when hubby needed help unloading building supplies that were still in the truck from our last Friday trip to the big city. Can't remember what happened after that, but I never did make it back to my kindling project. I'll try to squeeze in some time there again tomorrow.
I really don't mind making kindling at all. I can either listen to an audio book while I'm splitting or use the time to think. Good thing I'm currently listening to a good book. Thinking AND using an ax is sometimes more than I can muckle.
18 comments:
Kindling is sort of ah necessity. Newspaper rolled tight can be or waxed sawdust. Looks like you are in for some sn**! Keep warm.
You are not going to stack the kindling are you??? It will still take a bit to fill the bin though. At least splitting kindling will keep you warm when it's cold outside.
I love your header picture, but when I open your blog, I always think of fire first. I live in the mountains and something THAT bright redish/orange usually always means FIRE ... am I programmed or what?
Hugs
Yvette
I like to split kindling, it's a good frustration burner and gives me time to relax. Whenever I start, tho, hubby comes out to comment, then appropriates the ax to show me how to do it right. Grrr... Oh well, hope you get it filled before your winter gets too cold.
That is one large kindling bin. Are you going to fill it up or just do bits when you have time? LOL! Like you have time!
I say hire a student to fill that bin up and then your worries will be over for a bit anyway.
I like making kindling. Makes me feel like a real woodswoman. :) I suggest next year we have a kindling making party!
A kindling bin?? What a great thing. I have to make it up each day when I need to start the wood cook stove. Oh boy, to have it already made up would be wonderful!! Why can I not be that organized.
An ax - I need to get one all my own. I am always out chopping with a maul. It is so heavy to use for making kindling - great way to chop off a finger - I almost did last season. I can start a fire with practically nothing - anything to avoid all that chopping. We have to chop all our wood fairly small for our wood cookstove as it is. But I enjoy doing it - kind of helps clear my mind and center my soul.
Nancy - We woke to our first snow covering this morning. Very light snow covering (not even 1/2" I don't think) but more is in the forecast.
Yvette - No, no, I'd never take the time to stack the kindling. If I just toss it in the bin, we have a good year's supply so no worry.
Funny you should mention the header picture and thinking of fire. It is taken toward the direction where our small town is and my daughter hates the picture because she says she always thinks it looks like town is going up in a horrible conflagration! I promise it was just a spectacular sunset!
Ruth - Hmmm, when hubby shows up with his instructions, I think it would be a good time to hand him the ax. ;o]
Sparkless - I plan on making a concentrated effort within the next week (hopefully) to get it filled so I don't have to think about it any more. It's a task I usually get done before fall arrives, but I didn't make it this year.
Mama Tea - Ummm, party . . . wine . . . interesting conversation . . . laughing . . . ax . . .
Sounds great, but can we all be trusted to avoid injury under those circumstances? ;o} (We might have to have a Designated Splitter!)
Jane - A great big PSHAW to you! You're the most organized person I know.
Snow is still coming down here. We have a couple of inches on the ground and I think this is the sticking snow.
The kindling for our woodstove is newspaper. I save it up all summer. We did saw up some old pallets to use just in case.
now I wish we were neighbors,I could send my teen grand sons over to fill it up it would be a perfect job for them,but alas ,we don't live in my perfect world and don't have a old homestead
Well, unless you can cut kindling in your sleep, I don't know how you were supposed to squeeze it in this summer! It's one of those jobs that is perfect for a half-hour here and there. AND so important. Can't have a good fire without good kindling. No kiddling. hehe
odiie - But how do you get the wood to catch just from the newspaper? We use paper with kindling on top of that, then a split piece of wood and finally a bigger log when it gets going.
judy - I'd probably worry about your teens chopping a finger though! When I was in high school, the guy I was dating at the time was chopping kindling, missed the wood and put the ax right into his knee cap. (Cringe.) Do you know I think of that every time I use an ax?
Susan - You're kindling me again, right? :o} (Hee-hee!)
2 Tramps - You're splitting kindling with a maul??!! Now that's doing it the hard way! Get yourself a good hand ax before you have a bad ak-i-dent!
I remember when we had our combination wood/gas cooking range and how small we had to split the wood. I still miss that good old stove.
That is a big kindling bin, but it's so very important, isn't it? I go about the task a little differently. We have only about an acre and a half of woods and I like to keep it sort of tidy for walking through, so I take a wheelbarrow out and pick up sticks, use two trees growing close together as a wedge to break them between, and bring them back and stuff them into buckets. I've got about 12 buckets full now, lined up out in the lean-to, and we'll need about that much more. We need a bit more time before snow comes heavy yet. I also make fire starters out of cardboard egg cartons filled with dryer lint and old melted candles poured over the top. Break them apart and one, with a few sticks, will start anything. I guess we all find our ways to get the job done.
That's what I need, an ax!
Trailshome - We've used twigs and small branches for kindling, too. I've heard of people collecting pine cones, dipping them in wax and using them in much the same way as your dryer lint and candle wax. Birch bark is highly flammable and good for starting a fire, too. Guess it all just goes to prove there's more than one way to "light your fire!"
Leigh - No ax?? Come one, Girl, every homesteadin' woman needs her own ax! ;o}
I'm so late to the party, I'm sure it's overflowing with kindling by now!
Erin - Ha! Don't I wish! But it is half full and I'm going out in a few minutes to do some more work on it.
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