Cheap firewood!

[Beekissed]

Yep! When my garden died all in one week when there wasn't a drought going on...well, I've never had that happen and I'm 42 years old. The whole garden became mature, pumpkins were done, my indeterminate tomatoes stopped producing, everything acted like it was late Sept. or early Oct here. That was so very odd. Leaves started changing and falling off here in August and I've never seen that happen before. We don't usually start to see any good color before the end of Sept, early Oct.

I would say we better listen to our gut feelings. Everytime I ignored that feeling it got me into trouble...heck, that's how I got 3 kids!

 

[Nuggetsowner:)]

We heat with our woodstove as much as we can because it costs a fortune to fill the LP tank!! My DH goes to local factories and shipping places and picks up all the damaged pallets. Most places are happy to have you take them and give them for free. We then break them down and use the lumber for different purposes. We use the pine for good kindling and some firewood. Often we run across good heavy duty oak pallets and that makes good firewood as well. Just something you might keep in mind. You do have to pay for your gas and it does take some time to break down the pallets but really it has helped our family alot!!

 

[Beekissed]

None in the area! I would love to have some pallets to stack firewood on and they are hard to come by here. Also, burning the pine tends to build a little creosote in the chimney, so I try to limit that as much as possible. Heck, with this cheap of a supply of easily cut boards, I may never go with traditional firewood again!

No bark flaking off all over the floor and porch, no odd little limb butts that won't fit into the stove door, no splitting of big logs to fit into the stove, easy and uniform pieces of kindling, easier to stack as they are flat, neater wood pile for the same reason! I'm rather pleased!

If ya don't help someone, sometime, they it don't come back to you down where I am.

kinda ensures the group that does help each other will survive if times get rough. I know I could easily survive with my "click" in the area and we would all help each other to make it....what one doesn't have, the other can supply so we would all do well.

I wish it were that simple around here! I lend my big, hard working boys out all the time and people like to take advantage of that! I give away eggs, veggies, my time, the use of my vehicle. You name it, we share it. When it comes time for a little payback, like a wood source, well, noone can be found! I also have a large orchard that is the source of apples for half the folks on this side of the mountain and only one neighbor returns the favor with any of their produce. The motto around here is "What is mine is mine and what is yours is mine, as well!" Prior claim, used to be owned by a relative, etc. Whatever you want to call it, I am a stranger in a strange land here!

It would be truly nice to have a nice community like one we had back home. Everyone helped everyone else get in hay, firewood, crops, etc. Like one big family. They just took the work crew from farm to farm until it was all done. Golly, but I miss that!

 

[enjoy the ride]

Beekissed (I miss your cow)- where were you before? I would love to belong to some community that looks out for each other. Around here, neighbors seem to not want to even see anyone else. Not that I like crowds, but I do like to help where I can. Hopefully the one sidedness will not turn me into an unhelpful person- I have felt twings of that lately.

 

[FarmerChick]

Spidey Sense----LOL---I love that saying!

yea I am taking early precautions also. I have camping lanterns with rechargeable backup batteries for lights. I have propane lanterns that use the small bottles.

I have a propane camping stove and a grill for outside.

My 2 giant hay barns are at the big farm about 2 miles down the road. I am ferrying back tons of hay to put up in my barns at my house to be ready for the goats I have here in this field. In winter, I must have tons of hay around to feel secure..LOL

I have 2 leaning trees near my goat barn (big suckers) that need to come down. A good ice storm might take them down so they are next for the chainsaw.

I have a 250 lb propane tank for my propane stove in the house. I check prices and they dropped so I filled my tank to the top. Ready to go on that and it is paid in full (Yippee!)

I am going to be sure all can be found in a moments notice, lol, when needed fast. So I am doing a little routine to get all winter prep in order and prepared.

I think the South is going to get whacked for some reason also. Weather patterns are so wierd now you never know, but when we get storms coming from Atlanta, we get snow and ice all the time and it seems more storms are constantly coming from that way.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm glad its not just me, then! I can get paranoid about things at times, but this is a feeling on which I can't put my finger. Sort of a foreboding, I guess.

I hope I'm wrong, but then it may be just what this part of country needs, really. They need a little shaking up to bring them out of their complacency and to help them remember the things of which they should be grateful. Not advocating hard times, per se, but a little harsh weather in these parts can bring out the best in people, and may jump start a feeling of "community" that will be so badly needed in the times that will come.

 

[FarmerChick]

Beekissed
that is rough actually you can lend out the boys and no offers come back.....sad really cause the increasing trend is ME ME ME in this world. I hate seeing the "help" everyone used to offer so freely being taken away.

Luckily here my farming group helps each other. If one needs wood we go to Barbs, LOL, she owns like 400 acres for a dairy business and plenty of wood for the taking. I trade all the farm stuff with others and we just barter stuff back and forth. Anyone needs a big extra truck for hard work...it is available from someone, anyone needs a backhoe or such, we have one. Tony is a giver of his time and would rather run the equipment for someone then to hand it over...LOL...so many people don't know how to run big equipment and fixing backhoes and front end loaders cost alot.

I love the secure feeling knowing I can count on my farm friends. Maybe being Southern has something to do with it.....the good old south....or we are just not super commercialized yet where the indifference has hit....I don't know but I like it here..HA HA

 

[Beekissed]

Beekissed
that is rough actually you can lend out the boys and no offers come back.....sad really cause the increasing trend is ME ME ME in this world. I hate seeing the "help" everyone used to offer so freely being taken away.

The worst part? My family were the worst ones for this! They would invite my boys over to play and then tell their kids that they couldn't play with mine until their rooms were cleaned, the grass was mowed, the sticks picked up out of the lawn, etc. Well, guess who did all the chores? My kids were so eager to play with their cousins they would have moved mountains to do it, and everyone caught on to that! Every time my nephew needed his room cleaned he invited my son over to "stay all night". When I informed Joel this was why he was being invited, he said, " I don't care, Mom, I just want to be able to have fun with Chance." Sad, huh?

Now my sister(who despises me, BTW) will come over when I'm not around and lure my boys over to her place to "put in hay" with offers to "pay" them. Two boys working all day in the hay with no meals and their own water....$20 a piece! Cheap labor? You bet! If they were nicer people, I wouldn't let my kids take any money for helping, but these folks are in the higher range of "not nice".

As most folks can't get their teenagers to move a muscle, my kids have become very popular. They are cheerful and respectful to adults and they are used to working without the benefit of money as an incentive. This makes them a valuable asset. Couple that with a generous mom and we get used quite a bit. It doesn't bother me in so much as the time or work, its that they think we don't know we are being used! :/ I don't like being thought of as being easily duped.

 

[me&thegals]

This makes me feel sad for you My husband and I have had this conversation many times. What we think might be the case is that other folks don't think self-sufficient people ever need any help. Could it be that people see you doing it all so well and competently and not realize that maybe you are tired, overworked, overwhelmed and could use a hand?

 

[Beekissed]

I don't know... I am all those things but I really just needed someone to let me cut up their downed trees. I see some properties that are littered with them and I would think it would be a desirable thing to have that kind of an eyesore cleaned up. Everyone around here knows how I manage my property, so they shouldn't have any fears that I would harm their property in any way. We keep it pretty ship-shape around here!

No, I think its more of what is afflicting the world today. Everyone sort of hunkers down into their own world and life and don't bother to really look at their neighbor. Oh, they do plenty of looking into their business, but do they really take notice of what each other is doing in their life. Do they know what challenges they face?

I find myself doing the same thing, at times, as a defense mechanism, really. I've been kicked around a lot in this ol' world, so I kind of guard myself around strangers. Not that I don't help when I see a need, but often I don't ask questions about my neighbors enough to know what they need. There is soooooo much busybodying around these parts that I don't want to seem like I'm participating in that sort of behavior. So, I'm very private and I let other's have their privacy. Maybe that is wrong, I don't know.