What have done towards your prep?

[Lightspeed]

SS in his drum room..... I have the image of the Animal the crazy drum-playing Muppet ;-)

The power to woodstore is proving a great advantage I cut a couple of hundred fire-box length logs yesterday evening, and also moved to the chopping area ready for breaking down to burn sized lumps. Previously this work, and the chopping would only have possible in daylight hours. With current work demands that would have meant devoting weekends to the task. Weekends that I now have free for other to-dos.

[Straight Shooter]

I am his biggest fan LS ! .....he does stuff I can only dream about ! And such a babe magnet ! Lol.

All I am doing these days is logging, splitting firewood ....day in day out , although we have enough split for the next two years , by the time I get through this lot that in itself will be another two / three years worth ! But I will not deviate from the task till it’s finished ....so onwards I go .....however I do take some excursions ....made the very last elderberry syrup ( top of tree fruits ) made three pints , fired up the generators after checking oil levels all three took two pulls .....tickled up four chains for the saw .

The Sil has restacked the logs ALL the way down the drive ...90 ft long .....and full , 6ft wide and 3ft high one long row in order to get the beast and trailer past ......split a trailer full for my brother ....it’s loaded and hooked up ready for me to drop it off tomorrow ......dehydrated some more Mint and going to do some bay leaves tomorrow .

On a positive note I have finished splitting the big rounds of ash today , these buggers were 550 mm dia and 400mm thick and bloody heavy , all the other stuff are a more manageable 400 mm and down dia .

I will get to the cleaning of gutters , raised beds , and general cleaning of the drives ( using a blower ) ......I will get around to the wood chip eventually ....I alway have uses for that around the garden . Charge on !

[Lightspeed]

I'm sure there's a big likeness to you SS! The hair and crazy eyes maybe?

My god that's a huge stock of wood you have there. I was quietly satisfied with my stockpile, but now I feel very inadequate by comparison to you! How long do you estimate that reserve would last you? I'm guessing that with the new build's excellent insulation and smaller space that you'll be good for decades!

My strategy has changed somewhat, mainly due to our now relying on the furnace for winter heating. Now I buy a whole season's worth of coal each summer. This is the backbone of my off-grid heating and cooking needs. Wood is a secondary backup. I try to never let the coal reserve fall below 2 tons but am not always successful in this, especially when icy conditions at end of winter prevent deliveries.

While the minimal reserve of coal (lignite) will be used-up deteriorated to the extent of being useless after a year or so's off-grid living, the wood in the store will still be completely useable. Interestingly, I have an an amount of split and dried spruce in the store that was put there more than 40 years ago.... and it still burns fine.

Yesterday we hedgerow harvested wild rose hips. The little darlings are now basking on drying trays over radiators. Once dried they'll be bagged-up for use over winter for vitamin C-rich tea.

[Straight Shooter]

The thing is LS it sounds a lot and indeed it is But when you consider it will feed two households ....our new place and the old place , now owned by my daughter (the new flat for my grandson I insulated to within a inch of its life and mirrors my place ,this is fuelled by LPG only ) I posted on here years back of the new wood stove that ran the whole house heating/hot water 25k total output worked great but the first year we went through ten cords of wood ....yep 10 cords plus two tons of coal in the old house .....this was removed and replaced with a Jotul wood burner which heats all the downstairs and is far far more efficient the rest is managed with LPG and with a new very efficient boiler .


As for our new place .......LPG costs for last year £420.00 ......and costs are up £10 bottle ....the insulation we invested in is paying back no question ....cheaper than the first year at a lower price ! .......and our Jotul 602 has really come in to its own......two to three cords does the job ....heat ......soups simmer away kettles boil , even bread is made on top of this thing in a Dutch oven , and I am still stripped to my Yfronts ( no kidding) ...I have recently resorted to duck taping wild child to a chair after the ( come here you little bastard ! ) driven wild by my black underpants chasing me around to lounge ......No I’ve been splitting wood I say ! .......then those awful words “come here you little bastard “ ...then the snapping of my undies elastic ......then the slapping of my face “ who’s your mama ! ) .......I put up with a lot .....I’m glad I had this little chat ...normally I suffer in total acceptance and silence .

[Lightspeed]

Wow! Our main furnace is rated 25kW and that's over-sized for our 120sqm home. Like you, we installed loads and loads of insulation which I think our installer failed to appreciate. I did the first big service on it this summer and its improved its efficiency a good deal.

For backup and rustic ambiance we have an 11Kw range style stove that has its own dedicated oven. The flue from this connects to a thermal store, which re-radiates heat for up to 24hrs after the stove goes out. As a test we did a full off grid cooking and heating using this stove and it kept up with everything we asked of it. Using wood for intense heat, and coal for slow burn worked out well Min temperature that winter was -20C, so it shows that good insulation very much reduces heating power requirements.

Your wife: Poor, poor woman! Did she have any idea of what she was letting herself in for when she married you? You should let her loose on here sometime, I bet the other side of your stories will be even more entertaining;-)

[Lightspeed]

SS I painted a slightly rosier picture than is the reality with our furnace. Fuel handling is a hard and dirty business. Nearest I could safely locate the coal store was in a disused sty 30m away from the feeder. Before it can be burned, it has to be bagged-up and transported. This sees me handling between 30 and 40Kg per day in mid-winter...

[Straight Shooter]

That’s a fair old slog everyday LS ! But a good cardio work out ........if wild child ever gets to read all the stuff I have written about her ....she would laugh it off ....this might involve several punches and her telling me it’s just joking about followed by a sharp upwards movement of her knee whilst steadying her balance with both index fingers firmly pressing on my shoulder blades . Btw I bought one of those power barrows ....four wheel drive ...holds a third of a ton ....Honda 5.5 engine ....it’s the dogs ....although it’s second hand it was well looked after the new ones are £3200.00 but you can buy a bell for £2200.00 new ......I use mine regular ....great piece of kit and saves effort and time .....if you have the land to warrant the purchase .

[Lightspeed]

Ha ha SS, I still look forward to hearing Mrs SS' side of things.

Agreed about the motorized barrow. I have one too, but mine's exactly what it says: a wheel barrow with a motorised single wheel powered by a 12v gell cell. It'll supposedly self propel for 4 miles. Wo knows, but it gets me through the winter on a couple of top up charges, and my wife has even experimented (succesfully) to see if she could use it to haul me back from my local ;-) Actally its a seriously useful tool, especially when we're snowed in as it drags itself forwards without sliding at all.

[Pete Grey]

As we all knows it’s easier to pull a load than to carry one. Our godsend is a garden cart, 150kg load, pneumatic tyres so easy to pull. We use it for bags of coal, jerrycans, gas bottles and of course gardening, not yet used it for pub transport, could be interesting as pub is at the top of the hill

[Lightspeed]

Wood shed re-organisation seems satisfactory. I now have better space for bulk cutting, and much improved work flow to pre-chopping storage, choping, and ready-for use areas. Last weekend I managed 16 hours continuous conversion of salvage and seasoned split wood to fire-box lengths. Probably one more day's bulk cutting will see sufficient for the next year or two.

I'm converting using a chainsaw which is not ideal. A bench circular saw will make life easier for me and will reduce wastage, so for next season I'll be doing research and looking out for discounts. Then all I'll need is a 4T log splitter....and 3 phase wiring extension to run it.....and, and, and. Does the list never end?