In 1997, my dad purchased 18 acres just north of my parents home in Melby. Every fall since '97, we have been using the wood off "The 18" to heat the homestead. These past 3 days, my brother and I have assisted Dad in gathering yet another year of firewood. This year I decided to snap a few pictures to share this family tradition that started with that real estate purchase 15 years ago.
Every year we (my siblings and I) looked at it as a chore. The cutting, the splitting, the hauling, the loading and unloading, the stacking. We complained, we nagged, we dragged our feet, we did everything to avoid this dreaded task. The last few years have been anything but. In fact, I look forward to it! I enjoy the process as a whole more than ever now!
I don't know if it's because I've spent the last two years in the LA area with a go-go-go type of lifestyle or if it's just with age, you learn to appreciate things differently. Probably a combination of the two. Either way, it is so refreshing to get out and enjoy the woods these last couple days. Nature offers so much. In between the chainsawing, there's a beautiful silence. There was a couple times I had to walk a distance in the woods a lone and it offered such a beautiful time to take in all that God has given us through nature. The silence reminded me of an important lesson I learned towards the end of this past summer. I was living in California still and a friend from home and I were discussing a topic via Skype. I really wasn't able to add much to the conversation because I needed to think about it. I promised I would think about it and get back to him on my thoughts. It felt like I never fully was able to get back to him on it - I was always trying to find the time and place to think. He on the other hand, who lives in a rural setting and spends quite a bit of time in nature brought some pretty major issues up. He was really able to think it out. How the heck? Where in the world did he find this? It wasn't until my next visit home where I got to visit him and experience his day to day living that it hit me. I took a walk down an old dirt road near his house and when I got back approaching the driveway, I was amazed at all the thinking that I had just accomplished. There was no distractions. No cars, no other people, no crosswalks, no earbuds. Just nature. It was my thoughts, that old dirt road and God. It was beautiful.
Nearing the end of my walk, I sent him a text along the lines of now understanding where he got his thinking done. I added I thought it was somewhat unfair. I was joking but there was a ton of truth in it too ;)
The past couple days in the woods have reminded me of the peace that nature can give you if you allow it. I appreciate the life in the trees we took and I'm looking forward to planting more in their place. (Note to self: Apply the life of trees to the game of hunting in next blog to explain to some of my anti-hunting friends)
I overheard my dad put it like this, "There is no better day than a day in the woods."
A hidden work out!
Now I know how the Amish can intake 4,000 calories/day and still remain fit!
The work is done. Time to celebrate.
To a successful 2012-2013 wood season!
SaraHHouse365 | Where nature has not yet been rearranged
