Death of the Ash

This post is not in any way meant to celebrate the forthcoming slaughter of the ash trees across the country as the dreaded die back fungus takes hold. The sad prospect of large numbers of trees being felled and then burned does prompt a question or two about what will happen to the wood. Does it have to be burned under controlled conditions? If so, what are they? Or will there be a sudden glut of ash firewood on the market? If the wood from trees felled to beat (some hope) the fungus does make it to market, will wood-burner makers see a sudden upsurge in business with prices for the fuel falling?

We have been given a portion of our neighbour's ash that came down recently, only fair as it came down on our nearly new shed. It is usable when green supposedly, though we intend other than with kindling to leave it  until next year's burning season. And it splits really easily, even huge slices across the bottom part of the trunk can be broken down with a few lusty blows of my somewhat blunt axe. Our greenhouse, empty at this time of year of plants, is currently full of netting sacks full of the wood in a variety of thicknesses, from chunks that will burn for an hour to kindling via firewood sticks, the hope being that the wood dries more quickly in there. It's an ill wind and all that.

On Keeping Warm and Solvent

Saturday saw me making an angry phone call from my bed - it was Saturday after all, and old habits like the lie in die hard (once you are through the getting up at five with sprog phase). Our energy supplier had notified us they were putting our direct debit up by 25% with nearly immediate notice. We were substantially in credit, and by their estimate only a rise  of 11% (11%!!) was actually needed to match the expected upturn in our energy usage over the winter. So I told them firmly the figure we were prepared to go to (after waiting 10 minutes on the phone with what amounted to aural torture every minute - if I had wanted to give them a reading wouldn't I have done so the first one or two times they asked?) and they were ok with that. Calculate £30 per month extra in their account earning interest x say 5,000,000 households and they would be earning about £500k per month from us all without doing anything much to deserve it.

That made us reassess our energy usage - all to the good - and go on a turning lights/TV/radio off campaign again. But more than that we are trying an experiment with reducing the time the heating is on (only marginally, losing about an hour a day) but using the wood-burner to boost the warmth of the house at breakfast time (and a fire is so comforting too) and for an hour or two beyond. The wood as other posts have explained is nearly free - a huge load of pine dried for the last two years cost £40 if memory serves, it will last the winter, and we have also cut and dried branches, boughs and now a major bit of next-door's ash tree that came through our shed roof when it fell. The fabric of the building is warmed by the burner, on the bottom floor of four so the chimney conveys some of the energy through the other three.

Piously it also makes me think of those who can't use such a strategy - no means, or strength etc. There are few things more miserable than being cold and damp. While we can continue with this we shall, provided it works. Money is not that tight, but I am. As the one in the house in the middle of the day it affects me most, and I'll happily work with my smoking hat on and even a cravat or scarf if needs be. Louche meets bloody silly.

A Dead Summer and Dying Trees

Is it coincidence or causality? Over the last couple of horribly wet months we have lost a tree, an old fruitless fruit tree that one day we noticed was gradually tipping over; and last week our next door neighbours lost two thirds of a huge ash - both thirds making our garden, the first taking out a bit of fence and scaring the chickens, the second utterly destroying the roof and severely damaging one wall of a year-old shed. Amicable discussions ensued, a new shed will replace it and we trust a piece of fencing. A month back a silver birch two doors down had to be removed before it toppled.

I wonder if the sodden ground accelerated these losses? And if the run of four or five wet summers here caused the rot to set in? This is a lovely leafy area, but becoming less so as such trees are lost. We have planted a quince, Victoria plum and greengage, but they will take a while to become established, and many years before they have anything like the architectural impact of the ash and the birch.  Maybe they never will, as the fear must be that this weather-pattern has set in and the ground will be this way off and on for the foreseeable.

It's an ill wind, however. Ash may not be the hottest-burning wood, but you can just about use it green, and we have room to dry it out - our neighbour is very happy to leave us the use of the wood that fell into our garden. So more bloody wood chopping, but later more wonderful warmth and warm smells from the stove in the dining room.