Woodpile Fun

I have to stack the wood to have it dry properly, so I thought a fun addition to the task would be changing the woodstacking method / design each year.

Woodstacking is one of my favorite household tasks: there are no fumes, it's not loud, the wood smells good, the woodpiles look nice, and it's satisfying that every day the wood sits stacked in the sun, it's becoming slightly more valuable to heat the house the next winter. I also like that it's an easy task to share with someone else -- you can talk while you stack and it's easy to work together without getting in each other's way. These are a few attempts to make the woodstacking unique from year to year. When we first moved to this house, I stuck to straight piles. Then I tried turning the straight piles into "sea monster" piles. I always liked the look of round piles (holz hausen style), so I've included at least one of those in my stacking the last few years. After growing frustrated with my woodpile covering tarps getting torn to pieces after just a couple seasons on our windy hill, I decided to build a woodshed to hold most of the wood. While I was concerned it would limit the room for creativity, it does make a nice canvas if I'm lucky enough to have wood of different colors. I made a heart in the woodpile using freshly cut red oak (from a friendly neighbor -- thanks David!) on a background of grayish wood that had been seasoned a year.

Woodstacking is fun, but it's even more fun when you try to incorporate a bit of novelty!