Living on Earth: land stewardship, a mutually beneficial exchange

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately up in the mountains cutting firewood to heat our home. Harvesting firewood is almost like a religious experience for me, as it naturally flows with this deep inner calling within my soul, this overpowering feeling of timelessness and interconnectedness. Being in the forest, harvesting firewood feels right. There are no protests on the mountain; no police, no politicians, and no priests. There’s just the sound of my breath and the ancient human task of gathering wood. 

My approach to harvesting firewood isn’t just to take, but to be mindful and to work towards a mutually beneficial exchange between myself and the forest. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and please consider sharing this blog post on your social networks. It’s a fantastic way to support my website. Thanks!

Unfortunately, some people are primarily concerned with how fast and easily they can pack their trucks with firewood, as this stump clearly demonstrates. No trees over 14″ wide are to be harvested, for a variety of reasons. And yet, here we find a stump well over the 14″ limit. It was close to the road and easy pickings. The other issue here is that the stump is too high, leaving a danger for firefighting equipment in the event of a forest fire. All stumps should be under 12″ high. 

This is why we won’t be able to have nice things!