Just As Winter Ended, It Began Again.
Bernie Marvin
April 02, 2026
Then again. And again. Our wood supply has shrunk to nearly nothing, the coldness remains, and I still have a house to heat!
When I planned to replenish our family woodpile for next year’s heat, I never expected to run out of wood from a supply meant to see us through this forever-winter of 2026.
As far as heating the house with a 4 AM blazing woodstove every morning to chase those 20’s and 30s temperatures away, after more than 40 years of wood prep and burning, I see myself as a failed wood guy. I am about to run out of wood!
Even now, as I check the dwindling supply each day, what remains out there stares back at me as its square-foot volume shrinks. Even the visiting package delivery fellow in the white and red truck asks, “Looks like you might be running out of wood, right?”
I sure appreciate his interest in my disappearing wood supply. But it would be impractical for him to replenish it with a cord or two, which he could dump right on my front lawn if he cared to do so. (And I wouldn’t mind.)
But really, I am being a Nervous Nellie when things like no wood and a cold house are now a distinct possibility; hopefully, it will begin to warm up, and the pressure will be off. As our wood supply disappears, we could switch the heating plan to our propane gas hot water system.
But with war conditions so bad in the Middle East with oil and gas energy supplies, we will continue to keep the propane heat off.
Supplying wood for next year was no problem; we contacted Georgette Underhill here in Piermont, who will provide a total of three or more cords, cut, split, and stacked.
Georgette has been really good to work with, and I hope she remains in the wood business for many years to come. If so, readers will no longer have to sift through my wood problems. Why? Because there will be no more problems. Everything will be smooth sailing and efficient burning.
We have provided firewood at our home in Piermont for more than 18 years, and before that in Haverhill for a total of 40 long chilly years of wrestling with woodpiles. We have had log length from Fernand Fagnant and various wood programs from many others. Some have been good, some not so good.
We have been fortunate to use our own trees for firewood or to rely on dependable wood providers such as Georgette Underhill and a few others. We have burned a wide variety of wood types, depending on what kinds of wood become available, such as ash during the ash borer epidemic, or our great oaks, which we had thinned out from around the house as part of our forest fire prevention cutting two years ago.
It is all hard work, but it has been worth it, right from that first encounter with our just-purchased old farmhouse in Haverhill, built in 1775, which had no central heating. Our ensuing winters were dreadfully cold, and it was a full-time job to keep up with the demands of firewood to keep a single large wood stove in the living room stoked.
That all seems like ancient history now. But every once in a while, such as this year, the weather does not cooperate, and we come face to face with an inadequate wood supply again. An old timer from hereabouts once told me that burning wood for heat is not science, it’s nuts.
I do believe that is true!
When I planned to replenish our family woodpile for next year’s heat, I never expected to run out of wood from a supply meant to see us through this forever-winter of 2026.
As far as heating the house with a 4 AM blazing woodstove every morning to chase those 20’s and 30s temperatures away, after more than 40 years of wood prep and burning, I see myself as a failed wood guy. I am about to run out of wood!
Even now, as I check the dwindling supply each day, what remains out there stares back at me as its square-foot volume shrinks. Even the visiting package delivery fellow in the white and red truck asks, “Looks like you might be running out of wood, right?”
I sure appreciate his interest in my disappearing wood supply. But it would be impractical for him to replenish it with a cord or two, which he could dump right on my front lawn if he cared to do so. (And I wouldn’t mind.)
But really, I am being a Nervous Nellie when things like no wood and a cold house are now a distinct possibility; hopefully, it will begin to warm up, and the pressure will be off. As our wood supply disappears, we could switch the heating plan to our propane gas hot water system.
But with war conditions so bad in the Middle East with oil and gas energy supplies, we will continue to keep the propane heat off.
Supplying wood for next year was no problem; we contacted Georgette Underhill here in Piermont, who will provide a total of three or more cords, cut, split, and stacked.
Georgette has been really good to work with, and I hope she remains in the wood business for many years to come. If so, readers will no longer have to sift through my wood problems. Why? Because there will be no more problems. Everything will be smooth sailing and efficient burning.
We have provided firewood at our home in Piermont for more than 18 years, and before that in Haverhill for a total of 40 long chilly years of wrestling with woodpiles. We have had log length from Fernand Fagnant and various wood programs from many others. Some have been good, some not so good.
We have been fortunate to use our own trees for firewood or to rely on dependable wood providers such as Georgette Underhill and a few others. We have burned a wide variety of wood types, depending on what kinds of wood become available, such as ash during the ash borer epidemic, or our great oaks, which we had thinned out from around the house as part of our forest fire prevention cutting two years ago.
It is all hard work, but it has been worth it, right from that first encounter with our just-purchased old farmhouse in Haverhill, built in 1775, which had no central heating. Our ensuing winters were dreadfully cold, and it was a full-time job to keep up with the demands of firewood to keep a single large wood stove in the living room stoked.
That all seems like ancient history now. But every once in a while, such as this year, the weather does not cooperate, and we come face to face with an inadequate wood supply again. An old timer from hereabouts once told me that burning wood for heat is not science, it’s nuts.
I do believe that is true!
Have a story?
Let's hear it!
(802) 757-2773
(603) 787-2444
news@thebridgeweekly.com
