Wood heat

Wood in the garden

There you have it, while heating season hasn’t started yet wood season has.  We heat by wood and we don’t buy it, we collect it from fallen trees in the area.  Autumns can have warm days, cool nights, and can last pleasantly long.  Sometimes, we don’t light the first fire until October and when we do, we only heat in the evening as a question of comfort rather than need.  On the other hand, this mid-season can also be cold and wet, so we need to prepare while the weather is still good.

For the last two months, Christophe has been collecting wood for the season.  If a tree is cut, it’s too fresh to burn that year, so it’s left to dry.  This year, he’s collecting fallen trees for this year’s heating season and cutting some with neighbors.  Basically, he’s working two years of wood at the same time, but that’s common, at least for Christophe.

Once the wood finally makes it into our garden, it is cut, split, and stacked.  I cannot say exactly how much wood we burn.  In France, wood is measured in stère or in cubic meters, not cords, but I can say when it runs the entire length of the garden wall Christophe stops worrying if we have enough.  How many cubic meters is that?  He has calculated that, but like any heat source, it’s used in relationship to the weather, most of the time that is enough, but there are exceptions.  Late last winter, it was terrible cold, and we burned through stacks of wood in no time; however, up until December, we only light the heater in the evenings.

For those who don’t heat by wood I’m certain this idea is a bit archaic.  Some think we contribute to deforestation, but the forest gains 5% of agricultural grounds each year and needs to be trimmed back; after all, France is an agricultural country.  And, most of our heating wood comes from fallen trees.  We are actually cleaning the area by removing dead wood that could contribute to a forest fire.  Our heater, or poéle, has a double combustion, meaning it re-burns gas that escapes from the burning wood; the CO2 output is as minimal as it could get.  

Then there are others who think heating by wood is rather romantic.  Honestly, it is, after you get past the cutting, splitting, stacking, and hauling it in everyday.  Heating by wood simply is what it is: hard work, but there’s a satisfaction is knowing it’s done and turning up the heat by throwing another log in the fire isn’t going to change the heating bill – as if we have one.

Pleasure of the Season: Lighting the poêle for first time of the season.

“Pleasures of the Season” is a series of posts which appear from time to time.  They focus on something special that occurs only seasonally, often fleeting, and something we anticipate.  The posts highlight moments of what I’ve learned about living with the seasons since moving to Southern France.

We turned the heat on for the first time last night.  For us, this is not adjusting a dial on the wall, but rather, filling the poêle with wood and putting a match to it.  We heat by wood, and that surprises a lot of people.  Our poêle is a Norwegian cast iron heater which is efficient enough to comfortable heat the house all winter long.  For many, this might be archaic, but the truth is it is growing in popularity.  Wood heat is efficient, eco-friendly, and cheap.  And for those like us, who cut their own wood, the price of heating the house is close to nothing.

We bought our poêle a few years ago and every autumn we look forward to lighting it.  It’s quiet, provides ambient lighting, and is more engaging than most television shows.

The lighting of the poêle signals an undisputable seasonal change.  Our evening chore of watering the garden is replaced by bringing in wood.  The nights fall early and day’s light dwindle.  Owls call not far from our window and the crisp night’s air unveils a magnitude of stars.  Wisps of smoke spiral up from distant chimneys and mixes with the smell of fallen leaves.  Autumn is here, our daily rhythm changes and life move to inside the house, around the poêle, light for the first time last night.