A Cord of Wood

"It was a cord of maple, cut and split

And piled- and measured, four by four by eight.

And not another like it could I see.

No runner tracks in this year's snow looped near it.

And it was older sure than this year's cutting,

Or even last year's or the year's before."

-The Wood-Pile by Robert Frost

If you burn wood to keep warm in the winter, heed the advice from Comsumerist with
Measure Your Firewood Before You Pay For It

Unless you have a scale that can accurately weigh several hundred pounds of wood, never buy your firewood by the ton or the "truckload." In many states, unpackaged firewood must be sold by the cord

.A Cord of wood is 128 cubic feet. For example a wood pile 8 ft by 4 ft by 4 ft = 8*4*4 = 128 cubic feet.

Be sure to measure the height, length and depth of the stack. If multiplying the three measurements together doesn't equal 128 cubic feet, it's not a cord.

And make sure the wood is properly stacked like a box of matchsticks.

The pieces should be stacked neatly with individual pieces touching and parallel to each other. If it looks like a Jenga game or a log cabin, it's time to re-stack. [or find another seller.]

Bottom Line

For your protection, you should always be sure to get a receipt. In some municipalities, sellers of firewood are required by law to provide customers with detailed receipts of firewood sales.

The Weights and Measures Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology has a handy PDF you might want to read before investing all the time and money in that stack of firewood.

Fire Starters

"Fire, I'll take you to learn
You're gonna burn, you're gonna burn"
-Fire, by Arthur Brown, #1 for one week in 1968

With warmer days and thoughts of camping, here's an idea for creating your own fire starter. See Instructables.com for more details, photos, and alternative ideas for fire starters.

1. Gather dryer lint, an empty paper egg carton, old candles or wax, dental floss, and scissors.

2. Cut or break the wax into small pieces for faster melting.

3. Melt the wax in a double boiler set-up using a disposable glass jar or can with an opening several inches across. The can or jar will get quite messy. Place the can or jar in boiling water (keep on eye on the water level - too much and the jar will float and perhaps tip over, too little and the pot goes dry) Once the wax is melted, turn down the heat to a simmer (or off) to avoid buring the wax.

4. Stuff the lint into the egg carton compartments. Pack as much as possible for longer burning.

5. Cut apart the egg carton compartments and fold the edges over to cover the top.

6. Tie the lint up inside the closed compartments with dental floss. Leave six or more inches at the end of the knot for you to hold in the next step.

7. Did each package into the wax. Cover completely and let the wax soak inside. Wait for no bubbles rise from the package. Set packages on paper towel to drain.

8. When done pour extra wax over the starters (for extra water proofing). Let the starters dry for an hour or two.

9. To use, light a corner with a match and enjoy for 15 minutes or so.

Bottom Line

The comments on the Instructables website include some variations like pouring the wax directly into the egg carton before cutting the compartments apart, using twine instead of dental floss so it acts as a wick, wrapping the lint in strips of newspaper instead, using a crock pot to melt wax, etc. This is a simple idea with many ways to be creative. Just don't melt the wax over direct heat - you could get a flash fire.

Wood Fire Cooking

“What my mother believed about cooking is that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you.”-Nora Ephron

For years my wife & I have been looking for the right equipment for wood fire cooking. After a long search, just last weekend we finally found an affordable ($18) Dutch oven with legs and a lid at a flea market. (Legs easily allow one to put coals under the pot.) We have also been looking for the ideal outdoor fire pit (www.firepit-and-grilling-guru.com/outdoor-fire-pit.html). We had a great time cooking hotdogs and S’Mores over a portable fire pit at a friend’s house. And recently visited another friend with a built in fire pit. But what we really want is an advance system with grills, shelves, arms, etc.

And yet, good equipment is only the beginning. In an excellent blog post, Learning to Cook on a Wood-Fired Stove, Deborah describes that no book held the secret to successful food fire cooking. She had to learn by trial and error:

The biggest challenge is keeping the oven heat even. Unlike a gas or electric stove, when you put something in the oven to cook and the temperature drops as the food absorbs the heat, nothing kicks in to compensate. What to do? Feed the fire wood that will burn quickly and offer more heat. As the food begins to cook and its internal temperature rises, a longer, slower-burning piece of wood will maintain the heat. Open the oven door if it gets too hot - but not for long. Your oven may even have "hot spots" like mine.

In addition to equipment and practical experience, a cook needs supplies and recipes. In Baking and Simple Cooking After a Disaster the author considers a time when “cooking as you once knew it, from cabinets bulging with a variety of packaged items, store bread and cookies, or a quick trips to the store for box cereal and meat in a neat packages, with an armful of deli tubs and rotisserie chicken – just ended.” Would you know how to cook using flour, salt, lard and other basics?

Bottom Line

If you want to learn survival-cooking skills, purchase or download some old-fashioned cookbooks. The Cooking After a Disaster post recommends …

We have several 1940 era cookbooks, Mennonite/Amish cookbooks and a thin book of ingredient substitutions as well as good, basic ones at least 30 years old. They’re priceless for simplicity, economy and few ingredients. This will mean going to the used bookstore or surfing Amazon. Avoid modern cookbooks that assume access to lots of ingredients and avoid cookbooks from the 1800s because they do not have standard measurements and assume things you might not know about like how to assemble ingredients, cooking times, pans and temperatures.

One of my favorite books is The Joy of Cooking (1965 edition). The Joy of Cooking has been in print continuously since 1936 and with more than 18 million copies sold. The older editions cover everything from butchering meat, ingredient substitution, simple sauces to complex dishes. It includes a lot of practical advice on techniques.

Another source that can be useful is modern versions of pioneer recipes. Check out Amazon’s Best Pioneer Cookbooks.