Mom's obsession

My mom is obsessed with firewood. She not only collects it for herself, but for us, my aunt and grandma. After a storm she drives through the mountains on isolated gravel roads, the kind with bear and elk poop on them, looking for windfalls. After she finds one she contacts the Forest Service, or whomever the tree technically belongs to, and gets the appropriate permits. Once when we helped carry off partially cut wood chunks, we had to drive 20 minutes into the mountains to find the downed tree. She is serious about her tree hunting.

She also gleans trees from logging sites. This last time, her stepson was nice enough to leave some of the smaller trees unharvestable trees behind for her.



This last time, my cousin James helped out by sawing up the wood. I don't remember how many truck loads we got out of this, but it took several hours to cut, load, haul to Moms and then unload.



That tiny man is Apollo standing next to giant piles of brush waiting to be burned so the area can be replanted with trees. After replanting, the trees can be logged again in about 50 years. Renewable resources are awesome. And look, small plants are already starting to grow under the mess!



This is one thing I missed about Oregon: huckleberries! As kids we used to pick wild fruit and plants to eat while playing in the woods. Gone are the days of exploring the wilderness and enjoying edible fruits of the land, now we glean fallen trees. All. Year. Long.