Our hard-working handcart threw in the towel during our second coppicing run today. Our group -- four of us this time -- had been doing very well clearing overgrown hazel and willow and we had piled up quite a bit of firewood. I volunteered to do the first run back up to where we'd parked our car and discovered that not only was the front tyre flat again (we'd forgotten to bring the pump) but the axle had broken and both front wheels were pointing in slightly different directions. I managed to drag the first load uphill to the car by basically lifting the cart off its front wheels and balancing the load on the back wheels but when OH completed the second run, he gave up. So there's still quite a bit of greenwood to be pulled out of that wood -- we'll better get that cart fixed up soon. Having said that, we managed to fill the car with wood again, and that always feels brilliant.
Other good news: our next-door neighbour is looking to replace his electric chopsaw with a newer model and told OH to ask me if I want to buy his old one. I think I want to! It would sort out the thicker logs very quickly without my having to do a chainsaw course (although I think that a proper course plus certificate in how to operate a chainsaw would be pretty cool -- you never know when such skills come in handy).
And to stay with my current favourite topic (wood, and how to save on gas and electricity, esp. now that we're looking at 3 degrees at night), Meter Man came round today to check our gas usage. Glad it wasn't me who opened the door to him -- after all, it was OH's battery of demijohns and bottled ciders that were barring his way to our gas meter under the stairs. I can't even see our gas meter because there's so much STUFF in the way -- I don't know how he read anything. But OH reported the number, and if that is indeed the correct number, we've only used about 1120 kWh in 10 weeks, which would be sensationally low.
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