7 Uncle Asa by Mitch Best

When I was a teenager, I would go with my Uncle Asa out to the woods and get firewood.

The first of many challenges was waking up so early on the weekends. I was so used to sleeping in, that rising early was a struggle. You would think coffee would help, but getting used to Asa’s strongly brewed coffee was an acquired taste.

The next challenge was how far up the side of a mountain we had to hike to find the perfect, dry, dead tree ready to be harvested. Asa always knew the best spots to get Tamarack or Red Fur, the best kinds of wood to burn in a stove. The hiking part wasn’t so bad. I was in pretty good shape, but let me tell you, Asa was a machine at 55 years old and made me look like a clumsy, out-of-shape rookie trying to keep up.

When the best tree was located, my Uncle Asa would drop it. It was fascinating to watch him work a chainsaw. He definitely knew his way around the trunk of a tree and how to make it fall exactly where he wanted it. Next, he would cut the tree into rounds. That’s when my job started. I would roll these rounds down the mountain to the truck, hike back up, get the next one, and repeat. Some people would also chop the rounds into quarters and stack the bed of their trucks that way, but Asa discovered that if you left the tree in rounds, you could carry more per load.

After one or two trips in a day, we would unload the wood into the yard, get mauls, and proceed to chop all the rounds and stack them into cords. A cord of wood is 4’ x 4’ x 8’–four feet wide, four feet tall and eight feet long. A cord of wood, depending on the type, would sell anywhere from $250 to $400 a cord.

At the end of the day, I would reflect on how accomplished I felt from the hard work. I would reminisce about the smell of freshly cut wood and the peace I found out in the wilderness.

My uncle passed away a few summers later, but every time I find myself out in the woods, especially if I am gathering firewood while camping, I have these fond memories of him and our summers spent in the forest together. I wonder if this is something I will ever get to do again, maybe with my nephew in a few years if so.