10 Comments
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Matt Smythe's avatar

Stunning essay, bud.

Lily Cutler's avatar

Oh lord, am I thankful for this!

Johnny Carrol Sain's avatar

And I am thankful for your kind words, Lily!

Fontinalis Rising's avatar

I always feel like we’re brothers who haven’t met. My family hails from the Ozarks of Arkansas. At age 8 it became my job to split and stack wood on the porch each day, though I grew up in the deep snows of Northern Michigan. Excellent work man.

Johnny Carrol Sain's avatar

Thanks!

And we’ll have to remedy that whole haven’t met thing someday.

Tom Sadler's avatar

A better ode to wood splitting has yet to be written. Mighty fine my friend, mighty fine.

Dan Lory's avatar

I spend long hours splitting for my son's wood-fired pottery kiln. I find it hard to explain why I actually look forward to the splitting. A mountain of wood waiting to be split is just plain irresistible. Thanks for putting my thoughts and feelings into words.

Rex Robbins's avatar

Great article! It reminded me of my Dad. He never went to any gym either. He was tough as nails. For nearly all of his later years, he kept my Mom warm with a wood-fired hearth using mostly red oak that had already died on his neighbor's property. He noticed something was wrong with the red oak trees long before I heard any biologist talk about it.