We had friend's around for dinner last night and it was a very enjoyable time with lots of talk and great ideas, plus of course great food. We talked language and accents, pack horses, graphic design and tramping - all sorts as we sat around he fire that is was feeding with various woods harvested from my forest garden when Vince whipped out this collection of woody verses:
Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire with elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold.
Birch and fir logs burn too fast,
Blaze up bright and do not last,
It is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
Keep away the winter's cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.
We finished the evening with a little cider-sampling and one of my demijohns was declared palatable ('smells sweet but tastes very dry'). The others remain a plentiful source of cider vinegar.
5 comments:
A fine verse indeed, Rg, and one to remember, as we too sat in front of a roaring wood fire with friends, wine - mulled last night - and pondered the issues of mutual interest.
And speaking of wood I basked in the warmth of the Stags win over the red and blacks to return the log o' wood to Southland.
I told you that young Jamie is a fearsome lad - and he did it without the need of his kilt!
Lad! Jamie's a mountain! but fearsome yes Another fine result fredinthegrass.
That mulled wine can have a residual effect that makes firewood gathering the next day a heavier task than it otherwise might be, but these are the sacrifices we make for the sake of comunity and conviviality.
The firewood is all in the shed, Rg, for at this time of year that still outdoors must wait on drier climes.
We have "enjoyed" some one hundred and fifty mm in July - our wettest month this year.
Even the densest of woods is unable to shed that amount of rain . However plans are afoot for the source of next winters warmth!!
I forgot to share with you a change in the making of the mulled wine. My lovely wife and companion is unable to drink red wine and has been missing that loveliest of winter warmers.
At the suggestion of our guests last night they made, and brought, the base. We duly heated this and then added white for she, and red for them and me!
The result was a great success. Taken in moderation we can fully appreciate the 'blue-dome' sky we have today.
A mulled white! Well I never!
Did you plunge a red-hot poker in it to bring it to temperature? I've never done that but will, now that I have both fire and poker. Mead too. I've branches stacked vertically in the woodlot that are dry as bones or at least burn that way. I head out with my saw and come back with an armload for the night. Burns like tinder :-) It's been warm and relatively dry down here. Today was glorious. Spent most of it in an orchard, grubbing grass away from trunks. Did a trad midday meal of chunks of cheese and bread and a bottle of cider. After lunch, my work-rate was variable and I had periods of deep introspection (where the mattock swung idle).
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