In Venezuela we call it BAJAREQUE (BA-HA-RE-KE) AND and it´s traditional. My father was born in a house made with this method. We have, in the country, construtions made like this from the colony times. It needs to be mantained with lime to last this long.
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Ha! Ha! By now some are moaning and groaning at this Wood Supply topic seeming diversion into something else.
I think not.
This is because of my personal values judgment system. Here:
BY Who? FOR Who? DONE by Who? Decided by Who? (in proper english some of these who’s should be whom’s - no matter)
By Who means just where is/are the inputs/supplies coming from.
For Who, mean who is/are the actual users of the “Done”.
Done by Who, means who is doing the actual sweating/paying (value-added-labors) to get the inputs/supplies into useable Done’s.
And Decided by Who; means who will be the dictating Ceasars you must satisfy, buy-off, and/or evade who will demand to micro-manage, each, and every step.
Here where I live any site made building “bricks” would be denied as not meeting registered/certified safe-engineering specifications. The buildings code enforcers would demand this. The Masonry Union tradesmen would demand this. As for rammed walls cob-building . . . Ha! Forget about it!! Too many toes stepped onto.
Fuel wood suppling is the same here.
Who, and where was the base woods sourced? Was it five-ways looked at legal wood? Not State Forests wood? Not Federal lands wood? Not; no-permissions(written!), private properties, stolen wood? Harvest taxes paid? Harvest permits in order?
IF not for strictly personal-use: was the offered/sold fuel-use wood in true mandated legal measures? Cord measures here. Not just a simple 132 cubic feet either. Nope. A measurable, in lineal feet, tight stacked, rowed up on demand, verifiable. Kinnda leaves out chunked and fuel chipped wood, eh?
Was the wood offered in true conditions? If offered as seasoned then truly at least one-year dry cured? If offered as clean-wood, then absolutely NO-bark, NO-rot or pitch pockets. Otherwise - false advertising. False offering.
So you can see my value system I adult evolved to reconcile my rejection of my childhood fundamentalist religious up-bringing (you will always Fail to be good enough, requiring you to twice week to open Church declare your Failings).
My value system is best applied by: DECIDED by Who, first and foremost!!
No sense exploring possibilities that will get you fined, courts tied up, and en-prisoned. Handcuffs hurt. Fines bleed away unrecoverable resources. And lawyers like expensive cars, and expensive educations for their children.
Just for trying to heat with what grows on-site, naturally. Tree woods, peat. Ha! "The black rock that burns) coal if you got it.
Put stood-on dirt to building/sheltering constructing.
Making and offering up refreshing lemonaid from your own lemon trees.
And this last - foods and beverages for others - one of the MOST Must-Do-Their-Way, regulated/licensed and taxed endeavor here. Offer up your own cows milk here. . . !!
I do not joke about any of this.
We had to hire a registered certified lumber grader man to be able to use out own trees grown and milled lumber to family cabin remodel back in 1999.
I’ve been forced by Sheriff’s enforced law-order to not be able to drink/use water out of our 60 year pre-exisitng water well. Hundreds of dollar’s every Summer since the year 2000 here now to vegetable garden and keep our yard and fruit tress drought season alive. MORE for Public water than I spend annually personally on bought out engines usages gasoline’s!
If I show wood stove visible smoke for more than 20 minutes in any 2 hour period ANY-one of my neighbors can call/report me to the Washington State Southwest Air Pollution Authority. A State Greens law since the early 1990’s.
Show ANY visible smoke from June 15 to the hard Fall rains during the All-Fires-Banned time, will have up to three agencies on your property with Cease-Now demands and fines. Laws since the early 1900’s. These ones are GOOD laws.
I just had a new, moved here, unaware neighbor wrested to the ground and handcuffed to ed-u-ma-cate him by the Sheriffs Tac-Team. Target shooting CAN, and has cause fires now with everything dead brown crunchy dry. Reported complained by our end-of-valley Crank neighbor. A retired State Enforcer. The guy who over the years has set at least 12 different Town, County and State agencies onto mine and my family’s asses to the cumulative tune of over $100,000. in costs now.
So I have often wondered to some of my actual extended bloods-Family, go-out-to-the-world missionaries, just why they insist to go impose their 1st world standards on those who are still able to live more open, honest, direct, earth connected, and able to-build-with dirt?
Who made you’all the Deciders of any-damn-thing?
tree-farmer Steve unruh
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Steve,
Thanks for helping us think more broadly about “wood supply.” Domination, especially by self-righteous do-gooders, is a particularly virulent form of evil. Colonialism, missionary activity and western aid money have caused inestimable harm to my friends and their forbears in Africa. Indigenous expressions of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the so-called third world are confronting vacuous cultural Christianity that uses guilt and shame as tools for manipulation. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. May liberty and kindness prevail.
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What Bruce said…
Abner, very cool indeed. Do you apply the lime directly on the rice bag. ? Is the bag plastic or canvas?
Agreed Steve, the goal of missions shouldn’t be the conversion of all people to modern American-ism. But I would like to see everyone be able to eat enough food and drink clean water, etc…
By the way, I think if I lived where you do, I would move. Folks still make fun of us for our “states rights rebel attitude” down here. But I’m sure glad we don’t have the kind of stuff you are writing about up there…
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Good morning Billy Alabama
I had to sleep on a response reasoning to why I/we remain here in Washington State.
Something more reasonable than just i/we were born here. Lived here for 3-5 generations now.
Mostly what I’ve been trying to point out to the strident, loud talking “there 'aught to be no-laws, less-restrictive laws . . . it just ain’t Right” wood-for-fuels complainers; or the “follow me/us to a better brighter future” woodgas/gasifiaction needs-to-go-mainstream promoters; is you WILL pay a personal price to your viewpoints. You will successfully ruffle feathers. You will become viewed as a sticking up nail needing hammering down to “Alles ist en ordining”.
There is a big diffidence between realistically assessing where you are and concluding that the 3-7% of those surrounding you who will knee-jerk-reaction actually kill you and your family for . . .
the color of your skin, eyes; texture of your hair
the religion you choose
the economic system you choose to believe is the right for the most
Versus just illogical, unreasonable, self-serving, regulations and laws.
If I was a jew I damn sure would have left continental western Europe in the late 1930’s. Left eastern Europe as many jews did in the previous 50 years before the 1930’s.
If I was an emancipated American black I would have damn sure left the deep south long before the 1940’s war plants employment out migration.
If I was a noticeable Asian/Indian(east or west)/Eskimo-American . . . gets much more tricky to decide. Go out into the center of white-land and blend-in? Go to pocket clusters of the looks the same as you?
My actual came-to America relatives came because of class locked-in social/economic stuck societies. They wanted change more rapidly than they were willing to settle for waiting back in the old countries. In America they could actually own their own land verses be a forever year by year renter. In America you could actually choose the wars and military service and NOT be “for the Queen”, “for the King”, by the Prince’s, Czar’s, Kaisers’s decree jerked out of your home, swep-up and impressed into the latest shed bloods declared righteousness. ( yeah. yeah. our American draft cycles came later!)
Patrick Johnson is wise to move himself and family when he can, while he can since he cannot change the color of their skins or perception of old-white-privileged to the 3-7% kill’em-all radicals.
South Africa will eventually evolve out past this. Like the American deep south has. The Ireland’s are. Lots to spilled bloods to get to accommodating.
Here Washington State, indeed many like minded to me have moved to Idaho, Montana, Alaska.
But old man on the mountain me, I enjoy snooty noses tweaking. Punching holes in illogical balloons and windbags. Being the Roman conquers designated slave-adviser ear whispering, “No matter what the crowd may proclaim; you are-not-high&mighty&and a god. But mortal. A man.”
Regards
tree-farmer Steve Unruh
The handcuffs only hurt if the applier wants to make a point, or you resist-resist-resist. The smart hooked fish swims into the line, under the boat and fouls up the fisherman laughing swimming away self-freed.
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I hear ya Steve. Sounds like why we left Florida (my birthplace) 30 years ago.
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Summer was so dry there was even a chainsaw ban in the woods. Better now.
This area was cut clear by heavy equipment during winter. Lots of leftovers for the the little Fergie.
Tried a selfie with so-so result 
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Hi All
Our drought-break “Fall” (autum) rains are beginning.
Every year it seems; One Hundred Days of Summer spoiled I always have too much left out getting wettened.
Most; like the woven knotted cotton hammock and lawn chair plush cushions will still get sunny break times dried back out for seasonal storages.
NOT any still out, cut up fuel wood! It absorbs like a sponge and without anymore 90F days, or even some years anymore 80F full sunny days it will just get more and more rain moisturizes heavy.
Ha! Four JD/Yanmar tractor loads of wood in a day working my ass off to literally hunched over dragging last Friday to beat the upcoming long drizzle rain. 88F, too hot and sweating sunny, to start; ending with sudden marine air and clouds in, 60F, and rain.
One spread out, cut up, wood load short! Be next years fuel wood now . . . .maybe . . . the carpenter ants are already finding this too long on the ground laying wood, nesty, tasty now.
The very best thing I did two years ago was to give up on the stupid strandy woven blue/green fused tarps that only last 2-3 years here, and go-buy a 30 foot by 120 foot roll of 6 mil thick black visqueen/poly. My previous black-poly was b-i-l donated from a whole house fumigation and painting project. Had lasted ok/useable for ~10 years - torn holes and all before going brittle.
The 30x120, I cut up into four 30’x30’ squares. The commercial harvest tree butts cuts offs, and tops piles at first high only barely to the edges covered. Each year as these have cut-up size shrank, I have more and more plastic sheet apron’ed out rain diverting.
Yep.Yep. Really have to wood-chunks and limbs “batten-down” the plastic tarp edges for wind billowing lifting.
Every year re-doing invariably it takes me one-two wind events, lifted pealed back to get it storm-proof, over-winter, right again.
Cursing the wood wettings discovered the next morning.
Any non-raining period now I can just peal back one pile plastic covered end and work up more fuel wood in wonderful cool 40F to 50F temperatures.
Sigh. Aged now I do not do full hot sun sweating work well anymore. I really miss my rich, dark drink-warm, craft-beer-coolants I had to give up due to medications.
tree-farmer Steve unruh
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Steve do watch out for that hot weather. I have passed out before it is never fun. Sounds like your getting a good start on the wood supply. I need to get to work on my winter wood I have one more push to get my second cutting of hay first then I can probably look forward to another winter of splitting wood in the snow… seems life keeps us busy all the time.
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2 years ago my neighbor cut down 6 large cottonwoods (3 to 4’ Bhd) and I processed it all into firewood, built a 24 X 12 metal roof cover for 3/4ths of it and used a silver HF tarp to cover a 2nd 10 X 15 pile.
I found that the HF tarps can go about 2 years depending on wind events.
Still working on that firewood since winters have been mild
This past weekend I processed over 40 5 gallon pails of wood chunks into my drying bins.
PUFF PUFF at 71 YO.
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I know exactly what you mean. Getting old is not for wimps.
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The lumberjack of the future,small scale operation.I do not have affiliation with this company but I find that it is very interesting from the point of view of the human ingenuity.
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My wood pile. I think I have about four tons here. People have given me all this, and in most cases even hauled it to my back yard. I had to split the bigger chunks with a hammer and wedges. Some of it is green ash. This has me thinking that maybe I could build a makeshift mill and saw some of it for a hardwood floor and and ballusters.
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Well if you make a mill you can saw instead of split. But don’t waste your time with a chainsaw mill. I did that way too much work for the results.
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I have often thought a log trailer like that would be handy especially with my pasquali tractor to haul it through the woods.
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The wife and I just chunked a load of wood . Have wood will travel !
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Wayne you put me to shame I feel like your getting more done that I do. Great job on the wood I really enjoy seeing people break their dependence on corporations.
Well I better get back to work myself.
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Did you use a special chain for ripping?