Thirteen Degrees

I grew up in North Sydney in a house with a  beautiful, decorative fireplace that was capable of burning wood, was made of brick and fireclay, but was only used during Christmas time.  Our main source of heat was electric heaters.

I'm my adult life, most units I lived in used oil. Some had electric heaters but they were so expensive and cold, being in an oil fuelled home was like winning a lottery of sorts, until the bill came or you ran out of oil.  

When my kids and I moved into an old farmhouse with a wood/oil furnace combo it became obvious that despite the extra work, the wood gave more heat and was cheaper. Plus, you weren't limited by a $300 minimum fill up requirement.

Had I grown up in Newfoundland, I would have known about storing wood for a year in a dry place before burning it. I would have gone along with my family into the woods on skidoo to cut some green to add with the seasoned wood to make it last longer in the wood stove.  

Had I grown up in Newfoundland, I would have learned that different trees give off different levels of heat.  That some are harder to light a fire with but burn longer once they catch.  I would have taken this knowledge for granted and assumed every Canadian understood these things.

Back to me, as a Nova Scotian in my old farmhouse, waiting for the wood furnace to spontaneously ignite by adjusting the thermostat...It wasn't just me, either; I had wood delivered to me, cut the day before. It was horrible to ignite and gave off little heat, because it was green wood. But nobody I knew realized there was even a difference between aged and green wood. Wood was wood.  Oil was oil. Some people were pouring fish oil and kerosene combinations into their oil tanks. What did we know? 

It's interesting how societies that become severed from the seasons lose integral survival knowledge. If you've been fortunate to never go to sleep cold or hungry perhaps it doesn't matter to you, but given today's economy in Canada, I think people should be looking closely at how Newfoundlanders do things. Because they are truly connected with the seasons,the weather, the land and the water.