I love chopping wood. I had a wood-burning stove installed in my fireplace a few years ago and it is really efficient at heating the house in the winter, but the delightful, cozy, “Hygge” feeling of a wood fire in the winter is only a small part of what I like about chopping wood. The whole process is satisfying across all the senses. As you can see from the pictures below, each type of wood has a unique appearance and (you can’t tell this from the pictures, but trust me it’s true) smell and texture. On top of that, it is very satisfying to drive a maul or an axe through the wood. I don’t ever take down lives trees. I live on 3 acres so I can sometimes find trees that have fallen from storms or disease on my property, and if I don’t have any of those I don’t have to go far in my neighborhood to find ones. This year we had a couple of serious storms that brought down a lot of trees. Also, most of the time land is cleared to build houses, or clear under power lines, good firewood is left on the ground to rot and people usually let me come with a chainsaw and trailer to remove it.
It’s important to “season” wood after it has been split. This is because most wood is quite green and wet when it is first split and it doesn’t burn well or at all in that state. But I have seen articles that say “all wood needs to be seasoned for 9 months minimum” or something to that effect, and while it is true that green wood doesn’t burn well, not all wood needs to be seasoned in the same way. Some wood, like cedar for example, is naturally dry and flammable and does not need 9 months of seasoning. It may have a lot of “pitch,” which will require more frequent chimney sweeping, but that is a separate issue. And some wood (at least the wood I collect) will already have been dead for years. I cut up a standing dead oak tree on my property a few years ago that was ready to burn immediately.
Now here is where this relates to summer camp: I don’t like articles that say “all kids need to (fill in the blank)” or “it will work for all kids if you (fill in the blank).” Kids are different. An activity that is amazing for one kid may bore another to tears, or frighten another one badly. There are two key components of Camp Regis that really work for kids, I think. The first is that we have a huge variety of activities, so kids get to try out things they may not have tried and if there is something they don’t care for, they can do something else. The second is that we are relatively small so we know each child as an individual and work to find specifically what works for them. We don’t want a factory approach where there are hundreds of kids coming in and out each week. That may work for some places, but that’s not our approach. Each child is a unique individual and we want to help each child have an experience that will have a long-term positive impact on his or her life.