The Hardwood Blooms of Spring

Every day I walk a few miles in the neighborhoods of my town. These days, more and more houses are sporting a sure sign of spring: cords of firewood, neatly stacked and beautifully arranged as if by a sculptor. No sooner do we get through one winter than we get ready for the next. The sight of wood, seasoning in the open, or under the cover of a roof or a plastic canopy, is as comforting to us who live in country towns as anything I know.

I don’t know what can give an urbanite a similar surge of comfort. A bank statement? A reserved parking space? I have no clue, but this past weekend I spent a warm May day happily stacking my first cord and half. I admit I’m not the artisan I wish I were. I actually have woodpile envy. I see neighbors whose stacks look as if they could withstand a hurricane. They must have played much longer with Lincoln Logs than I did.

I start off wanting my wood to look beautiful and tight — but after an hour or so, I lose a bit of patience, and instead of fitting the perfect piece into just the right opening, I reason that in six months I’ll just be toting the wood upstairs straight to the stove. So I go more for the modern-art look: a bit helter-skelter, hoping my neighbors will admire the fine chunks of oak and maple and cherrywood I’ve acquired, rather than the design.

This is my first spring in my old house by the river that I’ve bought with Annie, so it’s the first woodpile my neighbors will have a chance to observe and from which get a reading on me I imagine. On my walk today, I saw a woodpile at the top of a nearby hill where the woodpile architect had fitted his split logs in a fashion I hadn’t thought of. My next cords will arrive soon. I’ll shamelessly model my next stack on my neighbor’s. I hope my patience matches my desire.

Mel Allen

Now editor at large, Mel Allen's first byline in Yankee appeared in 1977 and he joined the staff in 1979 as a senior editor. Eventually he became executive editor and led the staff as editor from 2006 to 2025. During his career he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel, while his pursuit of long-form storytelling has always been vital to his mission as well. He has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, profiled astronaut Alan Shephard, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. He also once helped author Stephen King round up his pigs for market, but that story is for another day. Mel is author of Here in New England: Unforgettable Stories of People, Places, and Memories That Connect Us All (Earth Sky + Water LLC, 2025).

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