Tuesday, December 30, 2008

ridgelines 2.08






Deadfall  is gathered
then stacked near the road,
a circle of roundness grows
as the wood  rests, dryly braced 
waiting for the splitter's wedge.


We are gathering wood from the land ready for splitting, some for the house fire over winter, but also to fire the small kiln. Our land has mostly black wattle, peppermint and blue gum and we use it all in various ways - if not as fuel in the kiln then the ash from the house fires is slaked, sieved and dried as a glaze ingredient. In the new year it will be dolerite, fat sand, sandstone and ochre that we gather as slowly the materials are prepared for the autumn firing.