Workout at the "bio-fuel gym"

Essential tool - logging tongs for dragging and lifting

I collect my logs at  the Forestry Commission firewood depot, up to this point they are mechanically handled; a machine cuts tree off at its base, cuts it to size and drops in behind. A skidder ( big tractor with a grab) picks it up and moves it to the roadside where its collected by a lorry with a grab.






The  ten stage"bio-fuel  workout" is as follows:

1. Drag the log off the heap with logging tongs and into the trailer I load 70 logs which roughly equates to 1500 kg. 
2. At home drag the logs out of the trailer and stack neatly in the shed.
3. Lift logs on to the saw horse and cut to size 30 - 40 cm.
4. Throw logs into a heap
5. Pick up logs by hand for splitting with a maul or hydraulic splitter.
6. Throw split logs into another heap.
7. Pick up split logs throw into a wheelbarrow and trundle off to the woodshed
8. Throw or stack logs into woodshed for curing ( 6 months)
9. Put dry logs (20% moisture) into basket and carry to kitchen.
10. Pick logs out of basket to feed the beast (Rayburn solid fuel stove) that does my heating, hot water and cooking in winter ( 8 months) then wood burning stove in the evenings during summer, immersion heater for hot water and baby Belling for cooking.

I bend down and pick up 1500 kg of wood, of ever decreasing size and weight ten times. Think of each step in the process as a workout, a total lift of 15 tonnes over a period of about  12 hours for each load. Heating, hot water and cooking need eight loads, 12 tonnes a year but 120 tonnes lifted!

The annual total of gym equivalent hours is 96, almost two hours a week.

I don't have to pay for gym membership or Lycra clothing which in any case is totally banned and ridiculed by Dormouse if worn by any male of any age.  Therefore I could deduct £300 per annum gym membership from the cost of logs and haulage according to my own logic and economic theory.