Thoreau once wrote that wood warmed him twice: first when he chopped it, and again when he sat by the fire. Well, either Thoreau was being terse or he had it a lot easier than me. I’ve found that wood warms me six times: hauling it 300 metres by shoulder, sawing it, chopping it, stacking it, sitting next to it as it burns and, finally, by eating the food that it cooks for me. We’re prone to forget that, first and foremost, we’re heated from the inside. The Blasket Islanders understood this. Not only did they eat well – very well by today’s standards – their food would have warmed their bones
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