It was suggested at a meeting, as things often are, that we should build a Holz Hausen. The idea stemmed from a conversation about the weather. Not that our meetings often talk about the weather, but this one did throw the topic up for reasons I cannot honestly remember. What I do recall though, is the story that preceded the suggestion of a Holz Hausen wānanga.

A member of the Collective had been talking to a neighbor. The Neighbor had heard, via the local grapevine, of people within the community who had fallen on hard times. So hard that they could not afford to buy the firewood necessary to light the fire that heated their home. ‘It would be great’, said Trevor, ‘if we could help out in some way’. And so the’ Firewood Collection Project’, with the addition of a lesson on how to build a Holz Hausen, was born.

It should be said, at this point, that Trevor and his wife like to collect firewood. More importantly, if you visit their home you will find gracing their back garden a rather large wood pile. Not your run of the mill ‘chuck it in a heap’ pile. And not your ‘stacked against the wall attracting bugs into the house pile’ either. No, at this household they have a Holz Hausen. Or as another member called them ‘a Pretty Wood Pile’.

Many of us had never seen a pretty wood pile. Obviously, we hail from the ‘chuck it in a heap’ firewood brigade. We were intrigued. Trevor was ecstatic. He is a teacher so the idea of guiding members of Awhi Tu Collective in the creation of Holz Hausen was right up his alley.

How To Build Holz Hausen?

A square of black tarpaulin placed as a ground sheet was the first step in creating our wood stack. There are essentially three parts to a Holz Hausen. The middle, the outer layer and the roof. The middle was where we put all the pieces of wood that were small, unsplit or weirdly shaped.

The outer layer is the major portion and requires placing the wood more purposefully. Apart from making a circle we also had to build layers. Each layer has to be as flat as possible with as few gaps as possible. The end result is an even and stable build.

The last part of the Holz Hausen is the roof. Our expert tutor explained that a correctly built roof means that water runs off the structure so that all the firewood beneath stays dry.

We are all very impressed with the result of the Firewood Collection project. Not just with the Holz Hausen we managed to construct, but also the fact that this project showed us how well we can all work together. Being our first project out the gate as an official Charitable Trust, this is a good sign for the future we think.

Things We Learned About Firewood

There are also a few other things we learned through this project. Firstly, the timing of firewood collection should probably be earlier in the year than we did it, to give the wood time to season. This, our firewood experts assured us, was essential for proper firewood burning.

The second lesson was that chopping trees for firewood is a time consuming process. This project required two days. One day to cut the tree into rounds and logs that were transported to the wood processing location. And a second day for us to split and stack the wood.

On our first tree cutting day we had two dudes on chainsaws while the rest of us loaded trailers and tractor buckets. We cunningly combined the second day of our firewood collection process with our AGM. Given we were all going to be there anyway, why not get our hands dirty and earn our Collective lunch.

We also found two wood splitters, two vehicles towing trailers and one guy on a chainsaw worked perfectly for that day. Gloves and safety goggles were also essential, along with the ability to back a trailer.

Assisting the Community

The point of this exercise was to provide firewood to those of the community who needed it. But how do we offer this assistance without stepping on the mana or personal honour of those people? We grappled with that question. The answer, it turns out, was easy.

Firewood collecting is a necessary rural activity. So, as with most events in the country, the only thing required is an invitation to participate. ‘A mate is cutting down a couple of trees this weekend. If you want some firewood, come along’. That type of thing.

A member of the community, upon hearing about our plans, donated his old, currently unused but still perfectly functional, wood splitter to Awhi Tu Collective for use in our future firewood collecting, Holz Hausen building ventures. We are extremely grateful to him. We will put the date for that activity on our Upcoming Events page. Hopefully, we will see you there.

Nga mihi