We recently had the branches lopped off of a hazel tree in our garden that was blocking the light and spreading its multitudinous leaves everywhere all the time, and it just seems like too good an opportunity to not use the wood that has been left behind, so I’ve been stripping all the brash off to turn into little bundles to be kindling for our fires, especially in the fire pit.

They look like creepy little creatures, so I specifically made one with little limbs and a head on an elongated neck. Hopefully we won’t see him crawl out of the fire seeking vengeance.

The slightly thicker sections of the harvested wood might end up as Hogwartsian wands, the larger bits as walking sticks, and the chunkier sections I’ll chop into blocks and use them for whittling and carving.

I feel like it has the potential to be a dreadful act, to dismember a tree in this way, but using the wood seems like a fitting return of respect to the tree, a transfer of its life, and hopefully may avert any bad luck that the tree might wish upon us.