Woods on Weekends : Countryside life and livelihood.

If asked what are the good thing about living in the countryside, the common answers would be; close to nature, peaceful and relaxed living, away from noise and air pollution, and access to outdoor activities like fishing, camping, hunting, and more, and the list goes on. These beautiful reasons for living in the countryside are what attract people in the urban to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and indulge themselves (once in a while) in the simple and healthy living the countryside offers.

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However, aside from the abovementioned irresistible charms of the countryside, for us country folks one of the most valuable and practical reasons that make living in the countryside the best is the cost of living and availability (24/7) of livelihood provided by nature. The countryside offers numerous means of earning income just as fishing and selling it to the neighborhood or in the market, planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables, weaving baskets made of bamboo or rattan and so many things to mention.

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So in today's blog, I'm sharing with you our "province-life", one of the simplest means of livelihood in the countryside which my brother and I enjoyed doing last weekend, and that is gathering and tying firewood to be sold in the neighborhood.

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Gathering woods.

It's the time of the year again that my brother harvested some matured and grown branches of the trees suited for firewood. It's not every time that we can do this or every month because we have to wait for new branches of trees to grow. Cutting off branches is a lot easier than cutting whole trees because aside from that cutting the whole trees is illegal, it's cumbersome to carry it from the mountain going to the lowlands. Moreover, pruning will let the trees live and grow more branches, in this way, we could still protect mother earth and at the same time benefit from it.

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Chopping the woods.

After the woods were transported to the lowlands, it was time to split and chop them into a uniform size. It should be uniform in length because these are sold in the neighborhood.

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In the countryside, we used the traditional way of cooking which is using Kalan (our version of stove) and firewood. As for my family, we used both the Kalan (traditional) and Gas Stoves (during the rainy season). So now that the rainy season is approaching, people are storing firewood in their barns, which means selling firewood is in high demand at this time.

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Drying and grouping the woods.

After chopping the wood into pieces it's time to dry them out under the blazing heat of the sun. The woods are also grouped according to the type of their cut. We separate the round woods from half-cut woods. And once the woods are dry it's time to proceed to the last step which is the tying of the firewood together.

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Tie them down.

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The whole process of making firewood requires strength, starting from cutting the branches, and transporting them to breaking them into pieces requires muscle force and ample time to do. My brother was working on this for a couple of weekends now. He couldn't continue the job on weekdays as he is having his review for his licensure exam.

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Thus, just last weekend when I had no outdoor plans and travel, I volunteered to help him on tying the firewood. I've tried tying this way back when I was a teenager every time our father gathered firewood to sell. Tying doesn't need much force but instead, it requires skill in calculating hence you need to bundle the firewood with the same quantity without counting them one by one.

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I was happy doing the work and felt fulfilled that I was able to do this task again and help my brother with his small means of earning money. The earnings he will get from this firewood will be spent as his daily allowance going to the review center. I was able to help him at the same had our sibling bonding over the woods. 😊
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My weekend had been productive and fulfilling. 😍

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That's it for my woods on weekend experience. Thank you so much for reading. I wish you all safe and well always.

Don't forget to smile often!😍🤗

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Nice man ang traditional way of cooking kay makatipid ta pero kung walay patience kay nah saput gyud paingnan labi nag dugay mosiga. 😁

Makamingaw sad ni nga way.

hahaha. True Maam, labi nag basa pa slight ang kahoy, haha, hurot atung hangin ug tinayhop.😂😂😂

Firewoods were very sellable. It's nice to know that this is your brother' business. Good luck for his incoming exam. God bless

You're right Maam Cha. In fact, some of our neighbors already have their reservations and pay in advance for the firewood!

Wow,good to hear that mam. Very supportive neighbors

It was not an easy task to do but you and your brother are doing the task so easily with so much strength. It's a pleasure knowing that someone is doing that to have his allowance going to the review center. Good job!.

That's the reason why I also help my brother, I was impressed by his initiative. We had fun even though naglabaw akong tabi.

Country life offers the availability of food of different varieties if one is into farming wildly though - even after moving to the city, my dad made sure that he got plots of land to farm knowing it's benefits. Thanks for sharing💕

Wow, That's amazing to hear! It's wonderful that your dad loves and values farming even after moving to the city. He must be missing the countryside life.😊

He actually did. I guess that is why he never missed a week visiting home at the time.

Same samin dati. Nagbebenta kasi si mama panggatong sa tindahan. Pero now, pang gamit na lang sa bahay kung walang gas hehe

Tipid sa pang Gas pag may panggatong, lalo na't my malaking handaan like fiesta and bdays. hehe

True .. Kaya outdoor kitchen is a must to have hehe

Kanindot og bonding sa siblings. Hehe Quality time, productive day plus naa pay income. My Mama would always prefer cooking using woods kay mas lami daw. Hehe

Wow!hehe. I didn't know you got this very humble side Ma'am Smile.. This ordinary way of living of the people in the country shows how dignified and good people they are!Like you and your brother☺️

Medyo nabunutan ako ng tinik nung nabasa ko na branches lang ng trees ang pinuputol nyo and not the whole tree hihi. With the current climate crisis, chopping a whole tree will worsen the problem.

Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this blog. Parang in the province as long as you're hard-working you can generate income 'no? Almost all of the resources you need to live are already present in the environment.

!PIZZA

PIZZA!

$PIZZA slices delivered:
@cli4d(1/5) tipped @callmesmile

Akong mama mam mamalit ug kahoy para e resell. Hehe
Kugi gyud Ang USA sa bunga Aron di mapasmo.☺️
But I didn't expect kamao ka mubangan and all. Haha