The last day of July after a heatwave that has lasted almost 6 weeks and the temperatures today are once again in the mid thirties but already it is the time of year to start to think about the coming winter.
And this year with Putins hand on the gas tap of a good part of Europe, its probably going to be a difficult winter season.
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Wood pellets are already scarce on the ground and their price is rising fast.
Maybe people will have to think seriously about returning to older methods of heating their homes.
So just what is this local tradition that says this time of year people should be sweating it out loading up their firewood ?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to do it in a cooler time of the year ?
Well, yes on the surface it would seem a bit more logical to wait a month or so but once you dig down into the reasons why it’s done this time of year it becomes a bit more obvious.
Although agriculture now takes a far smaller position in the culture of this area, once upon a time it was paramount.
Bringing in the wood and stacking it at this time of year fits in very neatly between the two other labour intensive moments that once dominated the summer months – the cutting, drying and bringing in of grass to be used as fodder for the animals during the winter months and grape picking – the vendemmia season which will be upon us shortly.
