As the air turns chilly and night is more reluctant to let go, many in Wyoming turn to old traditions to prepare for the colder, snowier winter Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day has forecast.
For Longmire author and Johnson County resident Craig Johnson, this time of year brings the much-anticipated “Wood Week.”
What began as a need for just a few cords of wood to put down for winter has turned into a celebration of a chore that goes back to the discovery of fire.
The lure of Rainier beer on a crisp fall day, with the added promise of good times, brings in Johnson’s faithful Wood Week crew.
Johnson lives the rural Wyoming lifestyle he writes about in his novels that feature Sheriff Walt Longmire, a tough but thoughtful lawman in the fictional Absaroka County of Wyoming.
This New York best-selling author based his imaginary community on the very real town of Buffalo and Johnson County where he calls home.
It Has To Be Rainier
Wood Week is now more than just putting up cords of fuel for winter, it’s a work party with lots of liquid motivation and pushing the limits of stacking the split logs.
Rainier Beer pops up throughout the Longmire series and has become more than just a cool libation. It represents friendship and the Western way of life. It’s a nod to Wyoming’s working-class culture and now, everywhere Johnson goes, Rainier Beer has a way to find him.
That’s why it is an important part of Wood Week.
“We usually print up T-shirts for everybody, and this year’s saying was ‘Absaroka County Inmate Work Crew,’” Johnson told Cowboy State Daily, sharing a photo of his work crew saluting their Rainiers. “I’d have a few friends stop by on weekends and help out.
“Pretty soon it turned into a week-long party, and now it's a kind of low-key festival out here at the ranch with folks flying in from all over the country. We go through a lot of wood, but we go through a pretty good amount of beer, too.”
Johnson has made sure that although the crew comes for hard work, it will be good times as well.
The wood has weathered for a year and is ready to be cut and stacked.
“I always have the collecting and blocking done by the time the crew shows up, which streamlines the work,” Johnson said. “I’ve got a hydraulic splitter that some old rancher out on the Powder River welded together back in the ’70s with a Milwaukee V4 and an I-beam for a ram, so we can pretty much split anything.”
Johnson admits the work, like any hard labor, can be dangerous and the right equipment is important, or so his wife tells him.
“I’ve got a lucky pair of boots,” Johnson said. “There was one time I slipped with the chainsaw, and it ripped down the side of one of my shoes and I thought that maybe I should get a pair of steel-toed, logging boots. So I came in and was looking at them on-line and complaining about how expensive they were and my wife, Judy said, ‘So are toes.’”
Wood Week on Craig Johnson's ranch is a lot of hard work, but it's also fun and lubricated with lots of Rainier Beer (and maybe a touch of something stronger). (Courtesy Craig Johnson) 
It's no secret that Longmire author Craig Johnson is a fan of Rainier Beer. (Courtesy Craig Johnson) 
Wood Week on Craig Johnson's ranch is a lot of hard work, but it's also fun and lubricated with lots of Rainier Beer (and maybe a touch of something stronger). (Courtesy Craig Johnson) 
Wood Week on Craig Johnson's ranch is a lot of hard work, but it's also fun and lubricated with lots of Rainier Beer (and maybe a touch of something stronger). (Courtesy Craig Johnson) 
Wood Week on Craig Johnson's ranch is a lot of hard work, but it's also fun and lubricated with lots of Rainier Beer (and maybe a touch of something stronger). (Courtesy Craig Johnson)
Wood Heat Is Real Heat
When Johnson first moved into his rural Wyoming home, he thought that wood heat might be a good back-up to have in case of an emergency.
Over time, he discovered the beauty of this ancient tradition.
“When I built my ranch myself more than a quarter of a century ago out here in Ucross, population 26, I figured there’d be times that the power might go out, so I installed an ancillary heat source in every part of the house,” Johnson said. “Along with radiant floor and forced-air heating, I’ve got wood-burning stoves and fireplaces all over the place.
“Well, I rapidly came to the conclusion that I not only needed, but enjoyed, having a real fire.”
He's not alone with this sentiment.
Terri Geissinger, a seventh-generation Wyomingite and descendant of sheep queen Lucy Morrison, is another fan of real fire and explained why her family is keeping this tradition alive.
“Another type of heat doesn’t seem real,” Geissinger said. “It just kind of oozes out where wood heat is alive, and you're very connected to it. It needs to be nourished, it needs to be taken care of, and it just becomes something that almost becomes as natural as making dinner.”
The Hard Work Of Tradition
“I started going through about eight cords of wood a year, but then I added onto my house, built the guest cabin and even bought another cabin up on the mountain and started needing more firewood,” Johnson said, explaining the need for his wood week festival. “Nowadays, I’d say I go through a good 12 cords of wood a year, and that’s a bit of labor, but it’s fun and satisfying work.”
The beauty of wood burning in Wyoming goes beyond collecting, splitting and stacking. It’s also about spending time with family and friends outdoors as participants keep the old tradition alive.
“It's kind of a challenge, and it's a great workout,” Geissinger agreed. “It's a great way to spend the day like your grandparents did. There’s nothing like it. It just smells so good, and it's something that you're benefiting from with like your time out in the forest, which is always a blessing.”
In Wyoming, you can get a permit from the U.S. Forest Service and head to the mountains to help collect deadfall littering the forest floor.
“The old saying is that ‘it warms you twice, once when you cut it and second when you burn it,’ but whoever said that could’ve added a few more rounds,” Johnson said. “First, there’s the searching and tagging dead stand or fallen logs up in the mountains, then blocking or cutting them to length, then there’s the splitting and stacking. I think it’s more like it warms you four times.”
The Reward Of Winter Heat
“There’s a quality to wood burning that other heat sources can’t really compete with — the physical warmth, the smell, it’s just kind of magical,” Johnson said. “Whenever I’d send paperwork or Longmire manuscripts back to my publisher in New York, they’d always remark on how great they smelled from the wood smoke.”
“It's keeping up with the old days,” Geissinger said about the joys of cooking on her wood stove. “There are some things that just don't grow old. There are some traditions that should never go away. And heat is a survival.”
Both Geissinger and Johnson agree that preparation for wood burning is crucial. And beer never hurts the process.
“Other than taking good care of your saws, splitter and axes,” Johnson said, “just watch those fingers and toes!”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
