Yesterday we stacked almost a cord of freshly cut and split hardwood.

I had read in a homesteading book that it makes no difference whether stacked wood is covered from the weather, or just left stacked to air out without a cover.

That’s wrong. We have three wood stacks – that which was split in 2015, split in 2016, and now in 2017. The 2015 stack was covered across the top with a tarp and is in great shape: dry, and burns very well. The 2016 I left uncovered. Autumn leaves have blown in and rotted in the fall rains, and started to rot the wood. Lots of mushrooms growing on the wood, along with decomposed bark and leaves, and wet wood.

So, after unstacking, cleaning out the debris, and restacking, I think it will get a tarp just like the rest of the wood.