Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Friday, April 11, 2025

A Beautiful Fire

If you want a beautiful fire, you need beautiful wood.

I absolutely have that—in the form of Western Juniper. I’ve been thinning out a few dead junipers on my property and, in the process, converting some of the larger trunks and branches into lengths of firewood to feed my woodstove next winter. When split, the lengths are both colorful and decidedly aromatic

Western Juniper is equally beautiful in survival. It thrives in the arid regions of the western United States. Some trees are over a thousand years old, their trunks twisted and gnarled by centuries of wind and weather. The wood of juniper is rot-resistant and fragrant, making it valuable for fence posts, furniture, and even incense. For me, it will make a beautiful, warming fire.

Split Lengths of Juniper

Grain Detail

A Western Juniper at the Back of My House

—Mitchell Hegman

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