I was chatting to the log man as we unloaded chunks of dried beech into my driveway from his trailer. Usually he brings me ash, but ash is becoming harder to find now that ash dieback disease, imported into Ireland from Europe, is killing many of the nation’s trees. Our little home plantation, laid down five or six years ago for our own coppice cycle, is not yet mature enough to keep us going for the whole winter, and we need help to make up the shortfall. So, beech it is this year.