Georgia Heard is a woman on a mission. Having garnered tens of thousands of followers and millions of views across social media, she is using her profile to promote firewood processing and to encourage young girls into the sector. We travelled to Guildford to hear her story.
WITH her positive posts about the firewood industry and women in forestry, she has built up a social media following that stretches into the tens of thousands, so it’s little wonder that when she is asked to introduce herself on camera, she says: “I’m Georgia Heard and I’m a Lumberjill.”
Better known as georgiagoeslogging on Instagram and TikTok – where she routinely shares clips of her daily work – Georgia’s choice of description is rather apt. A second-generation firewood producer with her family firm, Andrew Heard Hardwood Logs, she is a visible, very real example of how the timber trade is changing. What was once the Women’s Timber Corps, and only the Women’s Timber Corps, is now, more than 80 years later, women like Georgia, doing everyday forestry work, and it being, well, normal.
“It’s so important that people growing up know there are jobs – which may be seen as male jobs – that are for them, too,” she says during Forestry Journal’s visit to the site near Guildford in early April. “You can go into whatever you want to go into. It shouldn’t be determined as a male’s job. It’s so important that from a young age girls are seeing females doing jobs like this.
“People are generally quite surprised about what I do, especially when people know me from outside of the industry. I do quite like fashion and going out. Then they see me working and don’t expect to see me in a role like this, on a muddy, farm-like role. People are generally surprised that a woman is working in firewood.
“Firewood, farming and forestry are all seen as male-dominated industries and it’s a surprise for them.”
But Georgia is determined to change that. What began as simple clips of her life soon became detailed explanations of the process at the Surrey-based yard and the chance to see firewood machinery in action. Whether it’s discussing volume over weight, showing kindling being bagged, or demonstrating the site’s latest kit (more on this later), her brief videos have proven popular both within and outwith the industry. With nearly 70,000 followers across her two main platforms, some of her clips have garnered millions of views, taking forestry to audiences that otherwise wouldn’t have paid it the slightest bit of notice.
“I first blew up on TikTok about a year and a half ago now,” Georgia, 29, says. “I wasn’t really posting anything in particular, but just day-to-day videos. Then I posted a few of my work and they started to go viral.
“I realised people were interested in seeing what we do here and learning more about the business. They wanted to know how firewood is produced.
“I get a lot of comments from people asking why our logs are smaller than in different countries. Why do we produce hardwood and not softwood? That’s generally from within the industry. People are intrigued to know why we are doing it differently.
“From outside the industry there is a lot of interest in seeing how the machines work and the day-to-day running of the business. It’s generally seen as quite a seasonal business but we work all year round.
“People want to know what we do in the summer, for instance, and how it differs from the winter.”
A walk around the yard makes it immediately clear why people are so keen to see Andrew Heard’s machines. Several Merlo telehandlers shift pallets with a minimum of fuss. A Botex XL Pro trailer with a 580 crane, attached, unusually, to another Merlo, keeps the site’s log piles in check. Two Posch S-375s tirelessly chop through newly-arrived timber, while Georgia uses a Fuelwood Kindlet 200 to bag kindling in next to no time. There’s even a Ford 7810 for those who prefer something a little more vintage.
But it’s a new face that is the talk of the town. Capable of cutting logs up to 70 cm in diameter at a rate of knots, the Posch K-710 a-Vario firewood producer is an impressive machine. Fully automatic (albeit Andrew Heard opted for the semi-automatic one), it can turn timber into oven-ready firewood in a single push of a button. And these are sure to be just the right size, thanks to the X-knife system, which slices the processed logs into adjustable edge lengths of between 5 cm and 15 cm.
Put simply, it’s a machine that lives for firewood, and that’s the key. Annually, Andrew Heard produces anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 tonnes of the stuff, with it all going to within 15 miles of the site, delivered directly to domestic users, local restaurants, or even cooking classes. All of its timber is purchased roadside, never standing.
“Posch is really good,” Georgia says. “The machines are really well built and the Jas P Wilson back-up is really good. The service and the machines are great.
“We generally do between 4,000 and 5,000 tonnes a year. It is mainly ash at the moment due to ash dieback, but it’s all hardwood. Generally it will be beech, ash, birch and oak.”
Talking to Georgia, it seems obvious that firewood was for her, but she initially set out on a different path. After studying at university, she tried a marketing and then a sales job, but quickly realised that she was destined to follow in her dad’s footsteps.
“When I was younger, I used to always come and help dad out during the school holidays and weekends,” she says. “I love the variety of work. I love being outside, even when it’s raining. It is really nice to have a different job to everyone else and not be in an office all day, and having a more active role.”
The company she joined full-time in 2020 is very different to the one her dad started up 40 years ago. What began as some Dutch elm disease-felled trees on the family farm and Andrew with an axe, has become five full-time members of staff (as well as around 15 part-timers) and a total transformation of the site. In fact, what is today the home of Andrew Heard Logs was once his parents’ farmland, boasting cows, pigs and many other animals.
“We were doing about 400 tonnes in the early days when I bought my first machine,” Andrew, 59, says. “It was from Fuelwood; at the time they were just down the road and had the Posch dealership. It was a 301 and I made do with it for years and years. It is still alive and was kept as a back-up, which of course you never use. It’s now with a local farmer who is doing a bit of firewood – the thing started straight up!
“When I left school, we had cattle and I was doing bits and pieces on the farm. When Dutch elm disease killed the elm in the local area, they were left lying around. A local farmer asked if I could do a few logs – that was with a hammer and axe because it was so twisted.
“That’s how it all started. It was purely just cutting up elm trees.
“While building the business, I was managing a farm for another guy. Funnily enough, I got a lot of timber from the site that had been blown down in the Great Storm. For the best part of 20 years, the firewood side of things has been the bread and butter. The farming was becoming a bit of a nuisance.”
What Andrew does remember fondly is the machinery he has had along the way.
“In 2000, we bought an American machine which I kept for 20 years,” he says. “A Multitek. That did the bulk of our wood. We went Posch in 2020 with the 375 and 660. We went to two 375s last season and this year got the K-710.
“There are teething issues. That’s to be expected. But they always come right.”
Watch a teaser video about our trip to Andrew Heard above. A full video will be shared soon.
As for the future of the business, the process has already begun of handing over the reins permanently from Andrew to Georgia, who will spearhead the next generation of firewood producers. As for what’s next in the industry, it remains a little uncertain amid bans and restrictions (albeit that’s mostly north of the border for now), but it’s exciting, if a little daunting, too.
“There is a lot to learn, as with any business,” Georgia says. “But I feel that in the four years I have been here I have learnt a lot and I am taking on new roles every day. But I know dad will be there to help. You also have to keep on top of things when it comes to buying. Dad has grown up doing it and always knows what’s going on with a machine. That’s probably going to be the most difficult thing for me to pick up.”
And her advice to anyone who may be considering a career in forestry?
“Go and try and get some work experience. Try and work with them. Get a bit more of an insight into what they are doing and what you could be doing. Don’t be put off by it. If you are interested in something, go and try it out.”
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