diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1ae15479f..408cc564f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -143,6 +143,12 @@ There are several examples, in the examples directory, that simulate real world
 use-cases. Try running them via the command-line, via `cargo run --release
 --example simple`.
 
+## Logging
+
+If you want logging, enable the `logging` feature flag, and then set RUST\_LOG accordingly.
+See the documentation for [env\_logger](https://docs.rs/env_logger/latest/env_logger/) for specifics.
+We currently have very few logging statements, but this is useful for print-style debugging.
+
 ## Release
 
 See the [release documentation](./RELEASE.md) for detailed information on how to release Firewood.
diff --git a/firewood/Cargo.toml b/firewood/Cargo.toml
index f2b077b30..04f1bb343 100644
--- a/firewood/Cargo.toml
+++ b/firewood/Cargo.toml
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@ tokio = { version = "1.21.1", features = ["rt", "sync", "macros", "rt-multi-thre
 typed-builder = "0.18.0"
 bincode = "1.3.3"
 bitflags = "2.4.1"
+env_logger = { version = "0.10.1", optional = true }
+log = { version = "0.4.20", optional = true }
+
+[features]
+logger = ["dep:env_logger", "log"]
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 criterion = {version = "0.5.1", features = ["async_tokio"]}
diff --git a/firewood/src/db.rs b/firewood/src/db.rs
index 57d3d9010..013f24c8c 100644
--- a/firewood/src/db.rs
+++ b/firewood/src/db.rs
@@ -465,6 +465,11 @@ impl Db {
             let _ = tokio::fs::remove_dir_all(db_path.as_ref()).await;
         }
 
+        #[cfg(feature = "logger")]
+        // initialize the logger, but ignore if this fails. This could fail because the calling
+        // library already initialized the logger or if you're opening a second database
+        let _ = env_logger::try_init();
+
         block_in_place(|| Db::new_internal(db_path, cfg.clone()))
             .map_err(|e| api::Error::InternalError(Box::new(e)))
     }
diff --git a/firewood/src/lib.rs b/firewood/src/lib.rs
index 8052d2b54..7fb1212b0 100644
--- a/firewood/src/lib.rs
+++ b/firewood/src/lib.rs
@@ -195,4 +195,5 @@ pub mod nibbles;
 // TODO: shale should not be pub, but there are integration test dependencies :(
 pub mod shale;
 
+pub mod logger;
 pub mod v2;
diff --git a/firewood/src/logger.rs b/firewood/src/logger.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2f36a7369
--- /dev/null
+++ b/firewood/src/logger.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2023, Ava Labs, Inc. All rights reserved.
+// See the file LICENSE.md for licensing terms.
+
+// Supports making the logging operations a true runtime no-op
+// Since we're a library, we can't really use the logging level
+// static shortcut
+
+#[cfg(feature = "logger")]
+pub use log::{debug, error, info, trace, warn};
+
+#[cfg(not(feature = "logger"))]
+pub use noop_logger::{debug, error, info, trace, warn};
+
+#[cfg(not(feature = "logger"))]
+mod noop_logger {
+    #[macro_export]
+    macro_rules! noop {
+        ($(target: $a:expr,)? $b:tt) => {};
+    }
+
+    pub use noop as debug;
+    pub use noop as error;
+    pub use noop as info;
+    pub use noop as trace;
+    pub use noop as warn;
+}
diff --git a/firewood/src/merkle/node.rs b/firewood/src/merkle/node.rs
index 0901906b2..8e736e7a5 100644
--- a/firewood/src/merkle/node.rs
+++ b/firewood/src/merkle/node.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright (C) 2023, Ava Labs, Inc. All rights reserved.
 // See the file LICENSE.md for licensing terms.
 
+use crate::logger::trace;
 use crate::{
     merkle::from_nibbles,
     shale::{disk_address::DiskAddress, CachedStore, ShaleError, ShaleStore, Storable},
@@ -360,7 +361,7 @@ mod type_id {
 use type_id::NodeTypeId;
 
 impl Storable for Node {
-    fn deserialize<T: CachedStore>(mut offset: usize, mem: &T) -> Result<Self, ShaleError> {
+    fn deserialize<T: CachedStore>(offset: usize, mem: &T) -> Result<Self, ShaleError> {
         let meta_raw =
             mem.get_view(offset, Meta::SIZE as u64)
                 .ok_or(ShaleError::InvalidCacheView {
@@ -368,7 +369,9 @@ impl Storable for Node {
                     size: Meta::SIZE as u64,
                 })?;
 
-        offset += Meta::SIZE;
+        trace!("[{mem:p}] Deserializing node at {offset}");
+
+        let offset = offset + Meta::SIZE;
 
         #[allow(clippy::indexing_slicing)]
         let attrs = NodeAttributes::from_bits_retain(meta_raw.as_deref()[TRIE_HASH_LEN]);
@@ -458,6 +461,7 @@ impl Storable for Node {
     }
 
     fn serialize(&self, to: &mut [u8]) -> Result<(), ShaleError> {
+        trace!("[{self:p}] Serializing node");
         let mut cur = Cursor::new(to);
 
         let mut attrs = match self.root_hash.get() {
diff --git a/firewood/src/shale/compact.rs b/firewood/src/shale/compact.rs
index 544f58103..9b0f4b148 100644
--- a/firewood/src/shale/compact.rs
+++ b/firewood/src/shale/compact.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ use std::io::{Cursor, Write};
 use std::num::NonZeroUsize;
 use std::sync::RwLock;
 
+use crate::logger::trace;
+
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub struct CompactHeader {
     payload_size: u64,
@@ -584,6 +586,8 @@ impl<T: Storable + Debug + 'static + PartialEq, M: CachedStore + Send + Sync> Sh
         #[allow(clippy::unwrap_used)]
         let addr = self.inner.write().unwrap().alloc(size)?;
 
+        trace!("{self:p} put_item at {addr} size {size}");
+
         #[allow(clippy::unwrap_used)]
         let obj = {
             let inner = self.inner.read().unwrap();